2019 was, without a doubt, the year Greta Thunberg took over the world. Joined in protest by hundreds of thousands of people across the world, the teenage climate activist brought conversations about the climate crisis into the mainstream, making it a lot harder for politicians and world leaders to ignore. And Thunberg shows no signs of stopping her fight in 2020.

Among all these incredible moments, the climate activist has also proved – time and time again – that she’s got a talent for crafting iconic Twitter moments. Whether she’s responding to an attempt to belittle her message or giving the American president a taste of his own medicine, Thunberg gets her message across in an inventive and often hilarious way.

And it’s not just Thunberg’s creativity which is so impressive – the climate activist uses her tweets to grasp peoples’ attention and uses her viral moments to spread her incredibly important message.

But don’t just take our word for it. Here, we’ve rounded up the best of Thunberg’s Twitter moments for your enjoyment. 

When she responded to a sexually explicit illustration of herself in the best way possible

It’s hard to believe that anyone thought it was OK to make a graphic and sexually explicit graphic of Greta Thunberg – and then slap an oil company’s logo on the image – but this actually happened this week, when a Canadian oil company came under fire for the illustration depicting the young climate activist.

The image would be shocking and disgusting enough on its own, but when you consider that Thunberg is a 17-year-old child, the use of her image in this way is even more despicable.

Taking to Twitter to respond to the image, which quickly gained attention for its abhorrent nature, Thunberg shut down the creators of the graphic in one fell swoop, failing to give it the emotional response it was clearly designed to provoke from the young climate activist.

“They are starting to get more and more desperate…” Thunberg wrote. “This shows that we’re winning.”

When she gave Donald Trump a taste of his own medicine

It’s safe to say Donald Trump is not a fan of Greta Thunberg, and so, in true Trump fashion, he took to Twitter to express his opinion in a (pitiful) attempt at sarcasm. Responding to Thunberg’s emotionally-charged speech at the UN conference in September, Trump called the climate activist a “very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future,” in a remark we assume was supposed to be offensive.

But Thunberg was, frankly, having none of it – and she shut down Trump’s childish attempt to offend her by turning his remark into a tongue-in-cheek Twitter bio.

“A very happy girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future,” Thunberg wrote on her profile. Truly iconic. 

When she employed an incredibly timed GIF

Thunberg has repeatedly proved that the right GIF used at the right time can create a true work of art – but this moment really took the crown.

Throughout her time in the public eye, Thunberg has made it very clear that she doesn’t want people in power to call her an “inspiration” and spend time worshipping her achievements – she wants the older generation to act, so she can go back to enjoying her childhood.

Having exhausted all the other options, Thunberg tweeted a GIF of an adult kicking a human-size earth at a child, knocking them over. Her caption? “Receiving planet earth from older generations like.” 

When she renamed herself “Sharon”

Less than a week into 2020 Thunberg claimed one of her finest viral moments yet by changing her Twitter name to Sharon. 

Why, you might ask? The joke comes from a hilarious moment on Celebrity Mastermind, when Casualty actor Amanda Henderson drew a blank on the question: “The 2019 book entitled No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference is a collection of speeches made by a Swedish climate change activist. What’s her name?”

The answer is, obviously, Thunberg, but the actor drew a blank, answering “Sharon”. 

The video quickly went viral – leading Thunberg to see it – and the climate change activist aptly changed her Twitter name to Sharon in honour of the glorious moment.  

When she dressed up as herself for Halloween

If there’s one thing Greta Thunberg is an expert at, it’s putting the adults who attempt to criticise and mock her in their rightful place.

In an excellent example, Thunberg took to Twitter to share her Halloween costume, which played on the fact that grown adults clearly feel threatened by a teenage girl.

“So today is Halloween. I don’t celebrate back home, but I thought I might give it a try. And apparently when it comes to scaring a bunch of angry climate crisis deniers – I don’t even have to dress up!!” she wrote.

When she shut down Meat Loaf’s “brainwashed” comments

Greta Thunberg has received more than her fair share of criticism after the last year or so, but she refuses to let the comments stop her from continuing in her mission to raise awareness of the climate crisis.

Responding to recent criticism from singer Meat Loaf who said she had “been brainwashed into thinking that there is climate change and there isn’t” Thunberg turned the attention away from both the star and herself, focusing the conversation on the only thing that really matters.

“It’s not about Meat Loaf. It’s not about me. It’s not about what some people call me. It’s not about left or right,” she wrote.

“It’s all about scientific facts. And that we’re not aware of the situation. Unless we start to focus everything on this, our targets will soon be out of reach.”

Image: Getty