Climate activist Greta Thunberg announced she would be taking some time off to rest, just days after being named Time‘s Person of the Year.
Thunberg, 16, who has been crisscrossing the Western Hemisphere by boat, train, and car, revealed the break to reporters at a rally in Turin, Italy.
“After this, I will slowly be going home with a few stops on the way,” she said. “And I will be home for Christmas, and then, I will take holiday break because you need to take breaks … you cannot do this all the time.”
“You have to rest as well. I don’t know how long I will rest, but not for too long but enough so that I am well-rested,” Thunberg added.
Thunberg traveled to Turin from Madrid, where she had attended a United Nations climate summit. Prior to that, she had sailed from the United States to Europe by using a catamaran, an effort to raise awareness for climate change.
Speaking at the Turin rally, Thunberg said that next year needs to be a “year of action.”
“2019 is almost over,” Thunberg told the crowd. “We must make sure that 2020 is the year of action, is the year when we bend the global emissions curve. We are going to put pressure on those in power, we are going to make sure that they will act and they will take responsibility.”
Thunberg gained prominence for skipping school in her home country of Sweden to protest climate change. She also sat outside the Swedish Parliament to demonstrate. Thunberg was named Person of the Year this week, the youngest recipient.
President Trump, also a nominee for the Person of the Year award, said earlier this year that the teenager has a “bright and wonderful future.” They both went viral in a video that caught Thunberg glaring at the president at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
