November 13, 2023 - 5:30pm
After posting a controversial tweet in support of Palestine last month, Greta Thunberg this week implored audience members at a climate demonstration to chant, “no climate justice on occupied land”.
Having started her campaign for climate awareness as a teenager by correctly highlighting that Sweden was not living up to its climate commitments, the environmental activist has now set her sights on the Middle East, while sharing a stage with a speaker who has justified the 7 October attacks as noble “resistance”. It would appear that some corrections are in order, relating to Thunberg’s understanding of Israel, Palestine and their attitudes to climate change.
Israel has reduced its carbon emissions per capita from nearly 10 tons for each person in 2012 to six tons in 2021. Under the Bennett-Lapid government, then-environment minister Tamar Zandberg committed Israel to a carbon reduction regime which would see emission reduction of between 80 and 85% by 2050, putting the country on course to meet its climate commitment to the Paris Accords.
What’s more, there are some 650 companies in the Israeli green tech industry, making it the fifth most innovative country globally in the field. Of course, Israel has often missed its targets, and still gets 96% of its electricity from fossil gas, but it is still doing better than its autocratic neighbours.
The likes of Thunberg might point out that Palestinians only emit 0.6 tons per person, a number which reflects the abject poverty in Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority has practically no industry, and subsists on donations from the West and the Arab world. Almost all of the energy used in the West Bank is imported from Israel, and Gaza relies on a diesel-powered energy plant for its remaining resources.
A tenth of the PA’s funds come from Saudi Arabia, arguably its closest patron. Hamas (not known to be especially vocal on climate change) has as its primary patrons Qatar and Iran. Saudi Arabia, Iran and Qatar, while not seeing eye-to-eye on a great deal, are all among the greatest fossil fuel-producing countries on earth. In comparison, Western democracies have carried out the lion’s share of emission reductions.
Only one of Palestine’s patrons has a plan for ending its fossil fuel addiction. The Saudis will need all the help they can get in this endeavour, and one of the shortest roads to get there is normalisation of relations with Israel, the deal that was on the cards before 7 October. Already, the Abraham Accords have brought about a deal between Israel, Jordan and the UAE which aims to bring desalinated water to Jordan from Israel in return for green energy transported in the opposite direction, with new solar fields built by the UAE.
If Saudi Arabia were to join the Accords, the resulting peace dividend could bring about a new era of regional development in solar, wind, water and rail transportation. It was this deal that was put on hold by Hamas’s massacres a month ago.
Is Greta Thunberg’s promotion of a “free Palestine” helping or hurting the climate cause? That Hamas or the PA would want to pursue “climate justice” goals after Israel is destroyed is perhaps a bit of a stretch, considering the countries which are bankrolling their cause. If we are to criticise Western eco-hypocrisy, we must also recognise the culpability of the oil-producing states currently backing Palestine.
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SubscribeNothing speaks to the sickness that has infected western institutions more than Greta Thunberg. How does a 16-year-old autistic child, whose knowledge of climate change is no deeper than a high school poster, become a leader of a global movement?
She has lectured political leaders across the world, yet her understanding of the issues is that of a child. She has never said anything beyond parade slogans, she has never moved the conversation forward in any meaningful way, yet she has become the moral symbol we are supposed to aspire to.
Take for instance her latest chant; “no climate justice on occupied land.” This is meaningless drivel. It’s a mindless slogan that says nothing. Yet she has been embraced by millions of people who have discarded logic and reason in favour of marketing, emotion and virtue signaling.
We the ‘west’ have many precedents for such ‘neurotic’ behaviour. Perhaps the best known example is Joan of Arc*.
However whilst she ‘never laid hands on anyone’ she was wounded no less than three times in battle, and survived jumping from a 60 foot high tower in a bid to escape ‘our’ clutches. Good girl!
She was burnt alive in Rouen at the age of approximately 20.
(* c1412-1431)
Definitely reminds one of Joan or Arc.
I see no similarity whatsoever. Joan of Arc was willing to expose herself to danger and suffer for her beliefs. In general, the French have a very different perception of her. Greta Thunberg was lauded for persuading school children not to attend school on Fridays rather than encouraging them to work hard at school in order to ultimately develop the requisite skills for addressing problems, eg a degree in engineering.
Women who proselytise? However on the Richter scale of 1-10, I would rate JoA at 9, Thunberg at 1 and Hilary Clinton at -3.
Fair enough.
’Matthew 7:15-20New King James VersionYou Will Know Them by Their Fruits15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.’
Mathew 10: 36 right now!
Some roastbeefs seem to be still butthurt from Saint Joan of Arc.
20 y/old now
And hasn’t developed at all.
This sad (but true) statement only screens the huge vaccuum of knowledge and competence western policymakers currently represents. Welcome to a brand new world where a spoiled generation (resulted from over-protective parents that never taught’em how to deal with frustrations) meets a lack of leadership, granting them voice throughout the beauty of social networks.
Oh, but Greta Thunberg wrote the book on the climate. Literally. It’s called The Climate Book, and it tells us all what to do to save the world. The “creator” is Greta Thunberg, but she (or someone in her name) wrote only the first 3.5 of its 446 pages, an introduction with no substance. All the rest was written by someone else.
That shows how much Greta Thunberg contributes to climate debate. I worry about the climate too, but at least I do something to help deal with the problem.
She was carefully selected because she is autistic an looks younger than her years.
It makes her instantly recognizable and difficult to attack.
The question is who decided she was newsworthy and who make sure she gets the coverage
In my carefully considered opinion, a sure sign of intellectual rot in a society is when it starts lionizing callow youth, calling their silly opinions on how society should be run “a breath of fresh air” or “the new truth.”
The last time this happened on a large scale was in the Sixties, when the Baby Boom found its voice and began screaming. We know (well, I know) how that turned out, and it wasn’t good. I was up close and personal with that time, and I was gobsmacked that the grownups lay down and let those idiots run over them.
Oh, and when you say that Israel has reduced its emissions to six tons of carbon per capita, what exactly do you mean? Nobody emits carbon that I am aware of, but we certainly emit carbon dioxide, as do many of the things we enjoy, like electrical generation and automobiles.
Carbon has no effect on the climate (think of a ton of coal just lying in a pile. What’s it doing to the atmosphere? Nothing.) Carbon dioxide may, but a ton of carbon dioxide contains only 375 pounds of carbon. Let’s keep the terminology accurate.
Religions are like that. You need to have faith.
Greta just can’t bear to be out of the limelight for more than five minutes. Don’t encourage her.
Actually I think it’s her mother who cannot bear a lack of attention…
.. or presumably maintaining the profitable investment in her daughter’s international profile …
The Blessed St. Greta is someone whose intellectual capacity is hindered by her absorption of drivel. She seems incapable of an original thought.
With a crazy mixed-up view that sees climate change as a direct result of the capitalist democratic system, and with Gaza (as we all know) a positive hotbed of democracy (i.e. murdering opponents) and capitalism (i.e stealing aid), it’s not surprising she is a bit muddled.
Let’s stop fossil fuel reaching Gaza.
It’s what Greta would want us to do.
I think that’s partly the point, isn’t it? We too will emit far less CO2 once we are impoverished, so let’s talk up the heroes who can manage it now.
The problem is that anyone with a sliver of intelligence discounts her nonsense – leaving the rest to follow her.
Greta Thurnberg respresent bourgois cosmoplitans who hate the rooted western “somewhere” middle class, its values, its way of life and the fact that the western citizens enjoy reasonnably high living standards.
That’s what she stands against. And that is what I stand for.
Greta Thunberg is not confusing the two subjects. Many of her followers protest about climate change and also hate Israel (for dogmatic reasons). She can’t afford to loose her followers hence she has no choice but behaving accordingly.Full stop.
Therefore she has no real values. Something we suspected from the get go.
Spare the rod, spoil the child.
This woman shouldn’t be given a platform for spewing her distortions and venom. She is a misguided zealot who has more damage than good.
She really is very thick. But let’s hear more from her, she’ll discredit all her half witted causes in the end
Vacuous politicians worldwide have been desperate to align themselves with an autistic child in order to establish their ‘Climate change credentials ‘. That shows how little they know about science and the real issues involved.
We are coming out of a cold period naturally and nothing we do in terms of reducing CO2 levels will do do anything to stop natural global warming. So many other factors are involved anyway.The best thing to do is to ignore reducing CO2 levels and get a head start in mitigating against the consequences of natural global warming, which is unstoppable.
Thunberg is merely trying to hitch a bandwagon to her brand.
The Doom Goblin is spreading her political sings!