Greta Thunberg

[Horatio]

Hmm that sounds like the kind of alt right half truth narrative that gets thrown at any activist with a vaguely left wing image these days. Though I have no idea why climate change should be seen as a left wing issue - but that says a lot about how screwed we are. I’m sure you’ll say it’s not left wing, but when people actively involved in helping start being demonised for their parents supposed links to antifa, it is.
I said I wasn’t sure about her but that was more that she might be a bit of a distraction or under too much pressure etc.
Whether or not her parents fame helped her get into that position, and if they support antifa (who I hear about way more about in these conspiracies than I ever see the actual presence of, in the UK anyway) is pretty irrelevant.

 

[Ensay]

I think it's good that she's raised awareness of climate change and our impact on the environment, along with what will happen if we don't address it. And it's right that someone younger does it, because -- let's face it -- her generation will be impacted a lot more than those who are older.

She's also highlighted the massive amount of defensiveness that some people show when the topic is raised. From people who think climate change is nonsense and turn their anger on her, to people who accept that climate change is an issue but deep down feel a bit guilty about not doing enough and hence lash out when challenged on it.

Like it or not, the amount of hate and nasty comments directed at her is bizarre. And I'm not saying people shouldn't criticise the content of what she says, but she gets so many personal insults directed at her from adults. Just the other day Julia Hartley-Brewer tweeted a list of insults about Greta and included "autistic" in her list. She deleted it soon after, but as we all know, the internet is forever.

 

[mummy2under2]

She's fucking annoying. She does my head in.
I've never seen her smile, not once.
She's the most miserable looking kid for someone that has so much time off school and is supposedly passionate about what she's preaching.

She just shouts and accuses yet has absolutely no resolution.
Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon.

 

[Wynonna]

There is a really awkward and strange clip somewhere where she flounders and doesn't know how to answer a journalist's question about the message she wants to send. I think she is just a "face" or a spokesperson, and her parents give her a script of what to say.

I think most people still think of her as a child because it doesn't seem that long ago since she came into the limelight, and also she still acts young and is a bit strange looking, with the pigtails, she looks like a toddler's head on an adult's body.

 

[bubbletea123]

I admire her bravery but I do hope she doesn't crumble under the weight of hatred she seems to be getting from Western rich men.

I think corporations need to help the public change habits for the better. We all now recycle at the kerbside but you hear stories of it getting sent to China to be incinerated, or that councils cannot recycle some types of plastics.

Corporations with the capital funds and technology should change packaging, and recipes (do we really need palm oil in every biscuit?), and the consumers can then recycle at local level knowing that they can actually be processed. A lot of the public are getting better at using metal water bottles and using reusable coffee cups and you are almost the odd one out now if you use a plastic straw. We the public need help from our suppliers, to give us options. The argument that it is all the consumers fault for buying plastic covered food and that demand from customer should change the corps, is flawed. The average person does not have the resource to drive miles and miles to the local farms to buy a few carrots every week, and the population is massive. People need to eat so will buy what is available. The suppliers should drive the change and consumers can then adapt. And how to make the mega corps toe the line? Government policy.

I'm not sure how it is in the UK but here where I am in Canada , there is easy access to farmers markets to get local produce.

I am from the UK and the one thing I noticed is that the UK uses so much plastic when it comes to produce such as fruit and veg. Over here, most of that stuff is not wrapped in anything. Also, ready meals are less available here than in the UK surprisingly, so much less plastic from that.

Pressure needs to be put on India and China considering much of rhe world's pollution comes from them. Until something with them changes, our efforts will be pretty futile. It is good for us to try and make changes though but they won't be significant enough.

Also I want to add, people better not start saying we shouldn't be using airplanes. Greta was only able to sail to the USA because her parents are very wealthy. There are people I follow online who are panicking about driving to the grocery store and honestly that is ridiculous. You can be conscious but you still have to get on with life and mass hysteria is not it. Unfortunately where I live, public transit isn't great and the city is so widespread that driving is the best option.

 

[lilyannrose]

I'm not a fan of her brand of climate activism or any activism that just seems to involve throwing tanturms and yelling at people. I think it's pretty disgraceful that Extinction Rebellion have used a literal child as their poster girl, although she's a legal adult now at least. That said, the bile she attracts is absolutely disgusting, bizarre and worrying...it scares me that so many think it's acceptable to hurl abuse at a young woman who is just following her passion, however annoying some of us may find her methods.

However, I do respect her for her handling of the Andrew Tate saga. First class all the way. Credit where it's due!

 

[rainbowlemon]

IMO that public attention would be better used giving the same safety net to the aid workers in Gaza that are at very real risk daily than a political game (at best) that will achieve a few grumbles at best by the very same groups or parties that have been grumbling all along

I don’t think it's fair to dismiss public outrage as just “grumbling.”

Seven World Central Kitchen aid workers were deliberately targeted and killed in what was described as a “precision strike.” That wasn’t a random risk, it was a direct hit on people delivering food.

Innocent journalists and paramedics have already been bombed while doing their jobs. Not even refugees in supposed safe zones have been left alone. This is a crisis demanding accountability.

Yes, supporting aid workers on the ground is essential. but part of that protection comes from also holding those responsible to account and raising awareness which Greta has done.

I don't see it as an either/or situation, we can care for those at risk and still demand justice for those already lost.

 

[bubbletea123]

My thoughts are that she is a puppet, who's pulling her strings I'm not sure but I think this is all a stunt.

When she was interviewed when she arrived in NYC she looked so out of her depth and totally scared.

What parents would allow their child to do what she has been doing unless they were getting paid very well for it??

None of it sits right with me I'm afraid.

Right. I wonder are her parents behind it? I believe they're very friendly with leaders of some green charities.

I have read she is donating all the money but I doubt it.

She looks and sounds going by her mental health record very vulnerable.

 

[Merpedy]

I’m pro-Palestine but this whole boat with a symbolic amount of aid just screams of PR for the individuals to me and not actually highlighting or doing anything in aid of Palestine and Gaza

but what’s new? I feel like this is increasingly an issue

 

[Oohthedrama]

Thoughts...? I have a lot.

Maybe start the thread off with your thoughts then?

 

[Pinchme]

Right. I wonder are her parents behind it? I believe they're very friendly with leaders of some green charities.

I have read she is donating all the money but I doubt it.

She looks and sounds going by her mental health record very vulnerable.

Yes, someone or some companies are, a 12yr old just doesn't decide all this on her own without parents etc.

People are putting her on a pedestal like it was all her idea I don't think so.... All very orchestrated I think.

At least she’s doing something? Everyone doing nothing could lead to extinction of our species, the planet will recover, it has before. Humans won’t.

Doing something? But what is that something really doing to her?

I think she is one very unhappy confused kid. who needs to step away from all this and be a kid, but as in everything in this world there are people behind her pulling her strings, making big bucks.

 

[BettyCrocker]

The kid seems unstable.

 

[Pambo]

Everyone keeps calling her a kid but she's an 18yo masquerading as a 12yo. Serious Baby Jane vibes.

 

[thegirlscout]

I’m pro-Palestine but this whole boat with a symbolic amount of aid just screams of PR for the individuals to me and not actually highlighting or doing anything in aid of Palestine and Gaza

but what’s new? I feel like this is increasingly an issue

Every story in the papers is about her, it’s taken focus off the people suffering. It stinks of white saviour behaviour.

 

[bubbletea123]

I just cannot believe this is all her doing, there is no way someone her age, didn't she start at 8yrs? Can talk like she does, I think the video is proof of that, she is told what to say when.

Her parents should be ashamed to let her be used in this way it's child abuse.

You are correct. At eight years old, Greta had severe depression because of her worries about climate change. So, that was way back in 2011. Sorry, that is fucked up. An eight-year-old should not be worrying about those kinds of things. She says her "childhood was stolen" from her. Perhaps she should look around at who raised her as a kid and caused her such anxiety. Kids brains are like sponges so anything being said at home, they will absorb. She said her parents weren't for climate change until she brought it up and that her mother, a famous opera singer, stopped traveling (apparently) because of what Greta said. I am sorry, even if your child means well, you should never put your career on hold because of something they said. A child is a child and should not hold that much power in the household.

She is vulnerable and being completely exploited. Anybody who believes that the speeches are really Greta's words is gullible. I'm not saying I don't believe that she is for climate change BUT I do think she is being fed information and told what to say when, as she clearly had no clue what she was talking about in the press conference.

 

[Warpaint]

They played right into Israel's hands for PR

-Guide them away from evil Hamas
-Hand out fresh sandwiches and water to the silly little sailors
-Quick educational video on what Hamas has been up to the last few years
-Medical check for them all as they've had a tough journey in their little boat
-Fly them all home with a wave and a smile

 

[Appanappa]

Imo she can do whatever she wants but don’t come preaching to me, when countries like China are some of the biggest polluters

stopping using straws wont save the planet - she gives speeches but doesn’t work with anyone in positions to make a change

 

[Appanappa]

I know someone got a train to Spain this week to avoid flying, it is possible...
She does do her best to sit with people, but when you have Donald Trump in the White House who doesn’t even believe climate change is real, what can you really do apart from ranting about it and making it headline news so everyone starts to talk about it and reconsider their own behaviour? You need to shut down cities and cause inconvenience so that people actually become aware of this before we sleepwalk into climate oblivion.

Yeah, a train to Spain which would cost more than I earn. Shutting down cities & causing damage governments have to pay for? Isn’t that taking money that could be used for climate change. She isn’t going to reimburse to money lost because her protest made me late to work.
She isn’t a child who wants to world to change, she has a platform because her mother is a singer & her father and grandfather are actors, and this is her turn in the limelight. A petulant child who needs to go back to school or get a job

 

[bubbletea123]

Hmm that sounds like the kind of alt right half truth narrative that gets thrown at any activist with a vaguely left wing image these days. Though I have no idea why climate change should be seen as a left wing issue - but that says a lot about how screwed we are. I’m sure you’ll say it’s not left wing, but when people actively involved in helping start being demonised for their parents supposed links to antifa, it is.
I said I wasn’t sure about her but that was more that she might be a bit of a distraction or under too much pressure etc.
Whether or not her parents fame helped her get into that position, and if they support antifa (who I hear about way more about in these conspiracies than I ever see the actual presence of, in the UK anyway) is pretty irrelevant.

Someone as fragile as her though I think doesn't need this pressure.

I am far from alt-right and don't read such media. I read about her parent's history and that is my thoughts on the situation.

 

[thenomad]

Yes, Greta benefits from having parents who are wealthy and I would guess are also well-connected (media, PR, etc). And yes, she's also very fortunate to have this platform and to have people paying attention to her. She is in a place of privilege and speaking up when it must not be easy for her to do so considering she has Asperger's. She has been successful considering how many indigenous groups who have been speaking out about saving their homeland for years have largely been ignored (we know why that is). Those indigenous groups don't have the privilege or the money backing them to travel and speak about this issue at hand like Greta does. That is certainly not to downplay what Greta is doing at all. I think she's bringing a lot of awareness to climate change which is always a good thing but I'm also a bit skeptical having her be the face of this issue. I really hope this doesn't become a flash in the pan issue and is revisited over and over. Malala Yousafzai is another young activist that comes to mind that had a moment and over the years the media has moved onto other things.

I do agree with her message but I am also cynical that it's already too late and not much can be done. Mega corporations and countries that emit the most pollution are reluctant to do anything as it hurts their bottom line-- money. I'm glad she's drawing attention but I also worry the line of fire she's in. Dissenters are being ableist, making fun of her looks, and dismissing her overall-- as to try to nullfy all the arguments she's bringing up in regards to climate change.

Yes, the Parkland kids have gone off the radar and their momentum has died down quite a bit. A lot of them are in college/university atm. But they also really pushed to get a lot of young voters to vote for the 2018 midterms in the US; which the turnout was an unprecedented high for youth voters. They played a part in that and getting people to see the NRA in an unfavorable light (whose membership is dropping rapidly). So something is still better than nothing but for climate change... I think it's too late and not enough people realize the urgency and exactly what is at stake. Or they're aware but just don't have enough in them at the end of the day to think about how awful our future can be when most people are just barely getting by in their own lives due to wage stagnation, crippling debt, inflation, etc.