The appearance of 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg on September 23, 2019 at the UN podium was, if not “thunder from a clear sky”, then at least an event that few people in the world left indifferent to her words.
The full name of the Swedish activist is Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg, date of birth January 3, 2003). Greta Thunberg’s parents: mother Malena Ernman is a Swedish opera singer, father is actor Svante Thunberg. Grandfather – actor Olof Thunberg.
Statements and beliefs of the activist
It would seem that the girl is talking about what has already been said many times from various stands. But one thing – the words of politicians. They are most often needed, to a large extent, for some narrow interests. It is quite another when they come from a person who does not soften the colors, but calls white white and black black.
“You don’t live up to our expectations. You, with your empty words, have stolen my childhood and my dreams! And I’m still lucky. People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are on the brink of mass extinction. And all you care about is money and fairy tales about economic growth. How dare you!” – Greta told the representatives of the states gathered for the UN summit.
Her speech was emotional. She accused politicians of ignoring the problem of global warming, that they are taking away the future of her and millions of other people.
Recall that Donald Trump refused to cooperate with the United States with other countries in an agreement to mitigate the effects of climate change. He does not support the Paris Agreement.
Environmental activism
Greta was born on January 3, 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden. As the girl recalls, she learned about climate change at the age of 8. She then was simply surprised why no one in the whole world is doing anything to prevent such changes from happening. At the age of 11, the girl began to have health problems. These were depressions, a complete lack of appetite, the desire to speak also disappeared.
After some time, doctors diagnosed – Asperger’s syndrome, that is, obsessive-compulsive disorder and selective mutism.
Greta is sure that the latter is manifested in the fact that she speaks only when she thinks it is necessary. As for Asperger’s syndrome, she is convinced that it is a gift that determines the vision of the world not in the way others do, but in a “very black and white light.”
The topic that interested Greta at the age of 8 turned out to be the main one in her later life. Last May, she won a climate essay competition. It was organized by the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbland.
Literally immediately after the publication, which appeared on the pages of the publication, one of the activists of the environmental organization Fossilfritt Dalsland Bu Thoren contacted Greta. They met several times, and one day the girl suggested that schoolchildren start a strike against climate change. Commenting on that event, Greta clarifies that such an idea came to her after the strikes of schoolchildren in the United States, who were frightened by mass shootings in Florida schools.
Further, the activity of the girl developed rapidly. The idea of school strikes inspired her peers around the world. And now in many cities, children on Fridays go not to school, but to the streets. They seek to draw the attention of politicians and society to the problems of climate change. When speaking, Greta always refers to the IPCC report, backing up her words with concrete examples based on research.
The activity of the girl could not be ignored. Gradually, her activities became known far beyond the borders of Sweden. They also noticed it in the UN. The result was 2 meetings (December 2018 and May 2019) of Greta with the Secretary General of this organization, António Guterres. Assessing them, he said that he approved of the strikes, expressing regret that his generation had not coped with climate change, but “the youth feel it. No wonder they’re angry.”
Greta also visited the Davos Forum in January of this year, urging businessmen and politicians to act more decisively there. In the same year, in February, she spoke at the conference of the European Socio-Economic Committee. In the last days of March, the girl was in Berlin, speaking there in front of 25 thousand people.
This was followed by her meeting in the European Parliament. By the way, speaking to the MEPs, Greta expressed reasoned criticism of them “for 3 urgent summits due to Brexit and zero urgent summits due to the destruction of the climate and the environment.”
The speech turned out to be so businesslike and emotional that it ended with prolonged applause.
And there were also Greta’s speeches in July at the Fridays for the Future rally in Berlin, May meetings with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the UN Secretary General and the Austrian President. This meeting was organized by Schwarzenegger in order to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
“If we don’t do anything before about 2030,” the girl then quoted a 2018 IPCC report, “we will probably start an irreversible and uncontrollable chain reaction.”
Greta’s speech at the UN Climate Summit on September 23 in New York took only 4 minutes. This was enough to bring accusations against governments of ignoring climate issues and betraying future generations. “Entire ecosystems are dying,” Thunberg said, “you can only discuss money and talk about endless economic growth … young people begin to understand that you are betraying them.”
Awards and awards
Despite the fact that the activity of Greta Thunberg began quite recently, she has already received high praise in the world. Deputies of the Swedish Riksdag (unicameral parliament) from the opposition, three deputies of the Norwegian Stortin, also from the opposition party, Greta was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Arguments – because of global warming, wars, conflicts, millions of refugees can begin.
Last year, Time magazine named Greta Thunberg one of the 25 most influential teens. In 2019, the same magazine in April recognized her as one of the most influential people of the year. In the same year, she was named Woman of the Year in Sweden.
In June of this year, the girl received the title of “Ambassador of Conscience” (the highest award of Amnesty International). The following month, she was awarded the “Freedom Award”. The award was presented in France, with the presence of veterans of the landings in Normandy.
Performance ratings
British journalist Joe Senler Clark believes that schoolchildren’s climate strikes have resonated around the world. For this reason, those who deny climate change due to human impact are trying to discredit Greta. Aditya Chakrabortti of The Guardian emphasizes that criticism of Greta becomes a form of “dirty personal attacks.”
One of the authors of the publication Contrepoints, Drieu Godefridi, said that the competence of a 15-year-old girl who does not have “developed critical thinking” is questionable. As for Greta’s accusations against oil industry bigwigs, she can’t talk about crimes against humanity.
Greta Thunberg is also criticized in Sweden. However, in neighboring Finland, Isobel Hadley-Kampz, writing in Hufvudstadsbladet, suggested that politicians are outraged that a girl is doing better than them.
Influential and “green”: why everyone was so excited by the speech of eco-activist Greta Thunberg at the UN
Greta’s speech at the UN, her accusations of world leaders of greed and indifference to climate change were among the most discussed topics in the media and social networks, many of her photos turned into memes.
Literally immediately, the most active were those who are sure that the Swedish schoolgirl activist is a PR tool through which certain forces lobby their interests.
Many believe that someone influential is behind her in order to advance their interests later. For example, according to rg.ru, George Soros is called Greta’s “leader”, since the German eco-activist Louise Marie Neubayer, who is probably connected with the organizations of the American financier, often appears next to her. Perhaps Gore or Soros are not directly involved in Greta’s fame, but the projects in which they send a lot of money are aimed precisely at cultivating such leaders as an eco-activist.
Political analyst and writer Dinesh D’Souza claims that Greta is using Nazi propaganda methods. The analyst stated that children “especially Nordic white girls … were often used by Nazi propaganda.” Sousa called the girl’s activity an old Goebbels technique, stating that today’s leftists are learning from the leftists of the 1930s.
Greta has been called a “mentally ill girl” by Fox News. Laura Ingram, the channel’s TV presenter, tweeted a collage of a photo of Greta glued together with children of corn (King’s novel in which children kill adults). Ingram promised to find and expose the people behind Greta Thunberg.
The performance of Greta and Russia was ambiguously perceived. Here, too, there are those who represent the interests of financial tycoons, for whom nothing exists but money. At the same time, there are many people who understand what climate change, which is largely due to human fault, can lead to. It came to the possible invitation of Greta Thunberg to the State Duma to speak to the deputies.
