Swedish activist Greta Thunberg coming to Vancouver for climate strike

Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is heading to Vancouver.

Fresh on the heels of her visit to Alberta, Thunberg will attend a climate strike scheduled for the West Coast city on Friday morning.

Thunberg has become a global name after her #FridaysForFuture protests inspired youth around the world to climate activism.

1:53 Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg travels to Northern Alberta

The teen began sitting outside the Swedish parliament every Friday to demand climate action, popularizing the concept of youth climate strikes.

Youth climate group Sustainabiliteens has been organizing similar strikes in Vancouver and said Thunberg’s appearance will help put pressure on elected leaders.

“This Friday, we are calling on our government to come together around a Green New Deal that legislates science-aligned emission reduction targets, prioritizes Indigenous rights and creates good jobs for all,” said organizer Rebecca Hamilton in a media release.

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“I was too young to vote in Monday’s election so I, along with the rest of my generation, am raising my voice in the only way available to me: taking to the streets,” she added.

Thunberg visited the United Nations in September, where she chastised leaders for their inaction on addressing the climate crisis.

The International Panel on Climate Change’s latest forecast says the world needs to limit global warming to 1.5 C to prevent the most severe impacts of rising sea level and temperature as well as species loss and extinction, numbers the activist referenced in her speech to world leaders.

Since then, Thunberg has appeared at a climate strike in Montreal that drew half a million marchers and in Alberta, where she attended a rally in Edmonton and visited with First Nations in Fort McMurray.

Thunberg’s Edmonton rally drew thousands of supporters but also a counter-protest of oil and gas industry workers who mounted a truck convoy to the legislature.

An Edmonton mural of the teen activist has since been defaced in the city.

In an effort to keep her travel as close to zero emissions as possible, Thunberg crossed the Atlantic in a sailboat and has been travelling around North America in a Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle.

Friday’s event takes place at  šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square (The Vancouver Art Gallery’s North Plaza) at 11 a.m.