The short description of this BBC programne says ‘ Climate activist Greta Thunberg takes a year off school to explore the science of global warming and challenge world leaders, calling for action on climate change.’ However the programme is in fact much much much more than that. I don’t know if BBC really doesn’t realize the real message or they can’t say it because of its proximity to the power but apart frm the scientific research, the programme exposes even more devastating facts and communicate important message that this young lady has been putting her life on line to send out.
As far as Ms Thumberg is concerned, she is constantly frustrated that there is no action taken by the powerful and lack of will for the rest of us to change our daily behaviours . Throughout the programme, she tears apart politicians as well as other powerful people and talks about how annoyed she was because her family gave her a brand new piece of clothing as Christmas present while knowing that she wears her clothes until they completely fall apart before buying anything secondhand to replace it. Meanwhile, the programme also exposes that how Ms Thumburg is exploited by those who want to disguise their lack of actions and it is not only those attending UN conference and Davos Summit but also ordinary people. Some may argue that it is her choice to be involved in this activism even though she is still young. It was her choice to quit school for one year to travel. Well, however, please, we do know it wasn’t her choice. She made this choice because she HAD to as no one with bigger responsibilities dared to do it. The fact that this extremely young lady who otherwise finds too many human contacts overwhelming and prefers to spend time with her horses had to force herself to travel around the world, often being subject of serious harassments while her parents are gravely concerned that she may have total breakdown is nothing but a sign of serious abuse of a teenager. The fact that she had no choice but to put her in the position is a result of neglect of her welfare. Yet both the powerful and rest of us use her for branding only and never take actions as she insists. We all make her attend conferences, make them join rallies, take selfies with her and ask for autographs so we all look ‘conscious’ but we aren’t, and more importantly, even that ‘consciousness’ is not enough at this stage. It broke my heart to watch her weeping as she argued how we lack empathy. We raise her as a trophy while not channeling what she stands for. She says she will continue withbher struggles although she can’ see breakthrough in the current situation. If one doesn’t feel compelling empathy to do anything within his/her capacity, that means collapse of our moral and subsequently collapse of the world we live in (with very little time left beforehand).