{"id":16389,"date":"2019-09-24T13:31:07","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T18:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/?p=16389"},"modified":"2019-10-01T14:46:12","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T19:46:12","slug":"greta-thunberg-climate-protest-madison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/greta-thunberg-climate-protest-madison\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Greta Thunberg Effect” has reached Madison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greta Thunberg is not fucking around.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the 16-year-old Swedish activist visited the United Nations and delivered a scathing rebuke<\/a> of the body\u2019s inaction on climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe eyes of all future generations are upon you,\u201d she declared. \u201dAnd if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thunberg\u2019s demands, as punk rock as they sound, are fairly simple. World leaders are turning a blind eye while the planet dies. These heads of state are selling \u201cfairy tales of eternal economic growth,\u201d Thunberg said, and ignoring that the earth is in mortal danger. And Thunberg is hardly alone in this opinion.<\/p>\n

Last week, millions of people worldwide \u2014 including hundreds here in Madison<\/a> \u2014 took part in a mass demonstrations largely inspired by Thunberg\u2019s climate evangelism. So who is she, and why are people listening to her?<\/span>\n

\"greta
Greta Thunberg outside Swedish parliament in 2018. \/ Photo by Adam Johansson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n

\u201cWhose human rights are you standing up for?\u201d<\/h2>\n

Greta Thunberg is probably the most famous 16-year-old on Earth, if you don\u2019t count that kid from Stranger Things<\/em><\/a>. Born in Stockholm in 2003 to an actor and an opera singer, Thunberg developed a fixation on the growing climate crisis. She has Asperger Syndrome, which she calls a \u201csuperpower<\/a>\u201d that allows her to focus on things with laser intensity.<\/p>\n

As her environmentalism grew, for example, she convinced her parents to give up flying. This basically ended Mom and Dad\u2019s entertainment careers.<\/p>\n

Her father Svante Thunberg recalled Greta asking: \u201cWhose human rights are you standing up for when you are draining the world\u2019s resources, the functioning atmosphere, for instance?\u201d<\/p>\n

Greta first made headlines at 15, when she began sitting outside Swedish parliament as part of her \u201cschool strike for climate.\u201d Her plea for immediate and drastic solutions went on to inspire similar protests<\/a> around the world and launch the teen into global consciousness. Just recently, she made her U.S. debut in grand, carbon-neutral fashion: sailing solo across the Atlantic Ocean<\/a>.<\/span>\n