Patti Smith Joins Greta Thunberg for Climate Change Protest: “A Moment with a Bold Leader”

The 20-year-old Greta Thunberg has spent the last few years of her life fighting hard for climate change awareness. Thunberg has given speeches, petitioned the Swedish Parliament, protested and more all to raise awareness toward what she believes will be the hazardous effects of climate change on the next generation.

Her latest bout of activism has seen her lead a strike outside her school in Stockholm. Her final strike at the school happened last week, given that Thunberg is graduating. She wasn’t alone on her final day though, legendary artist Patti Smith decided to join her ranks.

“This is Greta Thunberg, faithfully taking her Friday School Strike for Climate Action,” Smith wrote on Instagram. “She graduates today, and we extend our gratitude and congratulations.”

She continued in a separate post, “This is privileged to join the activists for climate action, and a moment with the bold and benevolent leader.”

Smith has long extended her support to climate change activists. She has performed in concerts for climate change awareness and spoken out about it in interviews numerous times.

“I think the climate movement is the most important thing on the planet right now,” Smith previously told The Guardian. “It permeates everything. Civil rights, human rights, women’s rights…We just have to fight for what is right.”

Thunberg also took to social media to comment on her final school strike.

“Today, I graduate from school, which means I’ll no longer be able to school strike for the climate,” she wrote. “When I started striking in 2018 I could never have expected that it would lead to anything. After striking every day for three weeks, we were a small group of children who decided to continue doing this every Friday. And we did, which is how Fridays For Future was formed.

“We who can speak up have a duty to do so,” she continued. “In order to change everything, we need everyone. I’ll continue to protest on Fridays, even though it’s not technically ‘school striking.’ We simply have no other option than to do everything we possibly can. The fight has only just begun.”

(Photo by Lester Cohen/Getty Images for The Bob Dylan Center)