Activities of Environmental Activist Greta Thunberg in the Mirror of Ukrainian and Foreign Media

Abstract

The peculiarities of Greta Thunberg’s environmental activities in the mirror of Ukrainian and foreign media are being clarified. The Swedish activist’s solitary pickets near the parliament building as part of school climate strikes, which accused adults of indifference to Thunberg’s generation and called for active opposition to global warming and climate change, quickly turned into a two-million-strong environmental movement “Fridays for Future” of children and adolescents in Western Europe, the USA, Australia and other countries. Participation in numerous environmental demonstrations, the schoolgirl’s speeches at UN climate summits and at the World Economic Forum in Davos made the activist widely known. Thunberg's criticism of political leaders for insufficient attention to the fight against the climate crisis has caused both her widespread support among world leaders and loud criticism. She was accused of ignorance, of being angry with the world, of being a puppet, of unstable mental behavior, of populism. The emotional ambivalence that the Swede evokes in people, Greta Thunberg herself considers her advantage. In addition, she demonstrates the political potential of people with neurological characteristics.

Scientists positively assess Greta Thunberg's activities, noting her role as a “climate catalyst” and an amplifier of the scientific discourse on climate change. They also recognize her ability to effectively convey scientific data to a wide audience and mobilize young people for climate action, using scientific achievements.

Thanks to G. Thunberg’s environmental activities, for the first time in the global protest movement, children and adolescents were at the core of the struggle for the future of the planet.

Being an example for an entire generation, Greta Thunberg has recently been experiencing a moral decline: instead of protecting the climate, she broadcasts anti-Semitic slogans at numerous pro-Palestinian protests.