Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday was named one of the 2019 recipients of the Right Livelihood Award, known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize,” days after imploring world leaders to take the threat of climate change more seriously in an emotional speech at the United Nations.
Thunberg, 16, received the prize from the Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Foundation — established in 1980 after the Nobel Foundation rejected a proposal to create an environmental prize — for “inspiring and amplifying political demands for urgent climate action reflecting scientific facts.”
The other 2019 Right Livelihood laureates are Aminatou Haidar, a human rights advocate from Western Sahara; Guo Jianmei, a lawyer defending women’s rights in China; and Davi Kopenawa, an indigenous leader in Brazil fighting for indigenous rights and rainforest conservation. The award includes a cash prize of about $103,000.
“I am part of a global movement of school children, youth and adults of all ages who h..