It’s not every day you receive an influx of burning questions from the likes of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, musician, activist and designer Jaden Smith, and poet and activist Amanda Gorman. But environmental activist Greta Thunberg isn’t your average interviewee.
Ahead of the release of her first book, The Climate Book (out on October 27), the Swedish activist sat down with ELLE UK to play a game of 'Ask Me Anything: The Celebrity Edition,' and respond to questions from some of the most prolific global activists, environmentalists and authors.
‘Unfortunately I rarely watch TV shows because I don’t have time, but to unwind I listen to a lot of music, I go for long walks...,’ she said in response to Yousafzai’s question about how she likes to unwind. ‘I also read a lot... and dancing. Just silly dancing!’
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An hour later, while on the ELLE set, Thunberg was captured in an interlude between takes, performing the choreography for Beyoncé’s 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)' to the theme song for Thomas the Tank Engine. It was a glimpse of the 19-year-old that's in there somewhere, despite her usual guise of holding politicians to account for failing to address climate issues.
In 2018, the teenager’s school strike – which involved a then 15-year-old Thunberg sitting on the cobblestones outside the Swedish parliament with a large handwritten sign saying ‘School Strike for Climate’ – ignited a global conversation about the impact of the environmental crisis on future generations. In the years since, she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (a whopping three times), travelled the globe to meet with like-minded activists, and delivered inspiring speeches at Glastonbury Festival and at the UN COP25.
In response to Smith’s questions about the ways to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, Thunberg explained that instead we need to decarbonise our societies. ‘I don’t think that focussing on individual [actions] is good. There’s no one silver bullet that will do it for us,’ she noted.
Despite her overwhelming focus on the ways that we humans have damaged the planet, Thunberg still rather likes being human. ‘I don’t think I would want a superpower,’ she muses. ‘I like being mortal and vulnerable.’
Elsewhere in the video, Thunberg answered a question from author and ELLE contributing editor Aja Barber on how she discusses fast fashion with friends and her community.
‘I think, more or less, most people know [fast fashion] is very harmful for the environment, but I think many people seem to think there are many in the fashion industry who are trying to become better and more sustainable, and so on,’ she said. ‘When, in fact, that’s very often not the case. They are using that in order to make people think that they’re doing something – they’re using “greenwashing”, which is a common misconception. We need to move away from this view of the planet and of stuff. We’re constantly just hoarding stuff instead of throwing it away.
‘I would say that more than 90% of my clothes [have been given to me] from other people, like family members, friends, classmates. I don’t buy new things and I'm also short, which means when people grow out of their old clothes, they can give them to me. It's convenient.'
In the lead up to the release of her new book, which contains essays by scientists and authors such as Naomi Klein, and environmentalists like Wanjira Mathai, she explained to activist Amika George how she remains hopeful in her climate activism.
‘Hopeful, to me, doesn’t mean that I have a feeling that everything will be alright and that there’s no need to worry because things are being taken of,’ she noted. ‘Hope is going out there, doing something and taking action. That’s how I can stay hopeful.’
Thunberg urged us all to take action, adding: ‘Find people who think like you, and start something together. For so many people [to] feel less worried about the climate crisis, [they need to] take action. You can still feel worried, but at least you don’t feel it’s meaningless. I think everyone feels that way, at least sometimes because the changes that are necessary aren’t possible in today’s systems.
'It [may feel] like we can’t do anything, but it’s not true. In order to create societal change, we need people leading the way. If one person does something, [it] could have a snowball effect, and that could eventually start a whole movement.’
In addition to answering questions from activist Elizabeth Wathuti on the art that inspires her, and activist Xiye Bastida on how her activism has changed to become more intersectional in recent years, she recalled her biggest takeaway from her trip to the US in 2019, which involved a 15-day nautical journey on a zero-carbon yacht the Atlantic sea.
‘I always love going to different places and [learning] how activism works in different areas,’ she told Gorman. ‘But in the US, what struck me the most was the inequality. It’s the richest country in the world, and yet there was so much inequality. Going to some of the poorest areas and going to some of the most high income areas, it was a very… big difference and that really shocked me.’
Watch Greta Thunberg’s Ask Me Anything: The Celebrity Edition in the video at the top of this article.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
