Greta Thunberg Will Save the World: A Response to Damien Grant
Emrys Jansen
One of today’s most influential climate activists is Greta Thunberg. At sixteen, she’s the founder of the #FridaysForFuture protest movement, and has spoken at parliaments, conferences, UN summits and even been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Not everyone is a fan. Aside from the climate change deniers and the politicians who feel threatened by Ms Thunberg’s impact, there are some people whose issues with Greta are less to do with what she’s saying than with who she is. Damien Grant’s article ‘Climate starlets solve nothing’ (published May 5, 2019) is a typical example1. I take exception to Mr Grant’s brand of ‘criticism’: factually incorrect, patronising and sexist. More than that, it has nothing to do with the actual issues. Some adults are intimidated by Ms Thunberg and the societal change she represents, and that’s a problem – not just for her, but for our future.
Mr Grant’s consistently incorrect characterisation of Greta Thunberg and her work shows that he knows very little about her. He misrepresents her motivations, her impact, and the challenges she has worked to overcome. Hardly one of the “dilettantes who have made climate change their defining issue,” Greta’s interest in climate change – or as she calls it, climate breakdown or climate emergency – is not fleeting or vapid. Greta is terrified. “I don’t want your hope,” she told the World Economic Forum at Davos. “I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.”2
And people are acting. Greta has inspired an EU proposal for hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change.3 Her Fridays for Future school strikes have drawn more than 1.4 million people in over a hundred countries.4 President Obama and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, among others, endorse her efforts.5,6 These are incredible achievements, for someone of any age, and they are all ignored by Mr Grant.
Furthermore, Greta knows that her role in this fight is more subtle than Mr Grant seems to grasp. She does not “parrot science she cannot understand” – as if it were impossible for teenagers to educate themselves on a topic they were passionate about. Rather, she highlights the facts that many people in power refuse to see, and puts them front and centre. She understands that we have the science and we know the solutions, but we lack the will to change. The climate fight isn’t fought on science anymore, but on behaviour and incentive. That’s what Greta is good at.
Mr Grant also thinks that “no-one is going to debate or even criticise [Greta] for fear of being labelled insensitive.” But that claim is just not true.7 Ms Thunberg has long been under attack from climate change deniers and far-right groups, mocking her youth, her Asperger’s, calling for her to “have a meltdown on national telly”8. Far from contributing anything to the vital discourse on climate breakdown, Mr Grant simply joins their number.
More problematic, though, than the technical issues with Mr Grant’s article are his premise and tone, which are frankly offensive. He also writes with a casual disregard for the credibility of women, for example dismissing the achievements of Lucy Lawless by way of a crass reference to her appearance in the show Xena: Warrior Princess. But while most people can now see that his casual misogyny is a Bad Thing™, we tend to struggle more with the idea that children can also make worthwhile contributions – that’s a significant problem too. In his first sentence Mr Grant calls Greta Thunberg “lass”. He only gets more patronizing from there, describing her as mimicking the characteristics of adulthood as “an old vaudeville routine”.
“It is a brilliant PR move to shove this schoolgirl onto the stage,” says Mr Grant. Who does he think is controlling, Ms Thunberg? Greta’s activism started when, at fifteen, she began her own solitary ‘school strike for climate’ outside the Swedish parliament every Friday. She convinced her family to go vegan and stop flying, and her parents listened to the evidence and arguments she brought – not the other way around. Is it so incomprehensible that an educated and eloquent sixteen-year old might be able to act for herself? What age do you have to be to be taken seriously?
“I’m old enough to remember when serious men in suits confronted the fact that scientists told us that CFCs were destroying the ozone hole,” says Mr Grant. Greta is young enough to pay the price for how slow that realisation was in coming. It was the serious men in suits who covered up climate change, who profited from it, and who still do today. But that is not a sustainable future.
There is no substance behind Mr Grant’s article other than taking poorly-researched shots at Greta. He doesn’t offer any other solutions or any “experts” we should turn to. “It’s fun to make fun of vanity activism,” says Mr Grant. What about vanity editorials? If anyone is trying to “eke out a few more moments of fame,” it’s not Greta Thunberg.
Why is it important to listen to our young people? For one, they bring new perspectives. A study published in Nature found that children are ideal climate ambassadors, as “unlike adults, their views on the issue do not generally reflect any entrenched political ideology.”9,10 Further, though, a person who is under eighteen is still a person. Is it inconceivable that they should be treated like one? But politically, we don’t want to hear children’s voices. We consider them less capable, less important – without the right to representation that being citizens of this country should afford them. That mindset pervades much of our society. But taking children seriously will empower them. If they learn they can have opinions, that their actions can make a difference, that those who bring evidence and arguments to the table will be offered respectful debate – then we’ll have a generation more capable of solving the environmental catastrophe we find ourselves in.
We need to challenge our assumptions on who can and cannot contribute. Preventing our fast-approaching environmental doom is an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ situation, and it’s reasonable to encourage those with the most at stake to pitch in.
I suggest that Mr Grant is intimidated by Greta Thunberg, and that’s symptomatic of a big problem. “There isn’t any reason to take Ms Thunberg seriously. Her arguments make [sic] as much sense as a certain Swedish chef …” But Greta has given us many reasons to take her seriously. It’s true, she doesn’t have any of the reasons that some people of Mr Grant’s mindset unconsciously look for: she’s not male and she’s not middle-aged. But it’s time to stop judging people’s contributions by these metrics.
I’m not much older than Greta. What I hear Mr Grant say is that my opinions have no weight, that my actions will not be taken seriously, and that my future is secondary to maintaining a status quo that silences too many voices. I reject his premise and his opinionated, poorly-worded insults. Greta Thunberg and people like her will save the world – or she and I will face the consequences.
Endnotes
1 Grant, Damien. “For the Sake of the Planet, Let’s Not Put Teen Climate Activist Greta Thunberg on a Pedestal.” Stuff, 5 May 2019, www.stuff.co.nz/ environment/112369771/for-the-sake-of-the-planet-lets-not-put-teenclimate-activist-greta-thunberg-on-a-pedestal.
2 Thunberg, Greta. “‘Our House Is on Fire’: Greta Thunberg, 16, Urges Leaders to Act on Climate.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 Jan. 2019, www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/25/our-houseis-on-fire-greta-thunberg16-urges-leaders-to-act-on-climate.
3 Roth, Clare. “Swedish Student Leader Wins EU Pledge to Spend Billions on Climate.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 21 Feb. 2019, www.reuters. com/article/us-climatechange-teen-activist-idUSKCN1QA1RF?utm_ campaign=4d422b8969-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_21_01_46&utm_co ntent=5c6ec0934b73850001e27e12&utm_medium=email&utm_ source=Global Health NOW Main List&utm_term=0_8d0d062dbd4d422b8969-2890801.
4 Taylor, Matthew. “Latest Global School Climate Strikes Expected to Beat Turnout Record.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 24 May 2019, www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/24/latest-global-schoolclimate-strikes-expected-to-beat-turnout-record.
5 Obama, Barack. “They’re People like 16-Year-Old @GretaThunberg, Whose Protests at Swedish Parliament Sparked a Movement. Inspired by Greta’s Action, Fridays for Future Brought Together More than a Million Strikers on Every Continent Last Month to Demand Action on Climate. Https://T. co/un7nBhEF8i.” Twitter, Twitter, 22 Apr. 2019, twitter.com/barackobama/ status/1120411734316023809?lang=en.
6 Guterres, António. “The Climate Strikers Should Inspire Us All to Act at the next UN Summit | António Guterres.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Mar. 2019, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/ mar/15/climate-strikers-urgency-un-summit-world-leaders.
7 Chakrabortty, Aditya. “The Hounding of Greta Thunberg Is Proof That the Right Have Run out of Ideas | Aditya Chakrbortty.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 May 2019, www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2019/may/01/greta-thunberg-right-environmentalactivist-attacks.
8 Dale, Helen. “Greta Thunberg’s Supporters Can’t Have It Both Ways.” The Spectator, 29 Apr. 2019, blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/04/greta-thunbergssupporters-cant-have-it-both-ways/.
9 Denworth, Lydia. “Children Change Their Parents’ Minds about Climate Change.” Scientific American, 6 May 2019, www.scientificamerican.com/ article/children-change-their-parents-minds-about-climate-change/.
10 Lawson, Danielle F., et al. “Children Can Foster Climate Change Concern among Their Parents.” Nature Climate Change, vol. 9, no. 6, 2019, pp. 458–462., doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0463-3.
Living with Dystopia
Cristy Clark discusses the rise of eco-anxiety and eco-paralysis in the face of the climate and mass extinction crisis. Her concern is how we can maintain “real hope”: a hope grounded in critical thinking that acknowledges the current state of affairs while still inspiring us to work courageously towards the changes required.
This article was reprinted with permission from Eureka Street with the publisher’s kind permission. The full article is available here – https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/living-with-dystopia.
Respect Life Sunday Pastoral Letter – Care for Our Environment NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ – E te whānau whakapono a te Karaiti,
Pope Francis set October 2019 aside as an “Extraordinary Missionary Month” to help us all reflect on the missionary nature of the Christian life, and for each of us to consider anew what it means to be baptised and sent on mission. Reflecting on taking Christ’s message of healing and hope to the people, we might not think immediately about healing the environment as a missionary activity. But everything is interconnected.
Four years ago, Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home about the necessity of hearing “both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor,” an insight beautifully expressed in this traditional Māori whakataukī:
Ka mate te whenua, ka mate te tangata. Ka ora te whenua, ka ora te tangata. If the Earth dies, the people die. If the Earth lives, the people live.
In the past year, this whakataukī has been given renewed vigour by the voices of young people taking on Pope Francis’ words in Christus Vivit #41: You “are meant to dream great things, to seek vast horizons, to aim higher, to take on the world, to accept challenges and to offer the best of yourselves to the building of something better” (Christus Vivit #15).
Pope Francis has explicitly acknowledged the prophetic actions of young people in his recent message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation:
Many young people all over the world are making their voices heard and calling for courageous decisions. They feel let down by too many unfulfilled promises, by commitments made and then ignored for selfish interests or out of expediency.
The young remind us that the Earth is not a possession to be squandered, but an inheritance to be handed down. They remind us that hope for tomorrow is not a noble sentiment, but a task calling for concrete actions here and now. We owe them real answers, not empty words, actions not illusions.
Young people of Aotearoa New Zealand, we acknowledge that you have been among those who have taken to the streets to articulate their dreams for the planet and to demand greater action to address the climate crisis we are facing. You have added your voices for a sustainable better future online, in print, and in person. You have demanded that we listen.
We see that many of you are practicing what you preach – reducing waste inside and outside the classroom; taking part in conservation projects; asking your schools and parishes to look at how we use energy.
You are challenging all of us to hear and support you; to recognise that all life on Earth – humans, animals, plants, and the rest of God’s creation – is threatened by the dangers of human induced climate change. You are holding us, together with decision-makers in government, civil society and the community, to account. You inspire us – and many others – to act.
We also acknowledge the voices of many others who care about God’s creation; individuals and groups of New Zealanders who have faithfully advocated over many decades for action to protect the environment – the voices of those of you who have witnessed, over your lifetimes, significant degradation of landscape, farms, gardens, waterways, and weather patterns in our land. And in our Pacific region, we hear the voices of the Bishops and communities of Oceania speaking out with urgency about the loss of land and communities due to rising seas, increasingly severe storms, and dying sea-life in our warming oceans.
Respect Life Sunday is a time when, traditionally, we have focused on those threats to human life that people face at the beginning and end of life. These threats remain real – New Zealand is currently facing the possibility of significant changes to abortion and euthanasia laws. However, we also recognise that our responsibility to protect life extends beyond those issues and that these issues are interwoven.
It is time for an “integral ecology” that recognises the connection between the cry of our most vulnerable and the cry of the Earth; an ecology that embraces the God-given dignity of all creatures; an ecology that responds to the effects of critical global warming seen in growing numbers of displaced refugees; an ecology that acknowledges that the roots of the environmental crisis lie in our rampant consumerism and a “throwaway culture” stemming from economic models that privilege certain people and certain stages of life; an ecology that addresses the marginalisation and exclusion of vulnerable persons, in particular at the beginning and end of life.
It is time to heed Pope Francis’ message for a fundamental lifestyle change.
For our part, we need to reflect more deeply as Bishops about the fundamental changes we need to make around such things as energy use in our churches and school buildings, and the transport choices we make around our parishes and dioceses. This reflection needs to happen alongside all Catholic parishes, organisations and communities. These matters are not just about good stewardship of our assets, but about good stewardship of the Earth as our common home.
Let us all be missionaries of healing and hope and offer the best of ourselves to the building of a better world. Together, young and old, we can, and must, save our planet, our people and all God’s creatures.
Stem Cells: The Ethical Debate
Anne Dickinson and Michael McCabe
Issue 2, November 2000
Cells
All living things are made up of cells of various types. The human body contains millions of cells. A collection of similar cells specialised for a particular purpose is called a tissue. For example, skin tissue is made of skin cells, muscle tissue is made up of muscle tissue.
Coronary Artery Calcification Scanning : Ethical Issues of a New Diagnostic Test
Sharron Cole
Issue 5, November 2001
"Radiation zap test too risky, says Heart Foundation" was a recent headline in the local evening newspaper. The first two paragraphs of the article described how the National Heart Foundation did not support the technique for checking patients' hearts because "the technique is expensive, has not been adequately studied and carries the risk of giving a radiation dose equivalent to up to 400 chest x-rays". In response, the test's provider claimed the radiation figures were scare mongering and that there was good evidence for the value of the scan. [1]
Forward: In the Healthy Company of Tradition
Rob Greenfield
Issue 5, November 2001
In June 2001, Cardinal Thomas Williams officially launched a new Catholic entity, Aotearoa New Zealand Catholic Healthcare Limited. The formation of the company brought together sixteen Catholic congregations and entities that have a common interest in health care from a Catholic perspective. For a number of the founders it was the culmination of a long journey.
Editorial : Remembering Rosa
Michael McCabe
Issue 6, April 2002
Rosa Therese had a significant impact on the lives of many - myself included. I met her late one evening shortly after her birth in September 2000. Her parents, Peter and Rachel, had asked me to baptise her. She had been diagnosed earlier that day with a serious heart condition and was to be flown to Greenlane Hospital the following morning for further assessment and possible treatment.
Rosa's Story
Rachel Nankivell and Peter Zwart
Issue 6, April 2002
Our daughter, Rosa, was born on 19 September 2000. She was small but strong, with red hair and blue eyes. For twelve hours we cradled and rejoiced in our new, healthy, beautiful baby. But this was not to last. To our shock and initial grief, later that day Rosa was diagnosed with Down syndrome and our neatly imagined future disintegrated. We took Rosa home to the security of loving family.