'Greta Thunberg!!!!' The world's ability to continuously get distracted by non-issues. What has this world turned into??

Social media sensations who lack substance that become fly-by-night celebrities. The sad thing is we actually have some smart people getting caught up in such hullabaloo

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

Whatever the accuracy or otherwise of the climate-change claims either way, I am fed up with politicians including the UN, and journalists, of all parties and nationalities; paying so much attention to this naïve but self-important Swedish lass, Extinction Rebellion and the like.

I suspect most of the politicians, journalists and "celebrities" who fawn over Miss Tornberg and the ER mob do so because they are scientifically very illiterate. The find it far easier to believe the banner-wavers and scientifically-weak clichés like "zero carbon" and "renewable energy", than to make any effort to understand even school-level physics and engineering.

It is the professional Scientists we need heed for the analysis and explanation of what is and what is not happening; how, why and at what rate.

It is the professional Engineers we need heed, for genuine, practical solutions to technical problems with serious potential social consequences.

I'd like to see that wretched girl go back to Sweden, take a degree, Masters then PhD in an appropriate science or engineering discipline, and gain a reputation for good, reliable research into the changing climate, its potential effects and what we can or cannot do about it. Only then will I listen to her.

QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M

@ArishMell Greta is largely telling you to listen to said scientists and engineers. In case you haven’t noticed, people aren’t doing that.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@QuixoticSoul Is she now?

No, I'd not noticed because so much of the publicity is not on that side of her story but on the posturing and campaigning. Consequently I lose patience because her presentations are pitched to politicians and the media who indeed are not listening, so she seems as stage-managed and shallow as them.

I wonder what she would be like if next year's guest lecturer in BBC Radio Four's Reith Lectures. Those are serious talks on major matters, not cheap posturing; and they need careful listening. So from your comment I imagine we would hear a much more balanced and sober assessment and plea; than she shows in the well-oiled publicity-machine around the UN etc.

SW-User

@ArishMell

My message to the Americans is the same as to everyone – to #unitebehindthescience and to act on the science

https://t.co/D2g2BSCJbz

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@SW-User Thank you Nunos.

I fear though that a lot of uniting is not behind the science but behind what the campaigners think the scientists are saying. And it seems to me that the campaigners gain more publicity than the scientists.

QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M

@ArishMell The scientists are too busy doing science to be effective communicators and political organizers. In situations like this, both are important - because the level of public awareness is a lot lower than the urgency of the situation as communicated by the world’s scientific community.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@QuixoticSoul Oh, yes, I agree; and in fact there are scientists and more general academics who do work hard to try to improve that communication.

I see the weak link though between scientist and "public" as the politician and the journalist, and see their overweening concentrating on campaigners as a sign of their weakness. They report or comment on who is the easier to report on, the scientist or the banner-waver.

QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M

@ArishMell The scientists have been ringing alarms for decades now. At this point, activists are highly useful, and activism can be recognized as important. Clearly, there is not enough of it.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@QuixoticSoul Useful to whom though?

So many have no serious, practical solutions; so many think it clever simply to disrupt as many people's everyday lives as they can; so many come over as technically illiterate; that I have no confidence in them.

There are politicians and journalists who genuinely do listen to the scientists and understand them; but too many come over as being no more technically-minded than the more rabid of Extinction Rebellion.

QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M

@ArishMell Useful to all of us, because people aren’t paying attention. Greta is working to mobilize the youth towards a laudable goal, and galvanize the relevant discussion. This is only a good thing.