Greta Thunberg : Named Time’s youngest Person of the Year.

Sorry to say she rather grated on me. The "You stole my childhood" was what did it.

Someone on my Facebook feed posted images of her and that quote, followed by pictures of child soldiers, children forced to work in mineral mines etc, with a comment/caption along the lines of "whose childhood has really been stolen?

Yes, she's passionate and makes some good points, but...........

oh dear mrtjgran you are getting confused, pollution and climate change are different entities. Pollution is man made. Climate change occurs naturally. Climate change is complicated but the driver is the sun. Pollution is driven by man

Entirely right craftyone but some take some convincing.

This climate is not occurring naturally. Read up on the science.

Thank God the denyers don't matter anymore. The science is talking.

I’m not talking about pollution! Somehow the flat earthers persist

Greta is a good example to all the children and young people whose only ambition is to be famous (without working out famous for what)

She does have passion for her cause and does not seem motivated by fame.

I don`t need to read up on the science gonegirl. I am a scientist

I am not out to convince anyone. You should perhaps know that scientists deal with facts and not airy fairy hysteria

craftyone I don't think anyone is denying that solar activity can affect temperatures on earth and can cause them to fluctuate over long periods of time.
However, that, combined with manmade activity, is accelerating the process.

My SIL is of the opinion, however, that all this could precede a period of global cooling with disastrous effects.

I think she's achieved a lot by getting the whole world talking about her.

I wish that my somewhat dramatic grandson wasn't so involved with her message though.

He's 10 and is experiencing sleepless nights, worrying that we're all about to fry

Oh no! That's not good.

You know what? I can't be arsed to get into argument on this.

I'm sure you are an extremely well read, highly qualified scientist craftyone. There are still some scientists who don't quite keep up.

11 year old DGD has been having real anxiety about this too.

we are at the beginning of a mini ice age (maunder minimum) as characterised by wildly fluctuating temperatures ie very hot to very cold to very hot with no period of time in which to adapt. Not to forget that our lifetime length is no time compared to earth time

Enough from me anyway, I am not about to give a lecture. However I do think that this young teenager is being used by adults with an agenda and the prognosis for her future mental health cannot be good. Unfortunately she is dragging the mental health of countless youngsters down with her.

Whether we're heading for devastating warming or drastic cooling, we need to clean up our planet regardless.

I think she's caused an awful lot of unnecessary anxiety in kids.

Well you need to start educating your grandchildren better! Talk to them. Get them involved. Their enjoyment will cancel out the anxiety.

Take them to a demo. Give them a 'no planet b' banner. Paint the symbol on their faces. They willlove it. The anxiety will vanish. They will be doing something. Little warriors for their planet.

Oh, DGD is very involved
But Greta is not enjoying this and her message is to protest, not to do what you can.

They do worry

No

DGD was in charge of recycling and environmental awareness at primary school and raising awareness.

Now Y7.
Bunking off school is not the answer.

I did find her anger when yelling"you stole my childhood" a bit chilling.
Did she mean her parents stole her childhood or her worry re the environment?

I am very emotional about issues like the plight of the orangutans and animals being knocked off while their homes are cut or burnt down. The solitary polar bear who cannot find any food.

The chemical pollution has worried me for the past three decades as I have severe reactions now to many chemicals. And I do believe people and the planet are being poisoned.

I thought she looked quite scary when she glared at Trump but I hope she is being properly cared for.
She is so young.

It needn't be a Friday demo. XR is nothing to do with the school strike lot.

I agree love02 , she is being manipulated by others because she will get more publicity. The young people like to blame the oldies for climate change, but will they give up their mobile phones, computers, cars, foreign holidays and fashion to save the planet? I think not. I will compare my carbon footprint with an average 20yr old anyday.

pink says ‘ but I hope she is being properly cared for.
She is so young‘ - a lovely thought. But this illustrates my point upthread to those who couldn’t understand my point about another, even younger, naive girl.

A question for leybin, this 'unscripted interview' you heard was it conducted in Swedish, or in a language that was not her native tongue? What accent did the interviewer have, bearing in mind that Americans and Brits sometimes cannot understand each other, even in in the same language? I would find it very hard to discuss a favourite topic that I knew lots about, in another language.