Climate activist teenager Greta Thunberg was invited to address the French Parliament on July 23, along with a bunch of other students.

“By 2030, we might no longer be able to undo the irreversible climate breakdown if we continue with ‘business as usual’,” Thunberg said during her address. Drawing attention to the criticism she and other children her age face, she said that children have to “become the bad guys who have to tell people uncomfortable things”.

Many French parliamentarians boycotted Thunberg’s address, calling her the “guru of the apocalypse” and the “Justin Bieber of ecology”, BBC reported. “You don’t have to listen to children, but you do have to listen to the scientists, just unite behind the science,” Thunberg said in her speech for people who chose not to listen to her address.

The activist had started skipping school in August 2018 to stage protests against climate change every day outside the Swedish parliament, pioneering the “school strike for climate action” a worldwide initiative by school-going children. She has transformed into a global icon for climate action and has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.