Since her first school strike in August 2018, Greta Thunberg has become globally recognised for her role in bringing attention to the climate crisis, famously addressing world leaders, and fending off criticism from cultural and political figures (mostly whiny old men) such as Donald Trump.
A new radio show by Thunberg, shared on Swedish Radio and Spotify, partly addresses her year sabbatical from school to focus on campaigning for the climate, and her subsequent fame, which has seen prominent world leaders queuing up to take pictures with her.
More importantly, Thunberg also addresses the mostly-lacklustre response of these world leaders to her campaigning, saying: “Words like green, sustainable, net-zero, environmentally friendly, organic, climate-neutral, and fossil-free are today so misused and watered down that they have pretty much lost all their meaning.”
However, the teenage climate campaigner does have a more positive message to share when it comes to the current activist movements making real, positive change, such as the anti-racism demonstrators that have taken to the streets in cities across the world in recent months.
“There are signs of change, of awakening,” Thunberg says, in the show. “Just take the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter, or the School Strike movement for example.”
“It’s all interconnected. We have passed a social tipping point; we can no longer look away from what our society has been ignoring for so long, whether it is equality, justice, or sustainability.”
You can also revisit Dazed’s 2019 documentary on Greta Thunberg and other young climate activists here.