The silent expanses

"Greta: One Year to Change the World" is a three-part documentary about young climate activist Greta Thunberg. It follows her peregrinations around the world in 2019 and 2020. Both Greta and her father Svante speaks English in the series. It´s interesting to compare this BBC production with the Swedish film "I am Greta". In the latter, Greta Thunberg comes across as borderline crazy (probably unintentionally - it´s a pro-Greta film), whereas the BBC series paints her in a much more serious way. We also get to meet a lot of climate scientists, who try to educate the viewer about the severity of the climate crisis. One of the few celebrities featured is Sir David Attenborough. And, I suppose, Greta´s two dogs!

Greta visits disappearing glaciers in Canada, a community in California severly hit by forest fires, and a location in Switzerland where the avalanches are just getting worse. The message is that nobody really follows the Paris Agreement on stopping climate change. Nor is it obvious what *could* halt it (except radically cutting down on fossil fuel use). Planting new forests? Yes, but it takes 30 years before a forest can become a net carbon sink. During the first 15 years, it *emitts* more carbon dioxide than it binds! Nuclear power? Yes, but we would need to build thousands of new nuclear power plants. Fast! Carbon capture and storage? The prototype Greta visits would have to be expanded one million times in order to capture all the emitted carbon dioxide. During the COVID lockdowns, the carbon emissions only went down by 7%. Meanwhile, the politicians just talk the talk. 

The most hilarious part of the series is when Greta visits retired coal miners in Polish Silesia. The whole thing looks like a good old Communist psy op from the Cold War, with the miners being dressed up in uniforms with weird medals, pretending to support the little climate activist. A bit like when Red operators claimed to be for "peace" back in the days. Still, a smarter approach than that of the Alberta oil workers in Canada, who staged counter-protests, forcing Greta´s campaign to hire security for her!

Another absurd incident takes place during the COVID pandemic, when Norway closes its border with Sweden. Greta absolutely wants to meet a Norwegian psychologist who has done research on how people are affected (or not affected) by the radical climate message. So they meet in a house that´s literally on the Swedish-Norwegian border, with Greta sitting on the Swedish side of a table, while the psychologist is sitting on the Norwegian side of the very same table! And no, none of them is wearing a mask...  

Of course, the problem is that modern society *can´t* cut back its fossil fuel use by 50% in 10 years, or whatever is the current demand of the radical Greens, without collapsing. China won´t cut them, and neither will India, Russia or Brazil. In the long run, it might be a good thing from a Chinese or Russian perspective that the West stops using fossil fuels, since the remaining oil and coal resources can then be monopolized by the West´s enemies (presumably fueling a more autarkic economy than at present). A crippled West probably wouldn´t be able to maintain its nuclear parity or superiority either, suggesting that the climate change movement, although well meaning, will be used as "useful idiots" by Beijing and Moscow. 

The real perspective is one of increased resource wars between the great powers, with lesser powers and barbarian warlords joining the fray, while millions of people get displaced or simply die due to extreme weather events. I don´t think uptight moral commentary can change this.

A fascinating portion of the documentary records Greta´s reactions to the silent expanses of the Atlantic Ocean. Her reflections sound almost Buddhist. I sometimes wonder if that is the only "solution" to our predicament...

Nirvana.