Bill Carmichael: Beware of the cult of Greta Thunberg as there are no glib solutions to climate change debate

GRETA Thunberg is really a very remarkable young woman.
Cliate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, pictured addressing senior MPs this week.Cliate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, pictured addressing senior MPs this week.
Cliate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, pictured addressing senior MPs this week.

Last year the pigtailed teenager bunked off from classes at her special needs school and began sitting outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm carrying a banner that read “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School strike for the climate) to persuade politicians to do more to combat global warming.

What started as a one-girl protest quickly blossomed into one of the most extraordinary protest movements of recent years with school strikes in 114 countries involving an estimated 1.4 million pupils.

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Since then she has been feted by the great and good – particularly politicians who hope some of her stardust will rub off on them – and has become the poster child for the climate catastrophists.

Swedish climate acticist Greta Thunberg meets leaders of the UK political parties at the House of Commons in Westminster, London including Green Party leader Caroline Lucas (left) and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right), a chair was reserved for Theresa May, to discuss the need for cross-party action to address the climate crisis.Swedish climate acticist Greta Thunberg meets leaders of the UK political parties at the House of Commons in Westminster, London including Green Party leader Caroline Lucas (left) and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right), a chair was reserved for Theresa May, to discuss the need for cross-party action to address the climate crisis.
Swedish climate acticist Greta Thunberg meets leaders of the UK political parties at the House of Commons in Westminster, London including Green Party leader Caroline Lucas (left) and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right), a chair was reserved for Theresa May, to discuss the need for cross-party action to address the climate crisis.

She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was named by Time magazine as one of the most influential people of 2019 and was designated as the most important woman in Sweden to mark International Women’s Day.

She has met the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and the European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, and addressed the European Parliament where she was given a standing ovation.

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She has met the Pope, given a speech in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome, and addressed the Italian senate. Heiner Koch, the Bishop of Berlin, described her as a “true prophet” and even compared her to Jesus Christ!

She has given up flying to save the planet (are you taking note Dame Emma Thompson?) and travelled 32 hours by train to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos (where the rest of the delegates flew in using a fleet of 1,500 private jets). This week she met British political leaders, addressed MPs in Parliament and was given a personal welcome by House of Commons speaker John Bercow with the chamber echoing to applause and shouts of “hear, hear”.

All this and she is still only 16!

So let us not patronise her by treating her like a child. Instead let’s give her ideas true respect by subjecting them to proper scrutiny.

Ms Thunberg argues that we are 12 years away from total climate catastrophe and we have to crash the economy to save ourselves. “I want you to panic,” she says. “I want you to feel the fear I feel every day.”

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Specifically she claims that despite all the scientific evidence nothing has been done to reduce carbon emissions.

I am afraid this is demonstrably untrue. In fact, the UK has drastically cut its carbon emissions and they are now 39 per cent lower than in 1990 and the lowest since 1888.

In 2018, carbon emissions fell for the sixth consecutive year. We have led the G20 in cutting carbon and we have managed to do that while still maintaining economic growth.

This has been achieved largely by reducing coal burning for electricity, and over the Easter weekend, for example, it was reported that the National Grid had operated for a record 90 hours without burning single lump of coal.

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To say we have done “nothing” is palpable nonsense. But Ms Thunberg admits she sees everything in black and white. However things are rarely that simple. Take green taxes for example, which can successfully reduce carbon emissions by making energy artificially more expensive. But this not only stifles economic growth, it also hits the poor hardest. It is estimated that 50,000 mainly poor and elderly people die in England and Wales every winter because they cannot afford to heat their homes properly.

If you increase green taxes further, as Ms Thunberg’s supporters demand, then quite simply more poor people will suffer and die. Do you want that on your conscience?

Ms Thunberg and her supporters are also hostile to free market capitalism – but this system has been remarkably successful in combating poverty, particularly in the developing world.

The World Bank says more than a billion people have been lifted out of poverty in that last 25 years and that global poverty rate – at about 10 per cent – is the lowest in human history. I wish Ms Thunberg all the very best, and I am delighted that she has inspired many young people to take an interest in the world around them. But we should be very cautious of the Cult of Greta and to anyone offering trite and glib solutions to very complex problems.