Om Greta Thunberg kunnen we niet meer heen. De inmiddels bijna 17-jarige Thunberg is wereldberoemd geworden dankzij haar niet-aflatende klimaatactivisme. Haar boek Ons huis staat in brand verscheen in juni dit jaar in Nederlandse vertaling. Genoeg reden voor Time om haar te verkiezen tot Person of the Year 2019.

Time wijdde een artikel aan hun winnaar, waarin Thunberg als persoon en fenomeen verder wordt uitgediept en zij hun keuze verantwoorden:

Greta Thunberg sits in silence in the cabin of the boat that will take her across the Atlantic Ocean. Inside, there’s a cow skull hanging on the wall, a faded globe, a child’s yellow raincoat. Outside, it’s a tempest: rain pelts the boat, ice coats the decks, and the sea batters the vessel that will take this slight girl, her father and a few companions from Virginia to Portugal. For a moment, it’s as if Thunberg were the eye of a hurricane, a pool of resolve at the center of swirling chaos. In here, she speaks quietly. Out there, the entire natural world seems to amplify her small voice, screaming along with her.

'We can’t just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow,' she says, tugging on the sleeve of her blue sweatshirt. 'That is all we are saying.'