- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

'Go Back to School Kid’: Netizens Bash 'Climate Guru' Greta Thunberg Over Her Take on #2019in5Words

© REUTERS / GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANEClimate change activist Greta Thunberg
Climate change activist Greta Thunberg - Sputnik International
Subscribe
In September, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg availed herself of the opportunity to stare down global leaders at the UN Climate Summit, raging at them for inaction on the challenges of climate change, since then becoming the youngest person to be named Time magazine's person of the year, and doggedly pursuing her message on social media.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, known for her impassioned plea for action at the UN General Assembly Climate Action Summit in New York in September, has jumped on the bandwagon of the currently trending end of year hashtag on Twitter #2019in5words.

Summing up the year using only five words, Greta Thunberg tweeted one of her own quotes: "Our house is on fire".

Thunberg said these words at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January of this year when delivering her climate warning to a gathering of the world's most powerful leaders.

​Netizens on social media, which the climate activist uses persistently, weighed in, with many commenting that the teen ought to “go back to school”.

​Others remarked that in their opinion the teen activist was poorly informed and her arguments would not hold up in a debate with those opposing her stance.

Some openly wondered whether the teenager was being “manipulated”.

​Greta Thunberg’s actions in 2019, most notably her emotional speech in New York, at the United Nations General Assembly Climate Action Summit, in September, have gotten her named Time magazine's youngest Person of the Year.

This comes almost a year and a half after 16-year-old Thunberg held her first climate strike. In August 2018, the school student sat alone outside the Swedish parliament flanked by a black and white sign which read: "Skolstrejk för klimatet".

© AFP 2023 / EVGENIA ARBUGAEVAThe Time person of the Year December 23/December 30, 2019 cover with Greta Thunberg
'Go Back to School Kid’: Netizens Bash 'Climate Guru' Greta Thunberg Over Her Take on #2019in5Words - Sputnik International
The Time person of the Year December 23/December 30, 2019 cover with Greta Thunberg

Since then Thunberg, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, has been using social media to galvanize efforts to impact public understanding of climate change.

Her critics, meanwhile, have deplored her approach as too confrontational, divisive, and at times misinformed.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала