Activist Thunberg denounces "creative PR" in climate fight

By Isla Binnie

 

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg attends the High-Level event on Climate Emergency during the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain December 11, 2019. REUTERS/Susana Vera

 

MADRID (Reuters) - Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg accused political and business leaders of polishing their images rather than taking aggressive action in the fight against climate change at a United Nations summit on Wednesday.

 

“It seems to have turned into some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and to avoid raising their ambition,” the 16-year-old Swede told the meeting in Madrid, drawing applause.

 

“I still believe the biggest danger is not inaction, the real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening when in fact almost nothing is being done apart from clever accounting and creative PR,” she added.

 

Politicians in Madrid are grappling with outstanding issues in the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to avert catastrophic global warming, including the spiny issue of accounting for carbon emissions.

 

Many countries and companies are relying on the idea of carbon markets to meet goals to cut greenhouse gas output and help limit temperature rises to between 1.5-2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

 

Supporters of carbon markets say they can serve to lower the cost of reducing emissions and enable countries to commit to more ambitious targets. Others see them as a way to stall more aggressive action to cut emissions.

 

Thunberg said many pledges to balance out emissions in this way did not include the impact of shipping, aviation and international trade, and called for quicker action.

 

“Zero in 2050 means nothing if high emission continues even for a few years,” said Thunberg, who has become a symbol of youth anger against older generations and the political classes for foot-dragging over the environmental crisis.

 

“To stay below 1.5 degrees we need to keep the carbon in the ground.”

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-11

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Why are her own finances such a mystery and why has she never had a pop at the likes of China & other real culprits?

17 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Why are her own finances such a mystery and why has she never had a pop at the likes of China & other real culprits?

she is a Communist plot maybe? 

56 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Why are her own finances such a mystery and why has she never had a pop at the likes of China & other real culprits?

 

No mystery.

 

She's a kid with wealthy parents and family.

 

Mother: Opera Singer

Father: Actor

Grandfather: Actor/Director

 

Mum and Dad

 

Grandad

 

Any more questions?

 

Why not look at her entry on Wikipedia?

 

 

 

 

50 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg accused political and business leaders of polishing their images rather than taking aggressive action in the fight against climate change at a United Nations summit on Wednesday.

 

“It seems to have turned into some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and to avoid raising their ambition,” the 16-year-old Swede told the meeting in Madrid, drawing applause.

 

“I still believe the biggest danger is not inaction, the real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening when in fact almost nothing is being done apart from clever accounting and creative PR,” she added.

Spot on.

48 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Why are her own finances such a mystery and why has she never had a pop at the likes of China & other real culprits?

China is by far the worlds' greatest CO2 emitter, particularity from coal. US and Western countries are both much lower and declining relative to China.

 

One country and person in particular would benefit greatly by shutting down Western oil oil production while ignoring global warming. Russia and its richest man Putin.

 

-- Russia wants to sell as much oil as possible at the highest price possible.

-- Russia would also benefit heavily from a warming climate. One of Russia's greatest weaknesses is food production because it is far north, and it relies heavily on Ukraine, the Soviet Union's traditional break basket.

-- Russia has no coast lines threatened by sea level rise.

-- Russia also has no warm water ports and its navy has trouble projecting power from cold water ports.

-- Russia wants to unlock vast oil reserves in the Arctic which is hampered by sea ice.

-- Russia could hold summer Olympics!

 

23 minutes ago, Enoon said:

 

No mystery.

 

She's a kid with wealthy parents and family.

 

Mother: Opera Singer

Father: Actor

Grandfather: Actor/Director

 

Mum and Dad

 

Grandad

 

Any more questions?

 

Why not look at her entry on Wikipedia?

 

 

 

 

wouldn't think that opera singers and actors in Sweden normally were wealthy people,

parents perhaps inherited a heap or won the lottery . . . .

 

32 minutes ago, Enoon said:

Any more questions?

Yeah, What's Lawrence Olivier got to do with it? ????

6 minutes ago, rabas said:

China is by far the worlds' greatest CO2 emitter, particularity from coal. US and Western countries are both much lower and declining relative to China.

 

One country and person in particular would benefit greatly by shutting down Western oil oil production while ignoring global warming. Russia and its richest man Putin.

 

-- Russia wants to sell as much oil as possible at the highest price possible.

-- Russia would also benefit heavily from a warming climate. One of Russia's greatest weaknesses is food production because it is far north, and it relies heavily on Ukraine, the Soviet Union's traditional break basket.

-- Russia has no coast lines threatened by sea level rise.

-- Russia also has no warm water ports and its navy has trouble projecting power from cold water ports.

-- Russia wants to unlock vast oil reserves in the Arctic which is hampered by sea ice.

-- Russia could hold summer Olympics!

 

 

yes, but at the same time, China is also one of the countries that did the most against emissions.

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-china-track-carbon-emissions-goals.html

 

But yes, strategically, everything that weakens the West is good for Russia.

 

22 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Spot on.

 

probably,

 

she also said another thing which I think is interesting,

something along the lines of:

 

world leaders obviously do not believe and trust in findings by current research,

if they had and if the world leaders believed that catastrophies were around a few corners

they would have acted swiftly rather than spending time and efforts on inaction

52 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

 

probably,

 

she also said another thing which I think is interesting,

something along the lines of:

 

world leaders obviously do not believe and trust in findings by current research,

if they had and if the world leaders believed that catastrophies were around a few corners

they would have acted swiftly rather than spending time and efforts on inaction

The findings by current research are inconclusive and uncertain. The science is not settled. Climate Change is a complex, chaotic and non-linear system. It's impossible to determine with any accuracy the degree of influence on climate that human emissions of CO2 are having.

 

It's reasonable to deduce that mankind's activities in total are having at least some effect on climate, such as the massive deforestation for agriculture, and the massive urban development of concrete jungles, but it's very uncertain and foolish to think that CO2 levels can be used as a 'control knob' to stop the climate changing.

 

just read that Time Mag. has chosen Thunberg as  person of the year,

beating potus and the other 4 candidates hands down

 

interesting

Influencer gets Time ‘Person of the Year 2019’.

9 minutes ago, VincentRJ said:

The findings by current research are inconclusive and uncertain. The science is not settled. Climate Change is a complex, chaotic and non-linear system. It's impossible to determine with any accuracy the degree of influence on climate that human emissions of CO2 are having.

 

It's reasonable to deduce that mankind's activities in total are having at least some effect on climate, such as the massive deforestation for agriculture, and the massive urban development of concrete jungles, but it's very uncertain and foolish to think that CO2 levels can be used as a 'control knob' to stop the climate changing.

not disagreeing with you, but I do find her narrative interesting though

 

it is quite special what has and what is happening now,

16 year old lass having access to the world leadership

and they let her slap them when she opts to

 

haven't been plenty of similar during the past 100 years

 

wonder how long this will be kept up

 

6 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

not disagreeing with you, but I do find her narrative interesting though

 

it is quite special what has and what is happening now,

16 year old lass having access to the world leadership

and they let her slap them when she opts to

 

haven't been plenty of similar during the past 100 years

 

wonder how long this will be kept up

 

Yes, it is unusual. Perhaps there is something here which is useful and informative for thinking people. Perhaps there's a message here, that misinforming the younger generation that all current weather-related disasters can be reduced by reducing CO2 emissions, could be far more disastrous than any projected increases in CO2 levels.

 

We need to adapt, and get rid of this hubris that we can control the climate by controlling CO2 emissions.

34 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

 

just read that Time Mag. has chosen Thunberg as  person of the year,

beating potus and the other 4 candidates hands down

 

interesting

Anybody would beat Potus hands down

You go girl!!!holey cow person of the year continue to hold their (our) feet to the fire!!its going to be fun watching a bunch of disgruntled old duffers here cap on you Lol kudos kiddo you are making a difference keep it up!!!

I'm a sexagenarian climate activist. For years I have eating beef in an effort to make those doom creating farting animals extinct; I drink vodka because I want to preserve the fresh water supply; and I chose to fly commercial airlines rather than a private jet to reduce my carbon foot print. I have never been invited to speak at the UN, offered a yacht or a luxury vehicle, or given the VIP treatment. Greta's prepubescent privilege is stealing my cushy retirement... How dare you!!

Troll post reported and removed.   

 

she is a hypocrite, she is told what to say as can be seen when she was asked a basic question and could not answer it, she has no real idea of the world and only what she has been told.

17 minutes ago, seajae said:

she is a hypocrite, she is told what to say as can be seen when she was asked a basic question and could not answer it, she has no real idea of the world and only what she has been told.

 

I'd sure have a lot more respect for her if she first had to go out in the world and earn a living and support a family before she tells the rest of us what we're collectively doing wrong.  I was an idealist, too at that age.  That got slapped right out of me when I had to start paying my own bills.

 

I'm not saying she's wrong.  I question whose agenda she's hawking.  She doesn't have enough life experience to have one of her own yet.

 

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Influencer gets Time ‘Person of the Year 2019’.

 

 

well done lass

 

however, I think her time in the limelight will be over within a year or so

unless she changes her narrative

 

one thing is pointing out <deleted>, there is a limit to how long world leaders will be willing to spend time on that

another is

launching thoughts on solutions;

they way forward and what to achieve - those are the tricky parts

 

Person of the year!

 

Pffft....what was wrong with person of the decade?

her mother writes books on green issues.uses her to sell or promote them.she is annoying and everyone knows it

8 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Influencer gets Time ‘Person of the Year 2019’.

This fact alone will be a major ‘triggering’ event for so many posters here.

 

Well done, young lady. 

14 minutes ago, samran said:

This fact alone will be a major ‘triggering’ event for so many posters here.

 

Well done, young lady. 

The only "triggering" she has done is to make every person that is not a member of the extreme political left to question the truths surrounding "climate change". After some basic research most of these people conclude that it is all a big unknown, and likely just another hoax. So, she has done more harm to the green cause than anybody in history. Not exactly much of an achievement.

I am just delighted that she will give Trump and Bolsonaro heartburn, now that she is Time's Person of the Year! ROFL!

32 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

The only "triggering" she has done is to make every person that is not a member of the extreme political left to question the truths surrounding "climate change". After some basic research most of these people conclude that it is all a big unknown, and likely just another hoax. So, she has done more harm to the green cause than anybody in history. Not exactly much of an achievement.

Only to the extreme right and already deniers.

Little Greta has just found out that politicians are a bunch of liars, next she'll discover that there are billions of people struggling for basic rights and a decent life, who cannot care less for global warming.

24 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

I am just delighted that she will give Trump and Bolsonaro heartburn, now that she is Time's Person of the Year! ROFL!

You do realize that Time's editors select the Person. A public survey of this question had 1% selecting her, with 98% selecting the Hong Kong protestors.