Greta Thunberg

Ahhh look, a forum of predominantly middle aged opinionated UK men talking about a European young lady who has achieved more for climate change already in her short life so far, than the entire forum combined, let alone what she will achieve in her life time.

This will totally not be biased & totally a fact based discussion - something OCUK is known for :p:D:D
 
4K8KW10 said:
You remember the famous Einstein 'Mass–Energy Equivalence' E = Mass times Speed of Light^2 ?
Well, everything around us is energy.
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That's true, but straight matter-energy conversion at 100% efficiency is pure sci-fi for the foreseeable future. Maybe our far descendents will be powering entire countries on a couple of dozen Kg per year of any mass that comes to hand, but it's not worth seriously considering right now. It would also bring problems of its own because that really would be a doomsday weapon.
 
Combat squirrel said:
Ahhh look, a forum of predominantly middle aged opinionated UK men talking about a European young lady who has achieved more for climate change already in her short life so far, than the entire forum combined, let alone what she will achieve in her life time.
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I've achieved the same amount for climate change as she has - almost nothing. Being annoying and becoming famous for it is not doing something useful.
 
Angilion said:
I've achieved the same amount for climate change as she has - almost nothing. Being annoying and becoming famous for it is not doing something useful.
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He probably thinks the school children who have gone on "climate strike" have achieved something, as well.

I've seen a couple of them. Kids and teachers gathered near a local supermarket giggling and waving, with the odd car honking its horn as they drive past.

That's really helping.

Greta is in the same league as that. Being a stroppy, trantruming child on TV doesn't seem to have changed the attitudes of anyone I know. The climate change deniers keep on denying, the rest of us are worried but worry alone isn't going to do a damn thing.

Last time I checked Greta hasn't proposed any solutions, so she's just stoking the worry. Preaching to the converted.

e: Whilst it seems to be fun for Greta fans to mock the audience here (and elsewhere), perhaps instead they could point to some instance where she has:

* Made the lobbyists for the oil industry have a change of heart
* Made any national or international policy making bodies change or review their climate or transport (etc) policies
* Changed the attitude of anyone who wasn't already concerned about the climate

I fail to see what effect she is having, tbh. The majority of people I know think she's a child who should be in school, getting an education; studying to become an environmental scientist if she's committed to making a difference.
 
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FoxEye said:
Whilst it seems to be fun for Greta fans to mock the audience here
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Epic spin, I think folk are just standing up for her... I don't believe they find it 'fun' doing that, maybe some do idk their minds, but it does seem like a lot of folk are having fun mocking her. In ways that don't seem very adult tbh....
 
The_Abyss said:
Do you not think that she's brought huge awareness to environmental and climate issues this year?
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I don't. Many media outlets have used her as a figurehead while doing so, but that's not the same thing. They could have used someone else, anyone else, but the novelty of an adolescent being given messiah status and treated as a world leader but without any responsibility and being allowed to throw tantrums and berate everyone (including people who are actually doing anything relevant) is a gift for the media. She hasn't done anything to bring "huge awareness" herself. She's not even any good at public speaking. This forum has a higher standard of public speaking than she does.

There are many people who've done more for environmental issues than she has, many of whom are amongst the people she's berating for being the wrong age. She has little understanding of the subject and offers no solutions to any part of any of the problems. Her biggest use is her age and sex, which people can use as a weapon against anyone who doesn't beatify her and give her credit for all the work done by other people (see this thread for dozens of examples).
 
Isn't her aim to heighten awareness in order to get politicians to take what climate scientists are saying seriously?

I don't get the whole, why is she offering no suggestions... she is only young... and is saying act on what folk more knowageable than me are saying to do.

I also don't get the whole comparing her to other enviromentalists, there are loads of them out there who are talking blue in the face about stuff but its like they are not being listened to either, no matter their age/sex/experience etc.
 
Threepwood said:
Isn't her aim to heighten awareness in order to get politicians to take what climate scientists are saying seriously? [..]
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That's a useless aim if it is her aim. The problem isn't that people aren't aware of environmental issues. The problem is about fixing them, not being aware that they exist.

If you cut your arm and are bleeding all over the place, would you value someone famous just telling you that you're bleeding after other people have already told you that you're bleeding? Would that heightening of your awareness of something you're already well aware of help you in any way? Or would you prefer someone with appropriate medical training to apply appropriate treatment?

In any case, she's not even the one making people aware of things they were already aware of. It's the media that's doing that.

The reason why her not offering any solutions matters is the fact that solutions are what is needed. "heighten awareness" is just a modern way of saying "do nothing useful but pretend you are so you can feel good about it".

I'll take this opportunity to heighten your awareness of heart attacks. How many people did that save from dying of a heart attack? Did you not know about the existence of heart attacks before I heightened your awareness of them? Should I get a Nobel prize for medicine for my work? Should I get credit for the work done by cardiologists and medical researchers who actually do things that are useful in preventing people dying of heart attacks?
 
Threepwood said:
Isn't her aim to heighten awareness in order to get politicians to take what climate scientists are saying seriously?

I don't get the whole, why is she offering no suggestions... she is only young... and is saying act on what folk more knowageable than me are saying to do.
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Not all but I think this is behind some people's critical posts - there has been some attempt to use her to push the suggestions of others of dubious agenda that aren't necessarily the best approach. Though I think that aspect has somewhat subsided now I've seen far less of it lately compared to when she first emerged to global consciousness.
 
Angilion said:
The problem is about fixing them
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Exactly....! The point is to get the politicians to do more of the fixing! Heighten awareness that not only are there enviromental problems, but also heighten awareness that there doesn't seem to be that much being done about it... this is why she started doing all this *sat outside the Swedish parliment*.
 
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Threepwood said:
Exactly....! The point is to get the politicians to do more of the fixing! Heighten awareness that not only are there enviromental problems, but also heighten awareness that there doesn't seem to be that much being done about it... this is why she started doing all this *sat outside the Swedish parliment*.
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What has changed, "post Thunberg"?

Have there been any breakthroughs, bills passed, projects started?

I don't follow the topic closely enough to know either way.
 
Heightening awareness is not a ‘useless aim’. It’s only through awareness and support that meaningful political ‘doing’ can commence.
 
Lopéz said:
What has changed, "post Thunberg"?

Have there been any breakthroughs, bills passed, projects started?

I don't follow the topic closely enough to know either way.
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it'll speed up the move to electric "battery" powered cars en-masse, until a viable alternative is available and then governments will penalise those using batteries (similar to the move from petrol to diesel and now diesel being an enemy) :D. Joking aside it's good for people to raise awareness but I think we're doing and going to continue to do too little globally.
I'm hoping something like hydrogen takes huge leaps ahead by the time I'm ready for a leccy car. Hydrogen-to-electric cars exist now but are very expensive and the filling stations are very few and far between + hydrogen needs to be created using renewables otherwise it's still not going to be very "green".
 
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