• In an effort to reduce her carbon footprint, climate activist Greta Thunberg – who is Time’s 2019 Person of the Year – hasn’t flown since 2015.
  • Thunberg’s travel habits have inspired travelers from around the world and Sweden, in particular, to opt for more eco-friendly transportation. This has been dubbed the “Greta Effect.”
  • Two Swedish terms have become zeitgeist buzzwords in 2019: flygskam (flight-shaming) and tagskryt (train-bragging).
  • A Swedish Facebook group dedicated to traveling sustainably by train now has 170,000 train-bragging members, up 200 percent since April.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg caused quite the media stir in September when she arrived in New York City for the UN Climate Summit not by plane, but on a 60-foot solar-powered yacht.

Thunberg, who is Time’s 2019 Person of the Year and a suspected frontrunner for the Nobel Peace Prize, hasn’t flown since 2015 in an effort to reduce her carbon footprint.

Thunberg’s activism has set in motion what has been deemed the “Greta Effect,” inspiring travelers to book more eco-friendly travel options.

And Swedes are leading the charge. Two Swedish terms – flygskam (flight-shaming) and tagskryt (train-bragging) – have become 2019 buzzwords.

A popular Swedish train-bragging Facebook group has seen a 200% increase since April

Serving as a testament to the rising popularity of train-bragging, a Swedish Facebook group dedicated to traveling sustainably by train has seen its membership soar to 170,000 members this year. That's a 200% increase since April and a significant jump from January 2018, when it had a mere 4,000 members.

Susanna Elfors founded the group in 2014 to make traveling by train to other countries less of a headache.

Upon starting to travel exclusively by train, she told Public Radio International's Carol Hills, "... I got quite frustrated because I thought it was hard."

"It was tricky and not so comfortable," she continued. "I had been working in sustainability for many years so I thought 'if I'm finding this difficult, others must be.'"

Posts in the group range from travel anecdotes to destination tips and questions about how best to get from point A to B.

"For 400 [Swedish kroner] and some luck I got a whole compartment for myself on the night train between Hamburg and Zurich," one member train-bragged in September. "Have slept like a starfish over all seats and listened to audio book at the highest volume while the sun has gone down and then up again. 1000 times more festive than all the flygplansstolar [aircraft chairs] in the whole world!"

Some of the most frequently asked questions in the group are related to travel from Sweden to Greece, how to travel as a tall person, how to travel with a dog, and what the food is like, Elfors told Global Citizen's Helen Lock in July.

In 2018, train travel throughout Sweden increased by 2 million trips compared to 2017, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). This year, the Swedish government has also pledged to invest $5 million in overnight sleeper trains, the WEF reported.

The train-bragging sentiment has outpaced flight-shaming, Elfors told Lock. "Before it was all about posting pics on Facebook from Thailand, but now that could bring 'flight shame' and it's more about train-bragging now," she said. "That's what I like about what we're doing. It's not about shame, it's about encouraging people. We're hoping to inspire people."

Are you a train-bragger with a story or itinerary to share? Email this reporter at [email protected].