Greta Thunberg
About
Greta Thunberg is a Swedish student and climate activist who has gained international attention for her role of raising awareness of problems caused by climate change. In August 2018, Thunberg took off school to demonstrate outside of Sweden's Parliament building by herself and overtime others joined her. From there she spoke to politicians and the general public internationally in a blunt manner calling for action. She has won numerous prestigious awards as well as a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in 2019.
Online History
On August 20th, 2018, Greta gathered media attention for skipping school to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament calling for bold climate action. The 16-year-old student's demonstration gathered international press and her matter of fact interviews and speeches persuaded many other teens to demonstrate for action.[1] According to Vox[8],"Six months later, nearly 1.5 million young people in 100 countries worldwide followed suit, making March 22 the single largest day of climate action in history." This persuasion was later coined the "Greta Thunberg Effect" by the BBC.[2][3] On December 12th, 2018, Greta Thunberg spoke a TEDxStockholm in which she explained her inspiration for speaking out. The talk gained over 1.5 million views and 67,000 likes on YouTube in a year (shown below).
Over the next several months, Great Big Story and Vice produced two documentaries about Thurnberg. On April 15th, 2019, Great Big News uploaded "How a 16-Year-Old Is Leading a Global Climate Movement" which gained over 307,200 views and 20,000 likes in four months (shown below, left). In May 2019, Vice uploaded a 30 minute documentary titled, "Make The World Greta Again" (shown below, right). On June 29th, Thunberg met with Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez for a Gaurdian[6] piece.
2019 UN Climate Summit
In August 2019, Thunberg traveled by sailboat from Europe to the United States to continue to raise awareness and participate in the 2019 UN Climate Summit in New York City in September.[7] Due to air travel's high level of emissions, Thurnberg doesn't fly. Thunberg continued to update the public on her travels to New York via Twitter. On August 25th, 2019, Thunberg uploaded a video of "rough conditions, but downwind sailing" during her trip (shown below). The tweet gained over 103,000 likes and 10,600 retweets in three days.
On August 28th, 2019, Greta Thunberg was greeted by a crowd of supported on in the harbor in New York City.[7]
Criticism
Due to Greta Thunberg's young age and opinions she has faced numerous verbal attacks from adult climate change deniers.[9][10] For example, right wing spokesperson Toby Young tweeted about "calling out" Greta Thunberg for lying to which Twitter user @FelicityHannah[18] replied, "Who do these teenagers think they are, trying to avoid death in a parched, desolate landscape? Do they think they’re BETTER than us?!" (shown below, left). On August 14th, 2019, Twitter user @Arron_banks[12] tweeted "Freak yachting accidents do happen in August …" in responds to news of Thunberg's trip to the United States (shown below, right). The tweet accumulated over 2,700 likes and 420 retweets in 15 days.
That same day, Twitter user @JuliaHB1[13] tweeted, "Hi Greta, I’ve just booked some long haul flights for my family to enjoy some winter sun on the beach this Christmas. Level of guilt being felt: 0%" (shown below, left) which gained over 13,900 likes and 1,900 retweets in 15 days. On August 15th, 2019, Twitter user @IanDunt[11] stated that "Greta Thunberg brings out the most horrible shit in all the most dreadful people" which garnered over 11,600 likes and 1,400 retweets in 15 days (shown below, right).
On August 28th, Sky New Australia broadcasted a segment in which on newscaster called Greta Thunberg's "planet-saving mission [2] 'nonsensical climate zeitgeist'" (shown below). The video gained over 3,300 views on YouTube in a day.
Reputation
In her short time as an activist Thunberg has received numerous awards including being one of Time[5] magazine's named world's 25 most influential teenagers of 2018. In 2019, Sweden named Thunberg the most important woman of the year on International Woman's Day.[17] On March 13th, deputies of the Swedish and Norwegian parliament nominated Thunberg as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.[16] On June 7th, Amnesty International[15] awarded Greta Thunberg with the Ambassador of Conscience Award for her leadership in the climate movement. In April 2019, Time[4] magazine named Thunberg as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019. As of August 2019, Thunberg has amassed over 1.2 million followers on Twitter.[14]
TIME "Person Of The Year" Cover
On December 11th, 2019, TIME Magazine[20] named Thunberg its 2019 Person Of The Year.
The honorific was celebrated by fans of hers in the media, in politics and on social media. The Obama Foundation[21] tweeted their congratulations, gaining over 400 retweets and 1,900 likes (shown below, left). Critics also chimed in, believing the award should have gone to the Hong Kong Protestors. The sentiment was shared by @TimRunsHisMouth,[22] gaining over 1,300 retweets and 5,200 likes (shown below, right).
The following day, Donald Trump[23] tweeted critically of Thunberg's victory, posting, "So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!" In response, Thunberg changed her Twitter bio to describe herself using Trump's tweet (shown below, right).
Commenters noted that Trump's tweet was hypocritical after conservative outrage about Barron Trump being brought up during impeachment hearings and in light of Melania Trump's signature anti-cyberbullying campaign, Be Best. User @Pappiness[24] made this point (shown below, left), as did @BreeNewsome[25] (shown below, right).
Personal Life
Greta Thunberg was born in 2003 in Sweden to opera singer Malena Ernman and actor Svante Thunberg.[8] After 2010 she was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism.[19]
Search Interest
External References
[1] Medium – 15 Year Old Girl Breaks Swedish Law
[2] BBC – The Greta Effect
[3] The Guardian – The Greta Thunberg Effect
[4] Time – 100 Most Influential People
[5] Time – Most Influential Teens 2018
[6] The Guardian – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg
[7] CNN – Greta Thunberg NY Landfall
[8] Vox – Greta Thunberg became a climate activist not in spite of her autism, but because of it
[9] Scientific American – Climate Deniers Launch Personal Attacks on Teen Activist
[10] The Guardian – Right Environmental Activist Attacks
[12] Twitter – Arron_banks
[14] Twitter – GretaThunberg
[15] Amnesty – Greta Thunberg
[16] HuffPost – Nobel Peace Prize
[17] Zeit – International Woman's Day
[18] Twitter – Felicity Hannah
[19] YouTube – TEDxStockholm
[20] TIME – 2019 PERSON OF THE YEAR GRETA THUNBERG
[21] Twitter – Obama Foundation
[22] Twitter – @timrunshismouth
[23] Twitter – Donald Trump
[25] Twitter – BreeNewsome