An 8-year-old Indian child who has been organizing against climate change since 2018 is tired of being compared to Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
“Dear Media, Stop calling me “Greta of India,” tweeted Licypriya Kangujam. “I am not doing my activism to looks like Greta Thunberg. Yes, she is one of our Inspiration & great influencer. We have common goal but I have my own identity, story. I began my movement since July 2018 even before Greta was started.”
In July 2018, then-6-year-old Kangujam joined the U.N.-sponsored Asia Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction. The conference was held two months before Thunberg began striking outside the Swedish Parliament in August 2018.
Thunberg, 17, rose to international fame in 2019 as she traveled around the world spreading her climate change message. The teenager disparaged older generations as being a “disgrace” for their inaction on climate change and told world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that they “haven’t seen anything yet!”
Kangujam dropped out of school last year to protest “every week in front of the Parliament House of India.” The 8-year-old said recently that she reenrolled in classes after a year protesting for change.
In August, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured French President Emmanuel Macron of India’s commitment to the Paris Climate Accord.
Dear Media,
Stop calling me “Greta of India”. I am not doing my activism to looks like Greta Thunberg. Yes, she is one of our Inspiration & great influencer. We have common goal but I have my own identity, story. I began my movement since July 2018 even before Greta was started. pic.twitter.com/3UEqCVWYM8— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) January 27, 2020
I even dropped out my school since February 2019 (before Grade 1 final exam) when I was just 7 years old due to my protests every week in front of the Parliament House of India. I sacrificed so much of my life in this tender age is not to called me “Greta of India”.
— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) January 27, 2020
