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Swedish teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg says time is running out to halt climate change and she's urging European politicians "to panic."

Thunberg told EU lawmakers Tuesday: "I want you to act as if the house is on fire."

She said that "if our house was falling apart you wouldn't hold three emergency Brexit summits and no emergency summit regarding the breakdown of the climate and environment."

During a speech met with a standing ovation, Thunberg fought back tears as she warned about rapid species extinctions, soil erosion, deforestation and the pollution of oceans.

In a reference to the international funding effort launched to rebuild the fire-ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, she urged the lawmakers to use "cathedral thinking" to tackle climate change.