Andrew Castle questions Greta Thunberg's attitude

29 February 2020, 11:26

The environmental activist was at a rally in Bristol which brought her style of speaking to question for Andrew.

Jeff Gazzard, an environmental activist joined Andrew on the line to join the debate around how the Swedish student presents herself to the public.

The conversation started initially where the two discussed how the UK is combatting climate change through the wind farms it is developing off the Welsh coast.

However, Andrew took exception to the way in which Greta Thunberg speaks about climate action to her young supporters, using inflammatory language which accuses and dismisses the work of governments.

Wondering whether it is appropriate to push this agenda to children, Andrew asked "is this the sort of language that is responsible?" He went further to state that "nobody's denying climate change" yet he feels that Ms. Thunberg is assuming that everyone of a certain age is.

Mr. Gazzard suggested that Greta Thunberg might know that she has to be inflammatory to get her statements "on the front page".

Although the climate activist may be being too aggressive in her language, Mr. Gazzard stated that "this is about publicity, about raising the issue, about awareness" rather than being about the attitude of a teenager.

He believes that the main takeaway from Greta Thunberg's work should be what she says, rather than how she says it.

"The issue is urgency and that is what she's preaching" Mr. Gazzard put. He and Andrew struggled to see eye to eye but Andrew did in fact accept the point that the teenager must be controversial in order for the message of climate action to be heard.