Independent Vermont Senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders believes that young people, like Swedish 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, need to be in charge of the “climate justice movement.”
“What a disgrace that it takes a 16-year-old to tell world leaders what they won’t acknowledge,” the 78 year-old Vermont senator tweeted Monday. “We cannot continue with this type of ruthless capitalism that is destroying our planet. This is why we need young people leading our climate justice movement.” (RELATED: Bernie Sanders, Climate Hawk, Spends Nearly $300K On Private Jet Travel In Month)
What a disgrace that it takes a 16-year-old to tell world leaders what they won’t acknowledge: We cannot continue with this type of ruthless capitalism that is destroying our planet. This is why we need young people leading our climate justice movement. pic.twitter.com/uKpMUc2CMw
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 23, 2019
Sanders’ tweet was in reference to comments made by Thunberg at the United Nations the same day, where the teenager made an emotional plea for world leaders to do more to combat climate change.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” she shouted to world leaders in the audience at the United Nations. “Entire ecosystems are collapsing, we are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
Thunberg added, “People are suffering. People are dying.”
Her comments brought in a wide range of criticism from political pundits on Twitter, including Humans Events managing editor Ian Miles Cheong, who tweeted, “Am I a bad person for thinking children shouldn’t be used as political props like Greta Thunberg?”
Am I a bad person for thinking children shouldn’t be used as political props like Greta Thunberg? pic.twitter.com/kGEErp35Jn
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 23, 2019
Currently Sanders remains a top contender in the Democratic presidential primary, averaging 16.5% of support from primary voters, according to RealClearPolitics.