Publisher’s
write-up:
'No One Is Too Small to Make a
Difference is Greta’s first book in English, collecting her speeches from
climate rallies across Europe to audiences at UN, the World Economic Forum, and
the British Parliament.’
Note: My book is the May 2019 edition, and thus, I
shall not refer to the speeches added in the expanded edition published in
November 2019
Regardless of our position on her
activism, most of us have an opinion on Greta Thunberg. Before I get into the
review, I shall make it clear that considering the size of the book, this
review would also be a mix of my views on the book and her activism (hence, the
+ on the title). For starters, she is another teenage activist who garners
unusual amount of hate to be merely dismissed as media hype and followed up
with endless conspiracy theories. All I saw was a repeat of what happened with
another teenage activist during the decade, being Malala Yousafzai, the girl
who was supposedly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just for getting shot,
completely ignoring the fact that she was shot because of her activism (click
here to read the review of I am Malala).
This is a small book and takes
less than an hour to read – it contains eleven of her speeches, delivered
before May 2019. The central theme of her speeches is that we are running out
of time in taking action against climate change to keep global warming below
acceptable levels, how the politicians are not doing enough and an urge to
listen to the scientists. There is also emphasis on how the current societal
model which measures success by economic growth is not sustainable, much as sustainable development has been a
term for years, they have just been empty words with very little intent to act
on those plans.
It is a matter of surprise that in
countries like the US (and several others, unfair to single out one), the
debate is not over how to handle climate
change but rather, on existence of
climate change. Much as the consensus among scientists is well known, the lobbyists
have been strong enough to propagate climate change, like ExxonMobil; a
champion of climate change denial up until recent times, despite their own
research suggesting otherwise (precisely the reason why they needed the
propaganda).
The book contains her famous
speeches such as ‘Our House is on Fire’ delivered
at the World Economic Forum in Davos and ‘Can
You Hear Me?’; where she emphasises how it is time the world recognises the
problem as a crisis and treats it as one and the speech in House of Commons
(being Can You Hear Me?), she brings
up the creative accounting used by UK to show dramatic steps and achievements
(having read several accounts about the Civil Service, I can easily imagine
that coming from Whitehall).
She also explains much of the
hate that she receives – as to how she is politically motivated, does not offer
any solutions, etc. Especially regarding that latter, I have always felt that
she never claimed that she had solutions and the crux of her speeches is urging
politicians to listen to scientists. Much as she denies that she has any
backing, it is very much possible that she does but I am not bothered by that
so long as I am convinced about the cause that is being backed even if she is
merely being used as a tool. I am
satisfied that her activism regardless of our beliefs have got us to talk on
this topic, across countries and that is what I consider as her success.
Of course, there are points I don’t
agree with – where she points out that it is a black and white issue and there
is no room for grey; while I agree with her on the issue part of it (need to
reiterate my surprise at people still debating over the existence of climate change),
it is not the same for solution and it is difficult to overhaul the system
overnight. It is impossible to be completely in agreement with any person and
Greta is no exception. The point that if the current rules do not permit the
change, it is the rules that need a change, is a point that I agree with and has
been emphasised well in all of her speeches.
My suggestion to the reader would
be to not read all speeches at once as it might seem repetitive.
There were around a ten blank
pages in my edition after the end of the book and it would have been much
better if sources to the facts mentioned in her speeches were given; I do not
challenge the factual accuracy as even her staunchest haters do not accuse her
of factual inaccuracies, nonetheless, it would have been better to have the
sources.
The book as such, I award it a
rating of seven on ten.
Rating – 7/10
Andy
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