Greta

Greta Thunberg is a climate activist from Sweden. A survey claimed she was the most important woman in Sweden in 2019. She has received the German Goldene Kamera Special Climate Protection Award, the Prix Liberté which she accepted in Caen, the Norwegian Fritt Ord Prize, University of St. Andrews’ Laudato Si’ Prize in Chile, Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award, an honorary doctorate from Belgian’s University of Mons, the Geddes Environment Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and she’s been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Did I mention she’s only 16 years old? When I was 16, I was the only kid in my class to get an A on a poster I made about poison control (yes, it was a cartoon). I still have that in a frame.

Greta is serious about saving the environment. After being nominated for the Children’s Climate Prize in her home country, she declined the award because it required other finalists to fly to Sweden, which of course, is harmful to the environment. In fact, she challenged her parents to give up flying which required her mother to give up her career as an opera singer (in case you’re a Republican, Opera is…don’t worry about it. No banjos). To travel to the United States, she sailed across the Atlantic (in case you’re a Republican, the Atlantic ocean is between the United States and Europe) in an emissions-free yacht to take part in the climate summit at the United Nations.

Greta initiated a “strikes for climate” in 2018 by sitting outside the Riksdag, Sweden’s legislative building, for three weeks demanding the nation’s leaders to reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement. She handed out leaflets that said, “I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future.” Last Friday, over 4 million people worldwide joined her to protest and demand political leaders to stop climate change.

Donald Trump shits on a lot of things. He doesn’t care about climate change. He believes it’s a hoax created by China. He also believes energy-efficient light bulbs make him look orange. He pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement which puts us right in line with nations like Syria. He is not attending the climate summit. Instead, he’s chairing a session on religious persecution. While not believing climate change is a great threat, that summit wouldn’t have focused on him and they probably wouldn’t have even asked him to speak. OMG! So, by chairing his religious persecution session, he gets to sit at the head of the table and babble nonsense on another issue he doesn’t understand.

As you can see, some of the adults in leadership positions, like Trump and Brazil’s president who is allowing the Amazon to burn, don’t care about the environment. While many activists may be over-hyping Greta (there’s a giant mural of her in France as the Virgin Mary. C’mon!), other conservatives are attacking her.

Far-right nationalist Dinesh D’Souza has joined other conservatives in bullying her. Yesterday, he tweeted a photo of Greta and wrote, “Children—notably Nordic white girls with braids and red cheeks—were often used in Nazi propaganda. An old Goebbels technique! Looks like today’s progressive Left is still learning its game from an earlier Left in the 1930s.”

Never mind the fact that there’s an entire chapter in Mein Kampf that describes liberals as enemies of the Nazis (you’d think they’d be familiar with the book they keep under their pillows). And once again, these Trump sycophants project. Their strategy of gaslighting and repeating lies until they become truth is straight out of the Goebbels playbook. For example, if you believe the Clinton Foundation is corrupt, but you can’t really base it on anything, then you’ve been gaslighted.

The generation in charge right now will not be around to feel the effects of their lack of action on climate change. The next generation, those speaking out now like Greta, will. Greta was inspired by the strike at Parkland High School to protest gun violence after the mass shooting at that school. Just like with gun violence, the younger generation will lead us to fight climate change. Two campaigns ignored by a lot of adults because they just make sense.

Each time Greta skips school she takes people who are older and should be much wiser, like Donald Trump, back to school. But just like Trump did when he was in school, he refuses to listen and learn.

Trump has separated families and thrown brown babies in jail. He looks at people with skin darker than his and claims they’re from “shithole” countries. He would rather have people from places like Norway and other nations in Scandinavia, like Sweden. He’s said this. But for Greta, he may make an exception.

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