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Greta Thurnberg’s Semi-slow Boat Upon the Stormy Seas

Which is exactly why, regardless of cause, adults should be slow if not completely adverse to putting children out in front of their political causes.

Andrew Donaldson
4 min readAug 16, 2019
Photo by Xriss via Wikimedia Commons

The Greta Thunberg speaking tour has received quite a bit of press in the United States with news she would be taking a “carbon-neutral sailing yacht” to make appearances in the Americas.

Yeah, about that

Climate activist Greta Thunberg causes more greenhouse gas emissions from her sailing trip from the United Kingdom to the United States than if she had flown. About five employees would sail the yacht back to Europe, said Andreas Kling, spokesman for Thunberg skipper Boris Herrmann, on Thursday.

“Of course, they fly over there, that’s no different,” says Kling. Herrmann will also take the plane for the return journey. The sailing trip triggers at least six climate-damaging air travel across the Atlantic. If Thunberg had flown with her father, only two would have been necessary to come to New York.

According to the atmosfair emissions calculator, a flight from New York to Hamburg has a climate impact of around 1,800 kilograms of carbon dioxide. That is more than three quarters of what every person is

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Andrew Donaldson
Andrew Donaldson

Written by Andrew Donaldson

Writer. Mountaineer diaspora. Veteran. Managing Editor @ordinarytimemag on culture & politics, food writing @yonderandhome, Host @heardtellshow & other media

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