Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg said Monday she would not have "wasted my time" talking to President Donald Trump at a United Nations summit in September about global warming, as he most likely would not have listened to her concerns.
She also said she finds Trump's criticisms of her "funny."
"Honestly, I don't think I would have said anything because obviously he's not listening to scientists and experts, so why would he listen to me," Thunberg, 16, said during an interview on BBC Radio's Today program, where she appeared as a guest, reports NBC News.
Trump, shortly after Thunberg was named Time magazine's Person of the Year, ridiculed her on Twitter, saying she needs to "work on her anger management program." In addition, this month Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called her a "brat."
"Those attacks are just funny because they obviously don't mean anything," Thunberg said. "I guess of course it means something — they are terrified of young people bringing change which they don't want — but that is just proof that we are actually doing something and that they see us as some kind of threat."
Her father Svante Thunberg, also interviewed for the BBC program, said his daughter is dealing well with "the hate that generates" against her in the global media.
"Quite frankly, I don't know how she does it, but she laughs most of the time," he said. "She finds it hilarious."
Thunberg captured the world's attention when she began a grassroots campaign at 15, when she skipped school every Friday to demonstrate outside Sweden's parliament.
She said Monday that being an activist helped rescue her from depression, but she also hopes to return to normal teenage life soon.
"I just want to be just as everyone else," she said. "I want to educate myself and be just like a normal teenager."