Celebrating Greta Thunberg’s 100th Week of Climate Strikes With 100 of Her Best Moments

On Aug. 20, 2018, at 15 years old, environmental activist Greta Thunberg painted a sign, printed out some homemade flyers, and sat down outside Sweden’s parliament building. Her goal for that day was simply to get a few Swedish politicians to take her flyers so that they would start thinking more about the climate crisis. Instead, she started a global movement. 

Every single Friday since then, Greta, now 17, has protested climate inaction from governmental leaders with her iconic “skolstrejk för klimatet” sign — and this week marks the 100th consecutive week of Greta’s Fridays for Future protests!

So much has changed since Greta’s very first protest, when she stood alone:

Over the past 100 weeks, millions of people from all over the world have joined Greta in demanding climate action from leaders each and every Friday, growing her solo strike into an enormous movement.

To celebrate this milestone, we’ve rounded up 100 of our favorite Greta Thunberg moments from the past 100 weeks. So if you’re a fan of the 17-year-old climate champion, here are 100 awesome things Greta Thunberg has done since her very first climate strike, in no particular order:

1. She founded Fridays for Future, a global movement where students skip school on Fridays to demand climate action.
2. She gave a TED talk about the dire need to act on the climate crisis.
3. She posed for the cover of Rolling Stone’s climate crisis issue.
4. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, she moved Fridays for Future weekly strikes online, aka #ClimateStrikeOnline.
5. She met David Attenborough (he’s a big fan of hers) via video chat, where they discussed the climate crisis.
6. She stared down Donald Trump when he walked past her, and the moment was widely memed.
7. She was nominated for a Nobel Prize…
8. ...twice.
9. She graced our feeds with her adorable rescue dogs: Moses, a golden retriever, and Roxy, a Labrador.
10. She encouraged people to follow social distancing guidelines after she herself contracted the coronavirus.

11. She used her platform to advocate for justice for George Floyd, to call for a global structural change, and to demand racial injustice come to an end.
12. She met Esther the Wonder Pig at the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary in Ontario...
13. ...and posted a photo with the adorable rescue pig, encouraging her followers to go vegan — the most impactful lifestyle change we can make for the environment.
14. An estimated 7.6 million people attended the Global Climate Strikes in September 2019.
15. Maria Grazia Chiuri, creative director for Dior, staged a Paris fashion week show featuring models wearing Greta’s signature hairstyle — two long braids — down the Dior runway.
16. In a speech at the 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Greta spoke the powerful phrase, “Our house is on fire.”
17. Fridays for Future produced a powerful commercial titled “Our House Is on Fire” based on Greta’s quote, featuring a family calmly moving through their morning routines while ignoring the fact that their house is literally going up in flames.
18. At the 2020 WEF in Davos, she reprised her famous line from the year before, telling world leaders: “Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour. And we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else.”
19. She trolled Donald Trump in her Twitter bio.
20. In a speech at the UN, Greta uttered the famous phrase “How dare you?” to hundreds of world leaders, regarding their inaction on the climate crisis.

21. Human Act awarded Greta the Human Act award with a prize of $100,000…
22. ...which Greta promptly donated to UNICEF…
23. ...and UNICEF matched her donation with another $100,000 donation — and the total $200,000 was used to found a joint global funding campaign called Let’s Move Humanity for Children in the Fight Against Coronavirus.
24. She helped popularize the fly shame movement, which is a personal boycott on flying in airplanes until the industry becomes less wasteful.
25. Along with her father and a few other crew members, she spent two weeks taking a carbon neutral boat ride from Europe to the U.S. to avoid flying in an airplane...
26. ...and then two months later, after COP25 was suddenly moved from Chile to Madrid, she took another boat ride back to Europe at the last minute.
27. On her boat journeys, she made sure every meal she and her crew ate was vegan.
28. She proudly held solo protests with her “skolstrejk för klimatet” sign on her boat voyages, as evidenced by very blurry Instagram photos.
29. The band The 1975 sampled Greta’s speech from the WEF in a song simply titled “The 1975.”
30. TIME named Greta the 2019 Person of the Year.

31. Her speeches were turned into a book called No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference…
32. ...and she donated all the proceeds from her book to charity.
33. She showed off her meme skills with a gif of someone kicking planet Earth and knocking over someone else, captioned: “Receiving planet earth from older generations like—”
34. She was the subject of a VICE documentary called Make the World Greta Again.
35. After arriving in New York, she made The Daily Show’s audience laugh by sharing her first impression of the city: its indescribable smell.
36. She told Trevor Noah why she chose to take a boat instead of a plane to the U.S., in addition to aviation’s high environmental impact: “To make a stand. I am one of the very few people in the world who can actually do such a trip, so I thought, why not?”
37. She trolled Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in her Twitter bio.
38. She acknowledged that the climate crisis and Black Lives Matter are intersectional social justice issues that both need urgent attention.
39. Greta got to meet Malala Yousafzai, and Greta shared photos of the two powerful young women together with the sweet caption: “So... today I met my role model. What else can I say?”
40. She visited the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, a sacred area that has been threatened by the Dakota Access Pipelines.

41. Manchester, England's City Council held a public poll to name its newest salt trucks, and the winning punny name was Gritter Thunberg.
42. She earned the support of Michelle Obama, who tweeted at Greta: “Don't let anyone dim your light ... Ignore the doubters and know that millions of people are cheering you on."
43. She appeared as a fortune teller in Pearl Jam’s music video for the song “Retrograde.”
44. In a speech to the British Parliament, Greta delivered one mic drop-worthy statement after another, finishing her speech with: "We children are doing this because we want our hopes and dreams back."
45. She posed for Teen Vogue’s (digital) cover.
46. She reached 10.4 million followers on Instagram.
47. GQ created the Game Changer Award for Greta and presented it to her, in honor of “her fearless dedication to raising awareness of the global climate change crisis.”
48. Scientist Peter Jäger named a spider after Greta: the Thunberga gen. nov. spider.
49. Greta and 15 other youths joined together to sue five of the most polluting countries on the planet: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey.
50. Greta and Leonardo DiCaprio met and spent time together during her trip across the U.S., and he commemorated the occasion with some adorable photos.

51. The BBC announced an upcoming documentary series that will chronicle Greta’s efforts to bring global attention to the climate crisis.
52. The Nordic Council awarded Greta its 2019 Environment Prize…
53. ...which Greta declined, stating: “The climate movement does not need any more awards. What we need is for our politicians and the people in power start to listen to the current, best available science.”
54. On Halloween last year, she gave her Twitter followers a chuckle when she posted a photo of herself with her sign, writing: “Apparently when it comes to scaring a bunch of angry climate crisis deniers — I don’t even have to dress up!!”
55. She became friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger...
56. ...and then Arnold Schwarzenegger lent her his electric car so she could travel around the U.S. privately and emissions-free.
57. She shared her support for environmental activists in the Philippines against the country’s new Terror Law, which puts climate activists at risk, and she encouraged followers to sign 350.org’s petition.
58. The team behind Instagram’s most-liked photo (of an egg) put their viral marketing skills to good use by building an ice sculpture of Greta, which they displayed in London’s Trafalgar Square. The sculpture had completely melted by the end of the day, acting as a metaphor for global heating.
59. She called Asperger's her “superpower,” helping empower other children who also have Asperger’s.
60. She met President Obama during her visit to the U.S. “You’re changing the world,” he told her.

61. Powerful words of Greta’s were projected onto the outside of the UN building in New York City: “Everything needs to change. And it has to start today.”
62. She was one of four winners of the 2019 Right Livelihood Award, known as Sweden’s version of the Nobel Prize.
63. She testified at The House Committee on Foreign Affairs in Washington, D.C.
64. Amnesty International honored Greta and Fridays for Future with the Ambassador of Conscience Award.
65. When Meghan Markle guest edited Vogue’s 2019 September issue, the Duchess of Sussex featured Greta as part of a group of 15 powerful women.
66. After her 15-day boat journey to New York, Greta found the energy to hop on the subway, making every New Yorker who’s ever taken a Lyft after a long day feel just a little bit guilty.
67. She shared her support for the LGBTQIA+ community and Pride on Instagram.
68. She won the Prix Liberté in Normandie, France…
69. ...and she donated the $25,000 prize to four organizations fighting for climate justice: The Adaptation Fund, CARE, 350.org, and Greenpeace International.
70. Celebrities including Kerry Washington, Billie Eilish, Janelle Monáe, Chris Hemsworth, and Mark Ruffalo praised Greta and the Global Climate Strike.

71. She explained how feminism and climate issues are intersectional: “We can not live in a sustainable world unless all genders and people are being treated equally.”
72. She volunteered with Min Stora Dag (Swedish for “My Big Day”), an organization similar to Make-A-Wish, by recording a Q&A video for the organization’s YouTube channel. (Turn on YouTube’s closed captions for English subtitles.)
73. She made train travel trendy.
74. She went on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss the lifestyle changes she’s made to be more environmentally friendly, including: going vegan, only shopping when it’s necessary, and quitting flying.
75. When Ellen DeGeneres asked Greta if she’d ever meet with Donald Trump, she said no, and that it would be “a waste of time, really.”
76. Ellen DeGeneres launched a Greta Thunberg section of her website Ellen Tube, which is filled with resources for fighting the climate crisis. The Ellen DeGeneres Show also committed $100,000 to promoting the page.
77. She promoted her “super talented sister” Beata Ernman’s music.
78. She wrote and recorded a podcast script sharing her experiences as an activist, the importance of listening to science, why she thinks leaders are failing us, and more.
79. When singer Meat Loaf accused Greta of being “brainwashed into thinking that there is climate change and there isn’t,” she took to Twitter to calmly respond: “It’s not about Meat Loaf. It’s not about me. It’s not about what some people call me. It’s not about left or right. It’s all about scientific facts. And that we’re not aware of the situation. Unless we start to focus everything on this, our targets will soon be out of reach.”
80. She took a year off school to focus on climate activism.

81. She gave Instagram all the Midsommar vibes by posing in a fierce flower crown.
82. She sat down for a panel discussion with writer and activist Naomi Klein.
83. She continually ignored the haters and conspiracy theories, instead focusing her energy on the task at hand.
84. Hillary Clinton applauded TIME for choosing Greta as the 2019 Person of the Year, tweeting: “I am grateful for all she's done to raise awareness of the climate crisis and her willingness to tell hard, motivating truths.”
85. She spooked her Instagram followers out with a photo of her signature purple coat seemingly floating near her blue sneakers and protest sign by a river.
86. Mayor Valérie Plante bestowed the key to the city of Montreal to Greta.
87. She virtually met with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and their conversation was published by The Guardian.
88. Germany’s Golden Kamera awards presented Greta with a Climate Action Award in 2019…
89. ...and she made a five-minute speech to a room of German entertainment industry leaders about the climate crisis.
90. She posed for the cover of i-D magazine with a “save our climate” pin.

91. She fooled us all on April Fools' Day last year, joking that world leaders finally understood the severity of the climate emergency, and so she was quitting her Friday school strikes.
92. She was named the 2019 Swedish Woman of the Year at 16 years old — making her the youngest person to ever receive the award.
93. She gave us a glimpse into her ~artistic process~ when she painted a new “skolstrejk för klimatet” sign after retiring the original one.
94. She met with environmentalist and former Vice President Al Gore.
95. At the 2019 Oscars, a clip played of Greta telling David Attenborough that films and documentaries are what opened her eyes to the climate crisis and later inspired her to do something about it.
96. Kate McKinnon played Greta Thunberg on Saturday Night Live: “In 10 years, this snowman won’t exist. Her home would be a puddle.”
97. On the BBC competition show Celebrity Mastermind, actress Amanda Henderson was asked to identify Greta Thunberg, but she mistakenly guessed that her name was Sharon — so Greta promptly changed her name on Twitter to Sharon.
98. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that young activists including Greta inspired the German government to act quicker on climate issues.
99. Legendary musician and poet Patti Smith wrote a poem dedicated to Greta on her birthday this past January.
100. She spoke hauntingly powerful words in her 2019 WEF speech. She told the audience: “I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day and then I want you to act.”