On Greta Thunberg -- Impacts

Marcus Lu
Sep 17, 2020
8 min read

Updated: Oct 1, 2020

Disclaimer: The views presented in this article do not represent that of [ink.]. It is strictly a statement of perspective representative of no particular party or group.

Introduction

This is Greta Thunberg, and I'm sure she needs no introduction. She is the role model of the new generation, the paradigm of the developed, scientific, world, and the voice of saving Earth from a warming climate.

But personally, I don't support her, and...before you start steamrolling me in the comments about me being a climate change denier, and that I am brainwashed by some propaganda regime, etc, etc. Let me tell you this first: I love our planet, I know how fragile this blue marble is, and I do believe that we need to take action. Climate change is real, and it is something that we must work together to resolve.

So now you may ask: “Why the heck then do you not support her?” My answer to that question will be the main body of this article. I will mainly be covering two areas: What Greta Thunberg has actually done (directly correlating to her) and the message she is sending.

Greta Thunberg, and what she is doing

Greta Thunberg has spearheaded the movement of "school strikes" and student protests to spread awareness about climate change. She has also been known to use green technology (solar panel yachts, etc.) in order to avoid flying. In addition, she has given speeches at the UN and many governments to further inspire change and boost support for the campaign. Now, that's all well and good except for two things: The example she is setting for our generation, and a certain amount of hypocrisy in her actions. Let's break this down.

Our Role Model: Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg's main course of action (according to Wikipedia) is a series of strikes and speeches. This rallied a massive number of student activists to her cause, who then organised many school strikes in her name.

Now, don't get me wrong: demonstrations who spread awareness are extremely important, and it does have an impact. However, this whole idea of protesting has three downsides:

It creates an illusion in many that by protesting, everything will just magically fix itself.
It causes a certain level of chaos in the community (as all protests do) and this might make some people in said community (who are undecided in this issue) repulsive, or at least discouraging, of climate action.
Students involved in this will be filled with environmental fervour, (which isn't necessarily bad) and this will cause them to be less focused on learning, but instead, a short-term campaign of protests.

With that said, I shall elaborate on the details and specifics of these points.

Point I: Self-Satisfaction

So many students and activists alike have come out of their schools and homes to protest. Why? Because we want to do what we can to help our dear earth. The main function, however, of protesting is to spread awareness. But let us analyse how effective this is.

The people who are protesting are, obviously, the people who understand the threats of climate change. And how do they know about it? By receiving media and seeing reports of Greta Thunberg. If they can see it, the people in their neighbourhood can as well. So, what is the point of protesting to spread awareness when everyone around you already knows about it?

Well, there is little to none. But then, why are we actually protesting? Well, this has to do with a little bit of human psychology. In almost all cases, we choose the path of least resistance, the easiest path. For example, rather than study in the summer vacation, we would all rather watch Netflix or play video games. It is the same with environmental action.

We know that our planet is at risk, and we also know that something must be done. So we look around and find out that if we just pick up a cardboard sign with writing on it and walk out with a bunch of other people, we are helping to "change" the world, and making it a better place. This creates the illusion that we actually are doing something, and is helping the planet, but are we? Did we decrease our carbon footprint? Did we lessen the waste produced? Did we use fewer plastics? Maybe we did, maybe we didn't, but the protest/demonstration itself is not helping any of these goals.

If we continue on like this, then we won't actually be doing anything. Because many will be filled with self-satisfaction because they think they "did something" and this takes away their pressure to actually make a difference.

Rebuttal Time

(This content is extra, the reader should not feel compelled to read it):

At this point, the more critical part of my audience will have come up with two counterpoints: That first, this movement will impact the government, and second, that this will discourage non-believers of climate change. But this is untrue. Let's check the second point first, if people already don't believe in climate change, their opinions won't be changed by teenagers with cardboard signs and chanting slogans. And even if (which is a very big if), somehow, their (or middle grounder's) opinions are altered, so what? At best, they are just going to come down and chant along with you, and as illustrated, that does nothing.

So now you ask: "What about the government?" Well, if the government has sat there for 50 years ignoring you, they will sit there for another 50 years. What do politicians want? In a democratic society, they want support for their campaigns. And as we know, campaigns burn money. Well, guess what? Out of the top 10 richest companies, 6 are oil and gas corporations. In addition, two are automotive companies. So, the absolute easiest way for a campaign to get money is to have policies which back these none environment-friendly groups.

Now, I could go on and on about the outliers and exclusives in this political system, but to make my article more concise, I will now move on to further elaborate. However, feel free to put your questions and counterpoints in the comments, and I will try my best to respond to all of them.

Point II: Disruption

All protests cause disruption, in fact, it is one of the things which motivates others in the area to take protesters seriously. However, as established, government officials will not crack down on carbon emissions and fossil fuel companies just because of the minor protests. In fact, currently, the government is subsidising these companies with 20 billion dollars in the US alone. In the EU, where a lot of the protests are happening, 55 billion euros are placed in the subsidies of oil and gas manufacturers. Why? Because of the massive amounts of income it produces for its economy.

These politicians won't give up such a big business so easily, and definitely not because of protests led by Greta Thunberg.

With that said, this "charge" Greta Thunberg is leading not only won't have too much of a real impact, but it may also even have a reversed effect, and let me explain why.

Protests complicate convenience for many people. As an example, maybe people are coming back home from work, maybe going to work, and a protest will clog the streets. This will no doubt cause annoyance for said people, and this annoyance will very likely become directed at the theme of the protest. In this case, climate change. This means that these people are less likely to fight for the climate change clause, and possibly go against it.

As I have mentioned before, the people protesting are those who know and care about the problem, and this act is to convince others who are undecided or unbelieving of it. I do not think, however, that sheer numbers and the loudness of chanting will exactly be very convincing. In fact, it may as well be exacerbating the disbelievers v/s activists gap. The protesters are essentially putting themselves into an echo-chamber, while actually not making any real change. Take my parents, for example, they know about the protests, they know about the evidence, but they just don’t give a damn about it. At the end of the day, our effort is better used in developing technology and creating sustainable innovation and infrastructure ourselves than trying to convince them. This leads me to my third point.

Point III: Passion

As we have seen, this campaign for action has sparked a lot of passion to save the environment in many. But here is the problem. As I've mentioned above, the protest movement really isn't too effective, but it seems like many people are willing to take part in it, repeatedly. That passion is driving a lot of schoolchildren to repeatedly protest, and organising school strikes, in order for the government to meet their demands.

Aforementioned, the government, in this case, will usually utter empty words to calm things down. But what makes matters worse is that once these leaders find out about this, they organise protests of larger scales, involving more people. Day in, day out, instead of focusing on schoolwork, they are focusing on making strikes.

I recall a quote from a protester:

"There isn't a point in learning if we come back to see a world where jobs we are learning for no longer exist."

This, indeed, is correct. But it shows how schoolwork is no longer important in the eyes of some of those with such passion. This is problematic, as we can't make a big enough impact right now to truly help our planet.

Yes, Greta did tell us that "many people say that Sweden is just a small country, and it doesn't matter what we do, but I have learned you are never too small to make a difference." But the thing is, what else can we do except protest and, at best, give speeches, right now? Yes, we can do our best to minimise our carbon footprint, but that doesn't restore the earth, you are still damaging it, just less so.

I agree that "Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago." But when do we take that responsibility is the key. Only if we focus on our academics and learning, can we grow up and actually do something. We can form a new, better government, we can engineer more effective methods of extracting green energy, we can devise plans to clean up the oceans. Only IF we absorb and learn.

Protesting is for the short term, speeches are for the short term, but to learn, to become educated is the only way we can take charge of this beautiful, delicate, fragile planet from our parents' hands, and hold it well.

Conclusion

Today, we see the earth being destroyed, being broken, being exploited, and we know that this is not right. Greta Thunberg stood up, and said, this needs to change, I agree. She is so full of passion for her cause, for our cause. But she has misunderstood the fact that her actions have ripples, and that some of these ripples are not for the best.

Our generation is tasked with a heavy burden, to pick up the bones, and rebuild. We need to be careful, and we need to be patient. For bones need time to mend, and bones splinter if we don't handle them the right way. Let us see the long term, and see what is best for both us, and the earth. Because if we don't, we risk its complete destruction.