Plymouth (United Kingdom) (AFP)
Greta Thunberg, young muse of the fight against global warming, heads for New York on Wednesday aboard a zero carbon racing yacht, skippered by a member of the Monegasque princely family.
A two-week crossing that will allow him to attend the UN world summit, scheduled for September in the megalopolis of the United States.
The 16-year-old Swede, who was behind a global climate strike by the school, had refused to fly there because of the carbon emissions it generates.
Pierre Casiraghi, son of Princess Caroline of Monaco, then proposed to make available a free boat to cover the 3,000 nautical miles, and thus allow him to carry his message across the Atlantic.
In the United States, "many people do not understand and do not accept science," said before his departure to AFP the teenager, the long braids look younger than her age. "I'll just have to do what I've always done: ignore them and just say what science says."
Its goal is to "create a movement of world opinion, so that people come together and put pressure on the leaders".
- "Safe and sound" -
The Malizia II, an 18-meter-long sailboat run by Pierre Casiraghi and the German skipper Boris Herrmann, is equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines to generate the electricity that powers the navigation instruments, the autopilot, watermakers and a laboratory to test the CO2 level of the water.
The only fossil fuel consumer on board is a small gas stove to heat the water needed for freeze-dried vegan food.
Designed for racing, the boat can go up to 35 knots (70 km) per hour but the captain intends to sail more slowly. "The goal is to arrive safe and sound in New York," Hermann told AFP as he was busy preparing for the final preparations at the port of Plymouth, from where the Malizia II dropped Wednesday the moorings.
His 4.5-meter keel also makes it unlikely that he will turn around.
Before this adventure, Greta Thunberg had never sailed. She was seasick at her first time on Monday off Plymouth - but the activist is not worried about her crossing, but basic comfort.
On board the narrow sailboat, a plastic bucket serves as a toilet. Four bunk beds were installed for Greta, his father and a filmmaker who made a documentary about his fight. Hermann and Casiraghi will take turns sleeping in the fourth.
"You can not really ask a lot when you cross the Atlantic for free," said the one who has already spent hours traveling Europe to spread her message. "I'm grateful for what I have."
© 2019 AFP