Swedish teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg will appear on a postage stamp in her native Sweden as part of a series dedicated to the environment to be broadcast on Thursday
STOCKHOLM – Swedish teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg will appear on a postage stamp that will be issued on Thursday in her native Sweden and is part of a series focused on the environment.
The reasons for the stamps “should reflect our time, where the environmental issue has been relevant and present for many years, especially because of the strong voice of Greta Thunberg,” the Swedish postal company Postnord said in a statement.
One with Thunberg in his yellow raincoat with the braid blowing in the wind and standing on a hill, is part of a series of five stamps with the theme “Valuable Nature”. They cost 12 crowns ($ 1.40) each, are available starting January 14 and are illustrated by Swedish artist Henning Trollback.
Thunberg, who has just turned 18, gained prominence for the weekly solo protests outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm that began on August 20, 2018.
Students from all over the world soon began to follow her, organizing large protests regularly, and inviting her to speak with political and business leaders.
The coronavirus outbreak has prevented the Fridays for Future movement that Thunberg inspired could celebrate its mass rallies in recent months, lowering its public profile.
His forceful words addressed to presidents and prime ministers, covered by scientific facts about the need to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions, have won his praise and awards, but also criticism and even death threats.
Appearing on a stamp “means a person is doing something extraordinary,” said Kristina Olofsdotter, general manager of postage stamps.
Thunberg demands lawmakers adhere to the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which calls on rich and poor countries to take steps to curb rising global temperatures that melt glaciers, raise sea levels and change rain patterns. It requires governments to present national plans to reduce emissions in order to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
———
Follow all AP coverage on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-change