Rolling Stone USA - 04.2020

40 ROLLING STONE

GRETA’S

WORLD

T

HERE IS PERSONA and there is reality in Greta

Thunberg. ¶ It is Valentine’s Day in her home-

town of Stockholm, but there’s only wind, no

hearts and flowers. A few hundred kids mill

about, with a smattering of adults. If there

were not signs reading OUR EARTH, WE ONLY

HAVE ONE, it could be mistaken for a field

trip to the ABBA museum. ¶ But where is Greta? I find a

scrum of reporters interviewing a child in a purple puff-

er jacket, pink mittens, and a homemade-looking knit

hat. It takes me a minute to realize that it’s Greta. She

is 17, but could pass for 12. I can’t quite square the fiery

speaker with the micro teen in front of me. She seems

in need of protection. ¶ Of course, this is emphati-

cally wrong. Greta Thunberg has Asperger’s, which,

she says, gives her pinpoint focus on climate minuti-

ae while parrying and discarding even the smallest at-

tempt at flattery. We stand near the Swedish Parliament

house, where less than two years ago Thunberg start-

ed her Skolstrejk för klimatet, School Strike for Climate.

How one Swedish teenager armed with a homemade sign

ignited a crusade and became the leader of a movement

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JACK DAVISON

BY STEPHEN RODRICK

CLIMATE CRISIS