As Donald Trump and his climate-denying administration are set to descend on the White House next week, nature has already dealt the US an early, and terrifying, wake-up call with wildfires that tore through thousands of homes in Southern California. Meanwhile, just in the past few days, Palestinians in Gaza finally got cause for hope as a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel was confirmed.
One public figure and world-renowned activist who has admirably taken a morally consistent view on both the issue of the climate crisis and the Middle East crisis is Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, who joined Zeteo’s Town Hall to answer questions from paid subscribers, and shared her experience on being a champion for both causes over the past year. Greta, who joined Zeteo last year as a contributor, was named TIME’s Person of the Year in 2019, and spent much of 2024 getting arrested at protests against the fossil fuel industry and against the Gaza genocide.
“We knew that this was coming, and we know that it is only going to get worse from here,” Greta grimly says in her first answer on the California fires, adding that “either we change as soon as we can on our terms, or we are going to be forced to change.” Change, however, starts at the top, and as the baton in the White House gets handed from Joe Biden to Donald Trump, Greta makes it clear she isn’t a fan of either man.
“Joe Biden is not a climate leader. Joe Biden is not the voice of reason, or a voice for protecting human rights,” says Greta the outgoing Democratic president. But what of the incoming one? What do we do when the man steering the ship is not only failing to fully tackle climate change, but denying it altogether?
“The Trump reelection is something that we need to be radicalized by, it's something that should give us yet another, many other, reasons to go out on the street and use every possible tool that we have as democratic citizens… every sign is screaming at us,” Greta warns.
On Gaza, Greta protests Israel’s war crimes there with the same vigor she pours into her activism on the climate, except that many of those who once supported her on the climate issue have vilified her over Gaza.
“If you are a climate justice activist because you want to protect ecosystems only because you want to protect the future of your white kids, then you’re a climate activist for the very wrong reasons… How are these people so privileged? They don't understand that the climate crisis is a human rights crisis, and we are caring about the climate crisis because we are caring people.“
If you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full Town Hall above to hear Greta on the difference she experienced in protesting for climate justice and protesting for Palestinian freedom, on her recent visit to Western Sahara to stand with the occupied people there, and on the importance of keeping hope alive. Plus, make sure you stick around till the end of the Town Hall for a “special effects” surprise!
Free subscribers can watch a 10-minute preview. Do consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full Town Hall and also to participate in the next live Q&A!
In Case you missed it, here is Greta Thunberg’s talk for Zeteo with Motaz Azaiza:
