I don’t know about you, but I am having some second thoughts about seventeen-year-old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg. Thunberg is known for her straightforward speaking manner, both in public and to political leaders and assemblies, in which she urges immediate action to address what she describes as the climate crisis. I support the message that she is constantly delivering, but I am more amazed by her global impact on the issue.
There has been much criticism, including by myself, as to whether she is actually a genuine, knowledgeable young girl or is she being manipulated by other forces and movements. I don’t know the answer, but as a teenager, she is actually quite amazing. Greta has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism, alongside ADHD. I would maintain that these disorders are an incredible handicap for even the strongest adult to overcome. Yet, in spite of it, Greta possesses an incredible presence when she speaks. When she speaks she has the charisma of a movie star or an elite athlete although she is really a teenage school girl.
Her United Nations address last year not only captured the attention of the delegates but that of millions of people around the world with her biting rebuke of the establishment. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” That is a very powerful narrative delivered with a feistiness and verve that is usually reserved for senior statesmen or veteran leaders.
I believe that presentation at the UN caused a lot of leaders to pay attention and sit up straight and lower their eyes. They, and we, all knew that there was more truth to her message than we cared to admit. But of course, she was just a relatively unknown child with no academic credentials, so the establishment had nothing to worry about. Her dramatic performance would be forgotten tomorrow. Well, we were wrong again.
Whatever criticism people throw at her - her youth, her naivety, her lack of academic credentials, her family influence, or her lack of understanding of all of the ramifications and facets of climate change - she is now a powerful voice in the world. She seems to touch the core values of a lot of people who are also tired of the counter-arguments of the big business and oil sectors who ridicule and dispel her as an uninformed minor.
She was chosen as the Time magazine Person of the Year for 2019 and nominated for the Nobel Prize as well. Whether you believe that this is far too much of a leap of faith to elevate her to the level of many famous world leaders, she is there. Her name is recognized globally and it arouses strong sentiment from supporters on both sides of the climate change issue. Rallies and demonstrations in support of her climate change fight have numbered in the hundreds of thousands with cumulative totals over five million. Her ability to arouse fervour and impassioned responses from her audiences is a quality few leaders possess. Greta Thunberg has that ability!
It is too early to determine whether she will continue to gain momentum and support in her crusade. Will history elevate her impact to the level of the amateur German painter from Munich or the American pastor from Atlanta who had a dream? Or will the Thunberg movement suffer the same fate as the Occupy Wall Street one, and rise rapidly and then fade as quickly as a colour photo left too long in the sunshine? Time will be the judge.
All I know for sure is that Greta Thunberg will not be going away anytime soon!
2 comments:
When adults hear Greta speak they think these words couldn’t possibly come from a teenaged girl. What has age got to do with truth and wisdom?? Her handicaps (Aspergers, OCD, etc) may be her strength.
Malala, as a teenager (aged 17) received a Nobel Peace prize for her strong conviction that girls, especially Pakistani girls, have a right to an education.
Joan of Arc, a teenaged peasant girl who had mystical visions, led France to victory in 1429. Unfortunately she was charged with witchcraft, heresy, dressing like a man and was burned at the stake.
Perhaps Greta is a climat mystic. Thankfully we no longer burn people at the stake!
Question: Where are the teenaged boy leaders??
Marian
I'm afraid the boys are playing on their iPhones or playing Fortnite. I can only offer up Louis Braille who as a sixteen-year-old boy developed the Braille system to allow the blind to read with their fingers.
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