Thunberg meets Attenborough, an inspiration

Greta Thunberg has had quite a year.

She's sailed across the Atlantic, twice, addressed heads of state at the United Nations, and was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year.

Now, the Swedish climate activist has spoken of her admiration of the man who inspired her, Sir David Attenborough, in a conversation on the BBC with the man himself.

SOUNDBITE) (English) CLIMATE ACTIVIST, GRETA THUNBERG, SAYING:

"When I was younger, when I was maybe eight, nine, 10 years old, the thing that's - that made me open my eyes for, for what was happening with the environment and the climate was, was films and documentaries about the natural world, and what was happening, what was going on. So that has definitely been an eye opener for me and that was what made me realize the situations though. It's so, so thank you for that, because that was what made me decide to do something about it."

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NATURALIST AND BBC PRESENTER, DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, SAYING:

"Well, I'm very flattered you should say that, lots of people didn't. And we've been going on - the trouble is, politicians are just concerned about tomorrow and the day after. Was it mentioned in the election? Hardly at all. The only reason that it has been mentioned even that much is because of you. You have woken up the world really."

At the U.N. climate summit earlier this year, Thunberg gave President Trump what the media described as a "death stare."

She's now said she wouldn't have spoken to him even if she'd had the chance, because, she said, it would have been a waste of time.

While she's pleased with how many people are listening, Thunberg said many more are not, so her work isn't done yet.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) CLIMATE ACTIVIST, GRETA THUNBERG, SAYING:

"You need to repeat it until people get it."