Brazilian President Bolsonaro Calls Greta Thunberg a "Brat"

There have been rampant calls for environmental changes coming from environmental activists and experts. In the past few months, it was even part of the discussions of leaders from around the globe.

As you may know, the United Nations and other countries attended the Paris Talks years ago aiming to help the dying environment that might create a catastrophic problem in society later on.

In an article published in TIME, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil expressed his frustrations and resorted to name calling, addressing the young Swedisn environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, as a "brat" after she expressed her concern about the Indigenous Brazilians who were killed in Amazon. This is indeed very alarming because the Amazon is the home, not only of Indigenous people who lived there for millions of years, but also the home of different species of animals who might soon be extinct if something is not done.

Bolsonaro's comment came after Thunberg tweeted on Sunday about how two Indigenous Brazilians were killed in Maranhao, a state in Brazil.

Thunberg is just 16 years and has risen to fame through her consistent bashing of world leaders when it comes to their collective efforts to end green house gas emissions. She is one of the youngest environmental activists in the world. Bolsonaro is not impressed and in fact questioned the coverage of media given to Thunberg.

Bolsonaro told the reporters that "Greta said that the natives died because they were defending the Amazon."

Bolsonaro told a group of journalists that it's ridiculous that the media is giving space to a brat like that," Bolsonaro also referred to Thunberg using the Portuguese word "pirralha." The word is translated as "little brat" in English. Ironically, Thunberg changed the bio in her Twitter to "Pirralha" instead of getting mad at Bolsonaro's comment.

Thunberg's comment about the killing of Indigenous Materials happened during the United Nations International Climate Change Conference. Brazil's environmental policies and issues have been the subject of criticism and scrutiny during the conference. It can be recalled that Bolsonaro did not give extra effort during the Amazon wildfire. One of the issues discussed was the deforestation of Amazon that rose to 30 percent in 12 months since July.

Thunberg tweeted "Indigenous people are being literally murdered for trying to protect the forest from illegal deforestation and over and over again. It is shameful that the world remains silent about this."

The comment of Bolsonaro, who has been observed to have seemingly admired the U.S. government, follows Trump's sarcastic comment towards Thunberg. Trump said "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!"

Environmental issues are very evident yet many of the leaders are still saying that it is not because the country can survive through its industrial profits and revenues. However, they forget that Climate Change is already happening and one of the efforts that the government can do is to restore and retain the remaining forests that we have.

Over the years, seashore lines have been observed to significantly decrease because of Climate Change. It is also expected that years from now, a military site in the U.S. will be flooded with water and all its military types of machinery will not be used anymore if this problem will not be managed.

The role of the youth is very important as they should be taking the lead to change the world and create a better future.