Greta Thunberg donates $1.14 million in prize money to charities protecting the environment
On July 20, environmental activist and global teen wonder Greta Thunberg was awarded the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity for her tireless struggle in educating the masses and fighting the good fight against global climate change.
MSN quoted the chairperson of the prize committee, Jorge Sampaio, as saying that the 17-year-old was awarded the honor because, “she has been able to mobilise younger generations for the cause of climate change and her tenacious struggle to alter a status quo that persists.”
The prize judges described Thunberg as “one of the most remarkable figures of our days“.
The Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, awarded annually, in the amount of 1 million euros, aims to recognise people, groups of people and/or organisations from all over the world whose contributions to mitigation and adaptation to climate change stand out for its novelty, innovation and impact.
And, there was a cash prize associated with that honor that netted Thunberg One Million Euros, or the equivalent of $1.14 million. And in a plot twist that many do not find surprising, Thunberg said she’d be donating that money to organizations dedicated to protecting the environment and fighting climate change.
In a video she posted to social media, the Swedish teenager announced that she was “incredibly honored and extremely grateful and this means a lot to me and I hope that it will help me do more good in the world.”
“All the prize money will be donated through my foundation to different organizations and projects who are working to help people on the front lines affected by the climate crisis and ecological crisis, especially in the Global South,” she went on to say.
The first €100,000 of the prize money will go to the SOS Amazonia campaign led by Fridays For Future Brazil to tackle the coronavirus outbreak in the Amazon.
Another €100,000 will go to the Stop Ecocide Foundation “to support their work to make ecocide an international crime”, Thunberg said on Twitter. ~ MSN
This isn’t the first award Thunberg received for her environmental efforts; nor is it the first time she donated her award winnings to environmental charities. In April she won the Human Act Award and donated her $100,000 prize to UNICEF, an amount matched to UNICEF by The Human Act Award committee, according to CNBC.
On December 11, 2019, Time Magazine named the teen climate activist Time’s 2019 “Person of the Year.”
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
