(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg’s plan to cut down on carbon emissions backfired when she traveled by boat from the U.S. to Europe for a climate summit in Madrid.
Thunberg found herself stranded on the wrong side of the planet when the summit was moved from its original location in Chile to Spain.
She asked the public for help to find her a fuel-efficient method of transportation, and eventually accepted the offer of 26-year-old Nikki Henderson to make the trans-Atlantic voyage on a catamaran.
Henderson has claimed that it leaves little to no carbon-dioxide footprint when its sails are in use, instead counting on solar panels and hydro-generators for electricity. But simply getting the boat to Thunberg in time offset any reductions to her carbon footprint from air travel..
Henderson flew from Britain to the U.S. to meet Thunberg and fly her ship to Europe, producing the same amount of emissions Thunberg had hoped to save.
What’s more, Henderson’s vessel, named La Vagabonde, still produced waste. It has two diesel engines, according to the Daily Mail, and is made from petroleum products.
La Vagabonde “weighs 17,400 pounds and is made of fiberglass, or fiber-reinforced plastic. It draws auxiliary power from twin Volvo diesel engines” and costs nearly $757,000, according to Craig Rucker, president of Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, a free-market environmental organization.
Thunberg encouraged followers to track their journey across the Atlantic Ocean online, and she reflected on her time in North America right before she set sail.
“The situation in Canada and the U.S. is basically the same as to where I come from: It is the same arguments that are being used to delay action,” she said. “It is the same methods that are being used to mislead people.”
Thunberg has dismissed criticism and said there will be those who disagree “no matter what we do.”
“It should be the adults who take that responsibility,” she said. “But it feels like the adults and the people in power today are not.”
