- at 16, greta thunberg is the youngest person to be named time magazine's person of the year for climate-change activism, an award announced today.
- thunberg has turned away from planes and cars, publicly opting for trains, boats, and electric vehicles.
- her heavily publicized alternative travel choices have earned her insults from such commenters as the grand tour host jeremy clarkson.
perhaps the strongest sign that electric vehicles are here to stay: the time person of the year is a highly publicized advocate of them. teen climate activist—and now youngest ever time person of the year—greta thunberg has traveled around the world in the name of climate activism, speaking in front of crowds and world leaders. just as she makes headlines virtually every time she speaks, she appears in the news when someone catches wind of how she gets from one place to another.
just this past weekend while attending a climate summit in madrid, spain, she climbed out of a seat mii electric vehicle, ev sibling to the volkswagen up, while cameras rolled.
the climate activist has refused to fly due to carbon emissions; when thunberg traveled to the united states in august of this year for a climate summit, she did so via a boat equipped with solar panels and hydro generators to make the trip carbon-free (she did receive backlash since crew members had to be flown to take the yacht back to europe; their emissions were reportedly offset). she has since then traveled across the atlantic via boat other times, but with slightly less fanfare.
thunberg, a native of sweden, also famously uses trains when in europe. when she was in the u.s. this past fall, arnold schwarzenegger arranged for a tesla model 3 to take her throughout north america as she gave speeches and appeared at protests.
her advocacy has won her criticism, some of which could be seen as excessive. a couple of weeks ago, jeremy clarkson, lead host of the amazon car-themed grand tour series, was widely quoted in the u.k. as lamenting: "everyone i know under 25 isn't the slightest bit interested in cars. greta thunberg has killed the car show. they're taught at school, before they say 'mummy and daddy,' that cars are evil, and it's in their heads." he was further quoted in the yorkshire post as saying, "i won't take a lecture from . . . thunberg, who does sweet **** all, waves her arms around."
his co-host james may responded this week that clarkson is feeling "threatened." or maybe he was just being himself; this afternoon, clarkson posted congratulations on thunberg's time honors via twitter:
another critic, british businessman arron banks, posted on twitter prior to her trip across the atlantic that 'freak yachting accidents do happen in august."
but much of the criticism has been countered with support. a recent survey found that one in five travelers is flying less due to "flight shaming," with the shift being labeled the "greta effect." this past september, thunberg inspired a worldwide protesting demanding that action be taken on climate change.
so while there is no certainty in the automotive industry, what is for certain is that the kids are coming, and not doing so quietly.