Environmental activist Greta Thunberg lashes out at Danish for dumping wastewater into strait

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg talks via video link with Professor of Environmental Science Johan Rockstrom in Germany, during a live chat on International Earth Day where they discussed the coronavirus pandemic and the environment, at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday, April 22, 2020. 

 Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg lashed out at the Danish capital on May 27 because Copenhagen has for the last six years pumped large amounts of wastewater into the strait separating Sweden and Denmark.

Danish media, citing the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, say that since 2014, over 35 billion liters (9.1 billion gallons) of unfiltered sewer water have been pumped into the Oresund Strait during heavy rains because Danish treatment plants could not handle the large volume of water.

The information has surfaced recently because the capital had planned to allow the Greater Copenhagen Utility HOFOR to flush 290,00 cubic meters (10 million cubic feet) of unfiltered wastewater into Oresund starting Sunday. That decision has been postponed till October.

Thunberg said on Facebook that these actions are coming from “the same Copenhagen who claim they’ll be climate neutral by 2025.” The Danish capital aims to become carbon neutral by 2025, possibly the first world capital to do so.

The 17-year-old has encouraged students to skip school to join protests demanding faster action on climate change, a movement that has spread beyond Sweden to other European nations and around the world. She founded the Fridays for Future movement that has inspired similar actions by other young people.

(Image credit: AP)