Svante Thunberg says he was concerned about his daughter’s school strike but that her campaigning had helped her beat depression
'She's happy': Greta Thunberg's father says climate activism helped her beat depression.
Greta Thunberg’s father has opened up about how activism helped his
daughter out of depression but still worries about how she will deal
with the impact of her international fame.
Speaking to the BBC to mark his daughter’s guest-editing slot on the Today programme, Svante Thunberg revealed he thought it was a “bad idea” for Greta to stage the school strike that catapulted her into the public eye.
The programme also featured a discussion between
Greta Thunberg and the veteran naturalist Sir David Attenborough, in
which the latter praises the teenager for raising awareness of the
climate crisis.
She had “achieved things that many of us who have been working on it
for 20-odd years have failed to achieve – that is you have aroused the
world”, said Sir David, adding that she was the main reason climate was
discussed during the British election campaign.
Svante Thunberg reveals how activism had changed the outlook of the
teenager, who suffered from depression for “three or four years” before
she began her school strike protest outside the Swedish parliament. She
was now “very happy”, he said.
“She stopped talking ... she stopped going to school,” he said of her
illness, adding that it was the the “ultimate nightmare for a parent”
when Greta began refusing to eat.
'It's nice to meet you': Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough speak over Skype.
Svante Thunberg, an actor, said he and his wife, the opera singer
Malena Ernman, scaled back their professional lives to spend more time
with Greta in order to help her overcome her depression. He became vegan
and his wife stopped travelling to concerts by plane.
He
said Greta became energised about green issues as the family began
talking more about environmental issues. He accompanied her on her tour
of the United States and visit to the Madrid climate crisis this year
“I did all these things, I knew they were the right thing to do ...
but I didn’t do it to save the climate, I did it to save my child,”
Svante Thunberg said. “I have two daughters and to be honest they are
all that matters to me. I just want them to be happy.
Greta Thunberg with BBC Today programme presenter Mishal Husain. Photograph: BBC/PA
“You think she’s not ordinary now because she’s special, and she’s
very famous, and all these things. But to me she’s now an ordinary child
– she can do all the things like other people can,” he said.
“She dances around, she laughs a lot, we have a lot of fun – and she’s in a very good place.”
He was concerned about the negative comments his daughter attracted
in the media and online and “all the hate that that generates”. But his
daughter dealt with it “incredibly well”.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know how she does it, but she laughs most of the time. She finds it hilarious.”
Among 412 new species finds this year The Greta Thunberg beetle
The naming of Nelloptodes gretae after the Swedish climate
activist Greta Thunberg in October was described as ‘particularly
poignant’ by a Natural History Museum senior curator. Photograph: Michael Darby/Pemberley Books/AFP via Getty Images
“In a sense, we’re at a tipping point for world industries, but the hope
is that we’re tipping in the right direction and not back to the Stone
Age,” one climate scientist said.
The influence of 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg helped launch a global movement of climate action. Chelsea Stahl / NBC News
Most climate scientists will be quick to say that 2019 was the year that Greta Thunberg truly became a force to be reckoned with.
The 16-year-old Swedish activist staged solo “Fridays for Future” school strikes
that triggered a global phenomenon drawing millions of people into the
streets to protest climate inaction. The teen has since become the face
of that newly energized climate movement and was recently named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
“She
represents the best of humanity,” said Benjamin Houlton, a professor of
global environmental studies at the University of California, Davis.
“She frightens those in power right now because she has a very clear
message and she’ll continue to be an important crusader.”
But while Thunberg’s influence soared and climate change permeated the cultural psyche, it was also a year in which the strong public engagement and the changing rhetoric surrounding climate change were not matched by aggressive policies to tackle global warming.
“We’re
completely divided everywhere,” said Anders Levermann, a climate
scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in
Germany. “One side is getting very loud and demanding change, but the
other side is saying climate change isn’t happening or isn’t man-made or
is too complicated to change. That is like looking at a world of
slavery and saying it’s too complicated to change. I think there’s a
pretty clear right side of history and wrong side of history.”
Tracking climate extremes around the world in 2019
Levermann worries that malevolent forces are preventing humanity from taking the right side.
“There’s
a much bigger problem than climate science denial — it’s fact denial,”
he said. “Science is about truth, but if you can’t agree on facts, then
the most powerful man in the room can decide what is right and wrong.”
Still, he sees some glimmers of hope. Though President Donald Trump announced in 2017 that he intends to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement,
a climate accord ratified by 187 countries that aims to sharply reduce
carbon emissions, the response elsewhere has not been apathetic.
Earlier
this month, the European Union unveiled a plan for its 28 member
nations to become “climate neutral” by 2050 by eliminating their
contributions to climate change. The proposal, known as the European Green Deal, was heralded as one of the most ambitious plans introduced by any government so far.
“It’s
only a plan at the moment, but it is a plan,” Levermann said. “A
carbon-free continent by 2050 is precisely what is needed for the world,
and if we can manage it in a highly developed place that is one of the
biggest economic engines on the planet, then it would send a very strong
signal.”
China is also starting to invest
heavily in renewable energy, a shift away from fossil fuels that could
become a trend across other economies and industries.
“In
a sense, we’re at a tipping point for world industries, but the hope is
that we’re tipping in the right direction and not back to the Stone
Age,” Levermann said.
Carly McLachlan, a
researcher at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the
United Kingdom, said she has noticed a significant change in the
public’s acceptance of climate science — and the urgency needed to stop
global warming.
“In 2019, it became quite common to frame climate change in the language of an emergency,”
she said. “We moved away from the sense that we need incremental
change, and the language we’re using shows this is really a defining
issue.”
Yet despite growing public recognition of the urgent need for action,
this year saw attacks on climate science from the governments of
several countries, such as Brazil, the United States and Australia.
At
a United Nations climate summit in early December, countries failed to
agree on certain core issues of the Paris Agreement, and several
countries including Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Australia were accused of
thwarting the negotiations.
But Houlton, of
UC Davis, thinks the realities of climate change will become harder to
ignore as carbon emissions continue to rise and communities around the
world face warming temperatures, rising seas and more intense episodes
of extreme weather.
This year was the fourth consecutive Atlantic hurricane season with above-average activity, Europe sweltered through a historic heat wave in June and dry conditions fueled massive bushfires that are still raging across Australia and have already scorched an area equivalent in size to the state of New Jersey.
Scientists
say these extreme events are likely linked to climate change and will
become hallmarks of the “new normal” for the planet.
“Climate
change is not about how we’re going to become extinct in 10 years or 20
years,” Houlton said. “It’s about: How much suffering do we want on the
planet? How many people have to die or move their homes? How much
economic disruption do we want?”
In the
U.S., the disruptions have been apparent, according to Joanna Lewis, an
associate professor of energy and environment at Georgetown University
in Washington, D.C. Parts of the Midwest and the South saw record flooding this year and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded weather and climate disasters in 2019 that each cost more than $1 billion.
How farmers along the Mississippi are affected by climate change
“It’s becoming more clear to people that
climate change is not something that is a long way off — it’s something
affecting people today,” Lewis said. But while the effects of rising seas and extreme weather may play out at the local level, tackling climate change will require international cooperation.
“If
I go out for a run, I will start to lose weight, but if I cut
emissions, I may not see that benefit play out in my community but it
might help somebody out in another community,” Houlton said. “We have
not evolved to deal with that idea of interconnectedness between people,
places and economies. We can’t compartmentalize. We need a complete
societal transformation.”
Laurence Smith, a
professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Brown
University in Providence, Rhode Island, said this year was characterized
by a shift away from debates about the science of climate change to
discussions about policies and solutions.
“We
know the science is real, so scientific work is taking a back seat to
political will, which is what we really need now,” Smith said. “A lot of
great things are happening at the local level, spearheaded by cities and states, but that’s not enough. There needs to be some top-down policy as well.”
Smith thinks the demand for political action in the U.S. and elsewhere will be largely driven by young people, like Thunberg, who see climate action as a priority. Thunberg’s activism has inspired youth-driven movements around the world that culminated in a Global Climate Strike in September that saw more than 4 million people worldwide participate in organized climate protests.
“I
haven’t seen this level of engagement before,” he said. “It’s beginning
to really matter with young people, even though it’s unfair to kick
this off to the younger generation and say: You guys fix it. So I’m
pleased that young people are engaged, but it’s also sad.”
For
Levermann, the incremental progress made in Europe and his home country
of Germany gives him reason to be optimistic. And he recognizes that
big changes to societies, economies and industries require some patience.
“Solving
climate change is a huge endeavor, and it requires the whole planet,
and the democratic process is slow,” Levermann said. “I’ve seen a lot of
motion, but we are far from having solved this. This will be a struggle
until the end of my life but, hopefully then, I can say to my children:
‘Here you go. We did this and now you have to solve the next one.’”
The teen activist "aroused the world" to climate change, the famed broadcaster tells her.
Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough are big fans of one another. BBC screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET
It's been quite a year for young climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who's capping off an eventful 2019 with major props from David Attenborough.
On
a BBC radio program Monday, the famed British broadcaster and
naturalist told the teen she'd "aroused the world" to climate change. He
also said she'd "achieved things that many of us who have been working
on it for 20-odd years have failed to achieve. I'm very grateful to you.
We all are."
Thunberg, in turn, expressed admiration for
Attenborough, saying his nature documentaries had inspired her interest
in the environment. The pair met for the first time for Monday's Today program, which Thunberg guest-edited. Their face-to-face chat happened via Skype, as they wanted to avoid the carbon impact of flying, and swapped opinions about the climate -- and activism.
"We
don't want to spend our time marching through the streets, but we have
to," Attenborough told the Swedish 16-year-old, "and you've shown very
great bravery in doing that." This year, Attenborough narrated Our Planet, an eight-part documentary series for Netflix that explores the impact of climate change.
When Greta Thunberg met Sir David Attenborough
Video: Greta Thunberg and Sir David Attenborough have met for the first time via Skype to
discuss the climate crisis and share their thoughts on how to make an
environmental impact.
The pigtailed Thunberg has drawn worldwide attention since she first
sat outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018, protest sign in hand,
demanding that world leaders act on climate change.
Earlier this month, Time named Thunberg its Person of the Year,
the youngest recipient ever bestowed the title. The publication
described her as the "most compelling voice on the most important issue
facing the planet."
In March, Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She's getting a Hulu documentary set to premiere next year. She's even getting her own mural in San Francisco.
But
not all the attention has been laudatory. As part of the same BBC radio
program, Greta's father Svante Thunberg said that while his daughter
has been happier since becoming an activist, he worries about the
hateful comments she received.
She's talked about being criticized on social media for her looks, clothing and behavior, among other things.
Her dad did say she deals with the criticism "incredibly well."
