WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 18: Founder of Fridays For Future Greta Thunberg testifies during a House Foreign Affairs Committee Europe, Eurasia, Energy and the Environment Subcommittee and House (Select) Climate Crisis Committee joint hearing September 18, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Thunberg, who recently sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in a zero-carbon emissions sailboat, is in Washington to discuss the climate crisis with lawmakers and will speak at the UN Climate Action Summit on September 23 in New York. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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Greta Thunberg to Congress: Listen to the scientists
00:51 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

Greta Thunberg has had a busy week.

On Wednesday, the Swedish 16-year-old climate activist appeared in front of Congress before a hearing on climate change, just days after she met with former President Barack Obama.

Greta Thunberg spoke before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Europe, Eurasia, Energy and the Environment Subcommittee, and the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
Greta Thunberg spoke before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Europe, Eurasia, Energy and the Environment Subcommittee, and the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP/Getty Images

Thunberg, though, told Congress she didn’t have any prepared remarks. Instead, she referred to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s special report on global warming, which reported a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

“I am submitting this report as my testimony because I don’t want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the scientists,” she said. “And I want you to unite behind the science. And then I want you to take real action.”

Strong words from the teenager, but this isn’t the first time she’s spoken up to governments.

Thunberg first made a name for herself while staging weekly sit-ins outside the Swedish Parliament, which led to more than 100 similar protests worldwide.

Thunberg is in the United States to speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23, but she’s had other things on her agenda, too – including appearing on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah in New York and receiving Amnesty International’s top award in Washington for her activism.

But she didn’t travel to the United States by plane. To cut down on emissions, Thunberg spent two weeks sailing across the Atlantic on a zero-emissions sailboat.

That’s dedication.