Greta Thunberg tells EU lawmakers to focus more on climate instead of Brexit

• Tuesday's speech came just over one month after Thunberg led the largest and most widespread demonstration on climate change since the run-up to the Paris climate summit in 2014 and 2015.

The takeaways:

• Thunberg said that, around 2030, "an irreversible chain reaction that will most likely lead to the end of our civilization as we know it" will begin, adding that changes like a 50% reduction of CO2 emissions would be needed to avoid that outcome.
• The young activist fought back tears as she spoke about a wide range of topics: an increasing extinction rate, fertile topsoil erosion, deforestation, air pollution, insect loss and ocean acidification.
• "You cannot ignore the scientists, or the science, or the millions of ... children who are school striking for the right to a future," she said in closing.

Between the lines: A December poll by the Yale Program on Climate Change and George Mason University found that the portion of the American public "alarmed" about climate change is at an all-time high of 29% — double the size of a 2013 survey.

Go deeper: Watch Thunberg's full speech here.