Greta Tunberg: why the whole world is discussing a Swedish schoolgirl with Asperger Syndrome

The young Swedish eco-activist Greta Thunberg in the last few days is in the headlines: her speech from the UN rostrum divided the society. Someone believes that she is the only one who can make us finally begin to take care of the planet. Someone - that adults use a child with an autism spectrum disorder for their goals.

«BBC”Talks about how the 16-year-old girl from Sweden became the leader of the movement to combat the greenhouse effect.

Social networks do not stop discussing the speech at the UN by eco-activist Greta Thunberg, an 16-year-old Swedish woman who, last year, unexpectedly for many, including herself, became the leader of the environmental movement. At one of the main international venues during the General Assembly, she turned to politicians with accusations that they stole her childhood, taking care not of the environment, but of economic growth (below we quote Greta in more detail).

“How dare you!” The young Swede addressed the audience.

Many of those who watched the video with her performance felt uneasy, but the main question hung in the air: how did it happen that for some 13 months that have passed since the moment 20 of August 2018 of the year about Greta Tunberg first learned she turned into a man who rightly accuses politicians and economists of stealing childhood from the UN rostrum.

A little over a year ago, an 15-year-old girl who, as it later turns out, was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder and selective mutism, sat with a large pink rucksack outside the Swedish parliament: “Skolstrejk for klimatet” (“School strike for climate "), - said the explanatory plate near her. A girl with two pigtails demanded a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement and vowed not to attend school until the elections in Sweden, which were almost three weeks away.

A few months earlier, she was one of the winners of the competition on climate change articles organized by the popular Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. New Time.

“I do this because you adults have spoiled my future,” it was written on the leaflets that the schoolgirl was distributing.

Initially, Thunberg planned to continue her “school” strike for several weeks - right up to the parliamentary elections in Sweden in September of 2018. So she hoped to get the future parliamentarians and government to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible, including in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement. After the election, Thunberg protested only on Fridays.

However, her strike attracted great attention at first, social networks, and then the world press. This interest fueled the controversial nature of the protest - the world discussed what is more important for students: publicly declare their position or attend classes regularly.

Following the Thunberg initiative, schoolchildren and students in many countries around the world began to hold "climate" protests on Fridays (Fridays for Future) - mass rallies in dozens of major cities. By the end of 2018, such events were held in at least 270 cities, tens of thousands of young people took part in them, The Guardian wrote.

So the name Tunberg became known to the whole planet. Over the past year, she has voiced her calls to begin an immediate fight for climate protection in many international forums. The young Swedish activist met several times with UN Secretary General Antoniu Gutterres, discussed her ideas with Barack Obama, spoke at a forum in Davos and before representatives of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

Non-random meeting

It was during the strike that she was noticed by the seemingly influential Swedish PR man Ingmar Renzhog, the founder of the online platform for eco-activists “We Don't Have Time” (“We don’t have time”). He posted a photograph on his facebook that later became symbolic for a new movement of teenagers who refuse to go to school on Fridays to fight the environment and demand that adults take care of their future. In the caption to the picture, Renzhog described the position of Greta Tunberg.

“We children usually don’t do what you tell us. We do as you say. And since you adults wanted to spit on my future, I will, too, ”she sounded. Renzog’s post ultimately scored 14 thousand likes and 5,8 thousand reposts.

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On the same day, Greta Tunberg posted an almost identical message with her photographs on Twitter, and a video appeared on Facebook on the website of the movement “We Don't Have Time” with Greta Tunberg sitting by the parliament and adults who were indifferently passing by.

“We Don’t Have Time” talked about Greta’s strike on the very first day - and after 24 hours our post and tweets gathered more than 20 thousand likes, reposts and comments, ”the organization’s PR specialists boasted of the Medium several days later.

In the first week of the “school strike”, six of Sweden's largest newspapers wrote about Greta Thunberg, she gave interviews to Swedish and Danish television and talked with two influential Swedish politicians - although only Ingmar Renzog entered the conversation on the first day, by his own admission .

At the same time, the newspaper Dagens Nyheter published a large interview with Greta's parents - opera singer Malena Hernman and actor Sveante Tunberg, in which they talked about their new book “Scenes from the Heart”, which tells about the life of their unusual family and the childhood of a young eco-activist. In particular, the book also tells about the manifestation of mental disorders in the girl - her mother Greta Tunberg called her Asperger Syndrome superpower.

After that, the Swedish journalist Andreas Hendriksson said: Ingmar Renzhog knew the Thunberg family even before Greta went on strike - together with Svante and his relatives, he took part in the climate conference held in May of 2018. Renzhog later admitted on his Facebook that he volunteered to help Greta's parents with PR books, but he did not belong to the idea of ​​a “school strike”. In February 2019 of the year, Greta Tunberg herself wrote on her Facebook that it was her not to go to school in order to combat climate change, and her parents were not enthusiastic about this idea.

Parents Greta Tunberg and she herself categorically reject the allegations that her strike was a well-balanced PR campaign, which now brings them numerous dividends in the form of financial support from non-profit organizations.

“I'm not part of any organization,” says Greta Tunberg on her Facebook. - I sometimes support some NGOs that protect the climate and the environment, and work with them. But I am completely independent and represent only myself. I do what I do, completely free, I have not received any money or promises of payments in the future. As well as anyone associated with me, and my family. "

To avert suspicions that Greta Thunberg’s popularity was the result of PR work, the Thunbergs were helped by the charges that they brought against Ingmar Renzhog at the end of last year: they stated that the PR man used Greta’s name without their consent, which helped him to collect investments worth $ 1,5 million for a company that gives environmental organizations only 10% of revenue. In an interview with Svenska Dagbladet, Svante Tunberg complained that the PR man did not warn him about what he was going to do and expressed regret that his family was used for commercial purposes.

Nevertheless, Ingmar Renzhog continues to support the activities of Greta Tunberg - he recently posted a small video on social networks in which the girl talks about the need to reduce the carbon footprint.

Thunberg appeared and many critics. Swiss Tages-Anzeiger wrote: "The enthusiasm for Greta Thunberg represents the flip side of populism a la Trump: both of these phenomena are based on distrust of existing elites." And one of the authors of the British The Spectator pointed to the unjustified cult of the activist, noting that "for society and for Thunberg herself it would be better if we finally finished running around with these children's horror stories and returned to the framework of a reasonable discussion."

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In his speeches, Thunberg rarely smiles and sharply criticizes the audience listening to her. She blames the powerful of the world for inaction and ostentatious attention to the appeals of youth instead of urgent effective measures to protect the climate.

“I don’t want you to listen to me - I want you to listen to the scientists,” she told American congressmen in September of 2019. And speaking to European parliamentarians earlier, she criticized them for “three urgent summits due to Brexit and zero urgent summits due to the destruction of climate and the environment”.

What she stated in her speech at the UN

Tunberg’s new speech at the UN summit on climate change has become a landmark. She uttered her extremely emotionally and not holding back tears.

“All this is wrong. I should not be here. I should go back to school across the ocean. However, all of you have come to us, young people, for hope. How dare you! ”Tunberg began her speech.

“You stole my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and I was lucky. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems collapse. We are all on the verge of mass destruction, but all you can talk about is money and tales of perpetual economic growth. How dare you! ”The activist continued.

She further reminded the audience that science has been “extremely clear” for 30 years about climate threats - and yet global efforts to prevent them are still not visible.

Thunberg criticized the idea of ​​halving emissions over the course of 10 years, calling it only a half measure. According to the Swedish schoolgirl, this way humanity will get only an 50% chance to keep global warming no higher than the 1,5 degree, but the risk of irreversible climate change will continue.

She called such risks unacceptable for her generation, accusing the world community of the inefficiency of trying to solve the problem with the help of minor technological changes while maintaining the general principles of doing business and working industries.

“You fail us, but young people begin to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are turned on you, and if you decide to let us down, I assure you: we will never forgive, ”said Tunberg.

“You won’t get away with it. Right here, right now we're drawing a line. The world is waking up and change is coming, whether you like it or not, ”she concluded.

Greta Thunberg herself was brought to the United States to the United States on an eco-friendly yacht - not even on a ship. Yachtsman Boris Hermann volunteered to do this; he suggested an 16-year-old activist a trip across the Atlantic. Water turbines for generating electricity, a composite hull, Kevlar sails - the world's most durable material, though of synthetic origin - all this was provided by Greta Tunberg, of course, for free.

This idea caused a lot of criticism and accusations of populism, as part of the yacht team still flew to the United States by plane - in order to later deliver the ship back to Europe while Thunberg will be in the United States.

How do Thunberg respond to resonant performance

Tunberg spoke on the first day of the UN summit in New York, which focuses on global action on climate change. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the problem "the main issue of our time, and its solution is a turning point in history."

“I want to hear about how we intend to stop emissions growth by the 2020 year and drastically reduce emissions to reach zero by the middle of the century,” Guterrish summarized the goals of the summit.

Against the background of a significant problem, Greta Tunberg’s presentation revived the discussion about how effective the measures taken by mankind are and whether the personal struggle of the 16-year-old schoolgirl helps this process.

US President Donald Trump, who shocked the world more than once with the denial of climate problems, sarcastically commented on Thunberg’s speech on Twitter and called her “a very happy young girl who is looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”

“It's so nice to see it!” Said Trump, whose commentary by The Guardian was seen as a “mockery” of the activist.

Trump spent no more than 15 minutes at the climate summit and made no statements. At the same time, the world media and users of social networks drew attention to the look that “gave” American President Tunberg.

“The world has found its hero, and his name is Greta Thunberg,” the American politician Buffy Weeks, representative of the Democrats in the California State Assembly, accompanied this video with this comment.

Schoolgirls have noticed many world media outlets. “Greta Tunberg spares no words. Even if he addresses the most influential people in the world, ”writes CNN, also recalling that on September 23, Tunberg and 15 of other activist children filed a complaint with the UN. In it, they state that the five leading world economies violated their rights by not taking adequate measures to stop the climate crisis.

The Guardian called the stinging words of Tunberg addressed to world leaders "stinging" and recognized the threats she identified as "prophetic." The publication notes that on the same day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the UN climate summit announced his country's plans to increase the use of renewable energy sources, but did not say a word about the gradual phase-out of coal - this is the goal the Secretary General of the UN voiced earlier.

“There is a big dissonance between what every leader says to Greta:“ We hear you, ”and the commitments they ultimately voice,” said Isabelle Cavelier, strategic adviser to the 2020 Mission, a global scientific initiative that developed a program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 year.

According to her, the largest economies in the world - China, India, the USA, Canada, Australia - have actually ignored the initiatives of the UN 2019 summit of the year. “We see governments appear empty-handed. It seems that the major powers-sources of pollution are holding onto the situation, ”Cavelier supported the message of Greta Tunberg.

“Very emotional and evidence-based,” called a speech by Swedish activist Alden Meyer, director of strategic development, Union of Concerned Scientists. This non-profit international scientific organization has existed since the end of the 60's and is engaged in the development of scientific initiatives on the global problems of mankind.

“If I were a world leader, I would feel very awkward. But we did not hear anything special from the leaders of the major powers, the players of G20. It is difficult to say that the summit has changed anything fundamentally in the issue of emissions, ”Meyer added.

What you need to know about Asperger Syndrome

Thunberg has some “health features”: Asperger syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and selective mutism. Naturally, Greta has her own vision of the above diagnoses and even considers some of them to be a “gift of fate”. So, according to the activist, selective mutism for her means that she speaks out only "when she believes that it is absolutely necessary, and now is one of those moments." Greta does not comment on obsessive-compulsive disorder at all, but Asperger’s Syndrome Greta considers for himself a “gift” that defines her vision of the world and makes her special, writes Beautyub.

“To be different than everyone is a gift! My feature allows me to think outside the box and look at the world more categorically, to see it in black and white. So I more acutely understand what is bad and what is good. And if I were like everyone else, for example, I would not start a strike. ”

Asperger syndrome, which doctors discovered in the girl after a protracted depression in 11 years, dominates in this list of “health features”, and society considers this disease to be the main reason for her “craving” for global warming.

In classical medical practice, Asperger's Syndrome, or autistic psychopathy, is described as a mental development disorder characterized by serious difficulties in social interaction, as well as a limited, stereotypical, repetitive repertoire of interests and activities. What does this mean? A person suffering from this disease is manic concerned about one single narrowly focused kind of activity, whether it be cross-stitching or the study of stars. In the case of Greta Thunberg, this is a pathological idea of ​​global warming, which will soon destroy our planet.

It is worth noting that from childhood autism (Kanner syndrome), Asperger's syndrome, or autistic psychopathy, is primarily distinguished by the fact that speech and cognitive abilities as a whole remain intact. The syndrome is often characterized by severe clumsiness.

The exact cause of Asperger Syndrome is unknown. Symptoms are characterized by a violation of social interaction, narrow and intense interests, as well as one-sided talkativeness and poverty of speech intonation.

Violations of social interactions are expressed in reduced empathy for peers, inability to make friends and communicate on equal terms, as well as a violation of non-verbal behavior in areas such as eye contact, facial expression, body language and gesticulation. Greta Tunberg, although it is the “voice of a generation,” but still has no friends among classmates. But embittered facial expressions and rolling eyes during a speech at the UN were simply impossible not to notice. This is one of the main reasons that raised a wave of concern about the adequacy of the girl.

Narrow and intense interests in people with Asperger syndrome are visible by occupation, often people blindly perform highly specialized work and strongly believe that the well-being of many people depends on their activities. Here we can clearly draw a parallel with Greta Tunberg, who has been fond of climate change since eight years and ignores school.

One-sided talkativeness and poverty of speech intonation are the thinnest sides of Asperger syndrome, because people with this disease often do not have functional problems with language communication. However, the disease actively manifests itself in verbosity, a sharp change in the topic of conversation, as well as in the intonation breaking into a cry. To understand how it works, just watch the last video with Greta.

Asperger syndrome is considered one of the latest scientific discoveries in the field of autism spectrum disorders, therefore there is no single treatment for this disease. However, you can take a course of non-drug treatment, which includes therapy of social skills, speech correction, coordination of movement and control of emotional states. Medicines to treat the central symptoms of Asperger Syndrome do not yet exist, but there is a drug effect on concomitant diseases. Moreover, individuals with Asperger Syndrome may find it difficult to understand why drug therapy is needed. Some scientists suggest that Asperger Syndrome be considered a “feature” of a person and not affect its development.

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