Greta Thunberg Did Not Say the Climate Crisis Doesn’t Exist

The circulating video has been altered from the original. In the original clip, Thunberg answers Hasan’s question by saying she hopes that world leaders would “treat the crisis like a crisis,” and help the public come to terms with the severity of climate change. “How can you expect support and pressure from voters if you aren’t treating the crisis like a crisis — since the climate crisis doesn’t exist, how can we expect people to want climate action?" She asked. Her statement suggests that because politicians aren’t taking the climate crisis seriously enough, the public won’t take it seriously either.

The edited clip removed the first part of her sentence so that it sounds as if she’s simply saying that the climate crisis doesn’t exist. Her complete statement, without the edits, was the following:

"I would just tell him to tell the situation as it is. Because I mean, yes, you could say, I meet with a lot of world leaders and they say ‘I can't do anything because I don't have the support from voters.’ Well, how can you expect support and pressure from voters if you aren’t treating the crisis like a crisis — since the climate crisis doesn’t exist, how can we expect people to want climate action?"