Climate activist Greta Thunberg: ‘The planet is outside its comfort zone’

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said Tuesday that climate change has put the planet “outside its comfort zone.”

“By ‘panic’ I don’t mean [world leaders should] literally panic, but that we and they step out of our comfort zone, because the planet is outside its comfort zone,” Thunberg, who sailed to New York in a zero-emissions yacht to attend the United Nations Climate Summit, told “CBS This Morning.”

{mosads}“We also need to be outside of our comfort zone to prevent the worst consequences from happening,” she added. “What I want people to do now is to become aware of the crisis that is here. I tell world leaders the science, and how it looks like.”

“It actually had a lot of impact when you speak truth to power and you don’t bother to be polite,” she added. “We cannot focus on what we can or cannot say; we must speak clearly on what is happening.”  

16-year-old climate activist @GretaThunberg first made headlines last year with her solitary strike against climate change outside Sweden’s parliament. She’s inspired millions of supporters to rally in over 150 countries.

Thunberg joins us for her first live U.S. TV interview. pic.twitter.com/bvbXOGii9e

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) September 10, 2019

Thunberg, who has been diagnosed with autism, has frequently discussed how the disorder has enabled her to speak bluntly on environmental issues.