The New York Times - 19.09.2019

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 A

N

These are some of the things that Greta

Thunberg has learned on her American

tour.

New York City smells. People talk really

loudly here, they blast air conditioning

and they argue over whether or not they

believe in climate change, while in her

country, Sweden, they accept it as fact.

Also, American lawmakers would do

well to read the latest science on the

threats posed by climate change.

That’s what Ms. Thunberg, 16, told

members of Congress on Wednesday,

when she was asked to submit her testi-

mony into the record. She submitted a re-

port issued last October by the Intergov-

ernmental Panel on Climate Change,

spelling out the threats of global tempera-

ture rise. “I don’t want you to listen to me,”

she said. “I want you to listen to the scien-

tists.”

Her remarks lasted barely a minute.

“And then I want you to take real action.”

With her typically blunt, often biting re-

marks, she has offered Americans a sort

of unvarnished, outsider’s view of them-

selves. And she has used the supersize at-

tention she has received in this country to

draw attention to her American peers,

those young activists who have dutifully

tivist who had been invited to the same

meeting, was glad she called them out.

“She gives very blunt observations,”

Ms. Margolin said. “If I had done that, peo-

ple would’ve thought I was an entitled

brat.”

“She comes with an outsider’s perspec-

tive,” Ms. Margolin added.

Ms. Thunberg explained her indigna-

tion this way on a CBS “Good Morning”

interview: “We cannot focus on what we

can and cannot say now,” she said. “We

must speak clearly about what’s happen-

ing.”

She has said she wants the global youth

protests planned for Friday to be a “social

tipping point.”

Her earnestness comes out occasion-

ally, like when she speaks to her peers.

She often says she could not have imag-

ined that school strikes, which she helped

to inspire, would take off in so many coun-

tries. And she often speaks publicly about

being “grateful.”

“You will constantly feel like you are not

doing enough,” she said last week. “That

is a very dangerous feeling to feel espe-

cially when you are actually doing every-

thing you can.”

“They are doing the impossible,” she

said of her peers. “I am eternally grateful

for them.”

media attention a year ago. She is more

comfortable at banter, including with

Trevor Noah, host of “The Daily Show,”

who asked last week how it was to arrive

in New York City after a two-week journey

across the Atlantic on a solar-powered

yacht.

She recalled the smell. “It was inde-

scribable,” she said, which prompted

howls of laughter from the audience, also

in New York City.

On Tuesday, speaking to members of a

Senate task force, she spoke directly to

earnest lawmakers who had commended

youth climate activists like her for their

courage. “Please save us your praise. We

don’t want it,” she said. “Don’t invite us

here to tell us how inspiring we are with-

out doing anything about it.”

Jamie Margolin, 17, a Seattle-based ac-

organized for climate action in their com-

munities without any of the limelight that

she has received.

“She’s been quite selfless in this,” said

Xiuhtezcatl Martínez, 19, one of the 21

plaintiffs in a landmark children’s lawsuit

against the United States government.

“I’m impressed with that.”

Mr. Martínez has joined her in a number

of her public appearances in New York

and Washington, including at an Amnesty

International awards ceremony this

week, where Ms. Thunberg insisted on be-

ing onstage with her peers, rather than by

herself. “A huge part of her messaging is,

‘this is not for me,’ ” Mr. Martínez said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ms. Thun-

berg joined her activist peers as they went

to meet with the House speaker, Nancy

Pelosi. She didn’t want to say much, re-

called Vic Barrett, 20, of White Plains,

N.Y., who is also a plaintiff in the children’s

climate lawsuit. “She felt it was an oppor-

tunity for the U.S. youth,” Mr. Barrett said.

“She’s been very clear that she doesn’t

feel like all the attention needs to be on

her.”

Ms. Thunberg once described herself as

“the invisible girl.” She has never been

fond of small talk. She still speaks very

quietly and slowly. But she smiles much

more than when she first began gaining

Greta Thunberg, 16, of Sweden, has offered Americans a sort of unvarnished, outsider’s view of themselves. She spoke on Wednesday to members of Congress about climate change.

ANNA MONEYMAKER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

She Didn’t Mince Words: ‘Listen to the Scientists’

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

A Swedish teenager urges

lawmakers to take action

on climate change.

WASHINGTON — The rate of vaping
among teenagers continued to rise
sharply this year, federal health officials
said, suggesting that campaigns to curb
e-cigarette use among minors are not
working.
“It’s not good news at all,” said Dr.
Nora Volkow, director of the National In-
stitute on Drug Abuse, which decided to
release the new vaping numbers from an
annual survey conducted by University
of Michigan researchers three months
earlier than scheduled. “There has to be
a policy that would make it much harder
for teenagers to be introduced to vap-
ing.”
Vaping prevalence more than doubled
in the grades surveyed, eighth, 10th and
12th, from 2017 through this year.
One in 4 students in the 12th grade re-
ported that they had vaped within the
previous 30 days this year, 1 in 5 in the
10th grade; and 1 in 11 in the 8th grade.
Students who had vaped nicotine dur-
ing the previous 12 months and those
who had ever vaped nicotine also signifi-
cantly increased in each grade this year
over last year, the survey found.
The results were issued at a time when
the number of mysterious vaping-relat-
ed illnesses — after patients reporting
using e-cigarettes, THC-products or both
— has continued to increase. Nearly 400
cases of vaping-related sicknesses have

been documented in nearly three dozen

states, with some patients suffering

acute lung illnesses. And a seventh death

linked to vaping was reported in Califor-

nia this week.

The startling popularity of teenage va-

ping and the sicknesses have alarmed

public officials. After presenting similar

numbers on teenage vaping to President

Trump, Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of

health and human services, and other of-

ficials said they would draft a ban on

most flavored e-cigarettes, including

mint and menthol.

The leading e-cigarette maker, Juul

Labs, and other vaping industry execu-

tives have said they are mulling whether

to oppose part of any ban that would in-

clude mint and menthol, two top-selling

flavors. But Mr. Azar pointed out that af-

ter many other flavors were pulled off

the shelves, teenagers didn’t seem to

stop vaping, but appeared to be shifting

to mint and menthol.

“The flavor ban is reactive,” said Dr.

Sharon Levy, an adolescent addiction ex-

pert at Boston Children’s Hospital. “It’s

just a matter of time until companies fig-

ure out a way around it. We have to be

more proactive.”

Dr. Levy said that just about every pa-

tient referred to her practice also vapes.

Vaping has become normalized for teen-

agers, she added.

“Kids say that these devices have all

the pleasures of cigarettes without the

harm,” said Dr. Levy. “It’s like a cup of

coffee for them.”

She is particularly worried about the

amount of nicotine that her patients are

absorbing. She is even seeing cases of

nicotine toxicity.

The main results are similar to prelim-

inary figures released from a separate

survey last week by Mr. Azar. The early

results from the National Tobacco Youth

Survey indicated an increase to 27.5 per-

cent from 20 percent last year in e-ciga-

rette use among teenagers asked if they

had vaped in the last 30 days.

In the survey released Wednesday af-

ternoon, students were asked for the first

time if they had vaped on at least 20 days

within the last 30 days, underscoring

concerns that teenagers are becoming

addicted to nicotine and the effects that

the substance can have on the develop-

ing brain. Twelve percent of 12th-graders

said they had vaped that frequently,

7 percent of 10-graders and 2 percent

of 8th-graders.

“Current efforts by the vaping indus-

try, government agencies, and schools

have thus far proved insufficient to stop

the rapid spread of nicotine vaping

among adolescents,” the researchers

said. “Of particular concern are the ac-

companying increases in the proportions

of youth who are physically addicted to

nicotine, an addiction that is very diffi-

cult to overcome once established. The

substantial levels of daily vaping suggest

the development of nicotine addiction.”

Dr. Volkow said she would like to see

penalties for selling e-cigarette devices

to minors, and a serious campaign to ex-

tend the stigma of smoking to e-ciga-

rettes.

“We’ve done it in the past, we can do it

again,” she said.

The spate of illnesses has prompted

national public health experts to warn

the public against vaping, especially

young people, pregnant women and non-

smokers. The Centers for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention also said that if peo-

ple have health concerns, they should

consult a doctor before using e-ciga-

rettes.

Preliminary figures from a national

survey by the University of Michigan

show that e-cigarette use among

teenagers has doubled from 2017

through this year, despite national

campaigns warning of the dangers.

THEO STROOMER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Data Shows Sharp Increase

In Vaping Among Teenagers

By SHEILA KAPLAN

A quarter of 12th grade students say they have used nicotine vaping products in the last month.

Source: New England Journal of Medicine THE NEW YORK TIMES

Rate of E-Cigarette Use

8th grade 4%

10th grade

12th grade

Jan Hoffman contributed reporting from
New York.