Greta Rocks the USA

In celebrity culture, you can be sitting on some steps with a sign one minute and interviewed by Trevor Noah the next. 16 year old climate activist Greta Thunberg has been propelled to fame due to timing, a quirky style and the system's need for a symbolic spokesperson. One hopes it is not a debilitating role for the well-spoken, but rather innocent teenager. Landing in New York a few days ago, she has already done an event with Naomi Klein for Intercept, been on Democracy Now, PBS News Hour and the Daily Show ( a pathetic, condescending interview, the epitome of liberal smugness)

Jealous radicals such as myself see someone suddenly offered that big a megaphone and think; what an opportunity to blow some minds! But "disrupt the system" is about the most radical language she has used. Bill Mc Kibben couldn't help but twist this into "disrupt business as usual" because the last thing he wants to explain is system change and what it might look like. His concern seems to be for "reduced human work capacity", so you can see who he tailors his message for. It is doubtful Greta has read any Marx either,and her critique also stops short of Capital and accumulation. So once again the climate movement is left lurching between narratives. Messaging by the youth is just as disparate and fragmented as messaging by adults. So it goes.

The result can be seen in polls such as this one by WA PO and Kaiser Foundation: 40% of Americans believe climate change is a crisis but only 37% believe they will have to make major sacrifices to reduce its effects. In other words, like most crises, it won't affect us because we are Americans, we are insulated, our way of life is not negotiable. Greta herself has perceptively observed this "cognitive dissonance" ( her words) but has not yet linked it to the dissonance between exchange value and use value, or the rift between profit and nature. After all, she is a sixteen year old with Aspergers suddenly thrust into the global spotlight.