In order to attend the COP25 climate change conference in December 2019, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg had to navigate hell and high water. From investigating the effects of climate change on Canada’s ancient glaciers and forests, the plan was for her and father Svante to drive down to Chile for the conference.
Their route took them through Paradise, California, where she went to meet a survivor of the deadly wildfire that destroyed the town in November 2018. Anti-government riots were raging in Santiago, so the conference venue was abruptly switched to Madrid. A flight, taking seven hours, was out of the question for its environmental impact; Greta and her father eventually hitched a lift to Europe on a 48-ft catamaran. Facing the ire of the Atlantic in November would daunt anyone except this fragile-looking girl. The captain warned of a rough three weeks ahead. “The joys of parenting!” says queasy Dad.
Having arrested the world with her enraged “How dare you” speech to the United Nations in 2019, this astonishing figure, who turned 18 in January this year, has refined her approach: “I don’t want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the science.” This three-part film, recording the year she took off from schooling to commit to full-time activism, is bolstered by ranks of international scientific experts, from Canadian hydrologist John Pomeroy, to Oxford professor Katherine Willis and University of the West Indies professor Michael Taylor. “Everything I do gets completely twisted,” says Greta, pointing instead to their sober analyses. We already seem to be in a different world from the one where Trump sneered: “Greta . . . Greta,” while his base enthusiastically booed a teenager.
The first episode takes her through a hectic three months on the road, protective father always at her side. Once an Atlantic storm has been weathered, the weeks at sea aboard the Vagabonde are a blessed respite from public attention. Of course there’s an irony here, as Greta suns herself and contemplates the vast ocean, because she’s still being filmed. She and Svante also politely use English throughout. It means she’s never really “off”; but it’s the price she’s chosen to pay to get her message across.
Svante reveals his daughter spends her downtime reading up on the science, writing and rehearsing her speeches, always impressively poised and focused. The speech at COP25 is another triumph, with loud cheers as she dismisses politicians’ “clever accounting and creative PR” and their claims of action. The size of the box she was standing on to reach the microphone is a tiny but telling detail.
★★★★☆
On BBC1 from April 12 at 9pm
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