It's been 15 days since 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg hitched a ride on a sail-powered yacht from Europe to the U.S. for the U.N. Climate Action Summit taking place in New York in mid-September. As Afloat previously reported, Thunberg has vowed to avoid air travel, due to environment-harming carbon emissions. The Malizia II docked this afternoon at 4:00 EDT at Coney Island in Brooklyn so its passengers could clear customs and immigration and then proceeded to North Cove Marina at the southern tip of Manhattan, just a stone's throw from Wall Street.
The Swedish teenager crossed the Atlantic on Boris Herrmann and Pierre Casiraghi’s Monaco-based 60ft Mono60, Malizia II, which has previously competed in the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Despite a light drizzle, a crowd of more than 200 gathered at North Cove to welcome Thunberg. The young activist has gained an adoring following in the last few months as she's worked, with great success, to highlight the urgency of the climate situation, which she says is most accurately described as a "crisis." She has 1.2 million followers on Twitter and 1.1 million friends on Facebook, and her Facebook post announcing her arrival in New York has drawn more than 2,000 comments, nearly all celebratory.
