Bon voyage Greta Thunberg

Yes to SirChenin and Pippa22. Absolutely.

The carbon footprint of our royal family is a complete disgrace. Perhaps Greta could come and lecture them. Yesterday Prince Andrew took a private flight back from Balmoral to London. Last week Prince Harry took a private flight to Italy (I think it was Italy) and then a private helicopter to the location of the conference, attended by many celebrities who no doubt took private flights to draw our attention to how huge our carbon footprints are, but not apparently, it would seem, not their carbon footprints! They obviously have no need to change their behaviour, whilst lecturing all those who took an overfilled Ryanair/EasyJet flight for their only holiday of the year! It makes me sick! And don’t even get started on Meghan, who took a private flight all the way back from New York after her vulgar baby shower.
Yes, there are more worthwhile targets for Greta to get to grips with.

How dare...?

Because we are entitled to our opinions? She may be gathering a following, but unless she can demonstrate something more meaningful that a journey that's beyond the reach of 99.99% of the population she risks becoming a media play thing who doesn't affect real change.

I just have a very uneasy feeling about her.

If my generation and that of my children only screw the world for our own advantage; our grand children need to undo the harm that we did and do. Who better to lead the campaign than someone on the spectrum who is fixated on finding solutions. God bless her.

SirChenjin, perhaps the greater point is that there ARE no alternatives. Which, on a global scale, has contributed to the polluted mess which will not sustain life indefinitely.

hear hear

that was to absthame*. Particularly last sentence of her post.

sandelf, many people have an uneasy feeling about the very future of humanity.

Yes, she seems a little different to the sixteen year olds of our acquaintance. Most of the inventions and changes in the world have been made by those who see things differently. A cookie-cutter brain can only repeat, not innovate. And we desperately require innovation.

Yes to Sandelf. She reminds me of that maths child genius many years ago. As my mum used to say it will end in tears. And out of interest has anyone else seen the WEF tweet about polluted rivers. We need to get the Chinese on board no pun intended before anyone addresses the UN.

Stansgran, there is a sickening abundance of information about the UK's polluted rivers.

There are alternatives Happi - on this occasion she could have presented via video link.

It's great that young people are becoming more aware of environmental issues (although they don't seem quite so keen to curtail their globe trotting unfortunately) but this feels very much like a publicity stunt.

SirChenjin Wouldn't it have made more sense for her to show ordinary folks the alternatives to air travel that is within their means

What are you actually thinking of? Are we back to the rowing boat? Kyak?

Shall we keep it real?

See my previous post Gone. That real enough for you?

How did she get to Plymouth?
By train. Europe has a few trains and, handily, there's a train tunnel under the Channel.

A video link would not have given her cause so much coverage. She will be interviewed on many tv channels, make public appearances as with XR, as well as addressing the conferences.

America needs this.

How could she stir up the youth of American by a video link?

Of course it would have - it's Greta. With the right marketing and publicity it would have shown that she's serious about making real change available to everyone.

Yes Happiyogi, I would wish for her to become a scientist. She obviously has the interest. We need many, many products to be designed or modified so that they will be cleaner to use. Ideally we would be able to cut the world’s population, but that seems unlikely to be honest. We must put our faith into innovative scientific design, and that requires highly educated scientists. We have already seen some small changes, but we need many more. Wringing my hands and eulogising Greta won’t make one jot of difference.

Yes she is being exploited, and its her Father behind this I believe reading the Swedish papers ( I live in Sweden) why they make her look like a twelve year old with plaits I dont know,maybe to get more sympathy for her cause.She is sixteen for goodness sake she should act like one, she has a disability, maybe thats why they tone down her age, who knows she has 50/50 popularity here.She may have taken a car or train to Calais or somewhere then a car or train to Plymouth,who knows.I say good luck to her on that boat trip.

Sirchenin, yes, you are quite right. We dare because we are allowed our own opinions.

Happiyogi, I have no wish to read her book whatsoever, I prefer to read the words of people who have experienced a bit more in life than she has. Incidentally, one such person, only a young woman herself, and in my opinion, a much more impressive young woman, is Malala Yousafzai.

This thread has been busy all morning!! Surely this tells us something.
We are ALL talking about it and her.
Fabulous.
Someone at my group today spoke just the same as some have on here.

Of course we can't change overnight but we are nearly all thinking and considering how we can help to slow the climate catastrophe for the future of our children and the planet.

We are getting used to not getting plastic bags. We are considering electric cars. Some of us don't fly anymore.
Baby steps but good on yer Gretta!!

Maddyone, why are you unwilling to learn by reading? Yes, the subject matter is not cosy or comfortable, but it is vital.

If she were to become the 'great scientist' you'd like her to be, that could take 15 years. During which, in the real world...

And I don't believe we can have too many gifted and public spirited young people. Let's not play them off against one another.

Can you imagine the cries of "hypocrite!" from those who don't like her message if she had flown to the States? All power to her I say. At least she is getting the message out there.

Grammaretto
None of the small steps you quote are due to any influence from Greta Thunberg, unless perhaps your personal decision not to fly is one.

People have been concerned long before she arrived on the scene to tell us all what we should be doing.
There are scientists working quietly to try to improve our prospects, innovations which will change the way we have lived. They have been doing this for years. Now they have to convince governments and big business.

Yes, we need scientists, engineers and people with the education and knowledge to make the changes which people will willingly embrace.

Greta sees the problems and has the questions but we need those with vision to seek the answers.