16-year-old activist urges Congress to ‘listen to scientists’ on climate change

Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg offered a blunt message to Congress on Tuesday (Sept. 17) as she brought her campaign for urgent action on climate change to the U.S. Capitol.

“I know you’re trying,” she told Democratic senators at an invitation-only forum, “but just not hard enough. Sorry.”

Thunberg was in Washington ahead of a global strike planned for Friday. Activists are calling for immediate action from the world’s governments to halt global warming, reduce fossil fuel consumption and avert environmental catastrophe.