It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future

Good morning @GretaThunberg! Today is June 21, 2023 and we’re all still here pic.twitter.com/oaIcVl1nWt

— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) June 21, 2023

Swedish then-teenager Greta Thunberg didn't do the anti-fossil-fuel movement any favors when she made the fantastical prediction in 2018 that the world would end in five years.

Most thinking adults, regardless of their position on global warming, knew that her declaration was similar to that of doomsday cultists who regularly make such predictions and demolish their own credibility.

Your humble blogger doesn't mock her for her statements--who doesn't do or say outlandish things as a teenager?--but I do blame adults for exploiting her for their own purposes. WSJ: [bold added]

Thunberg rose to international fame in 2018 when she began her school strikes outside the Swedish Parliament at the age of 15. Thunberg demonstrated every day for three weeks with a small group of students. Then she decided to hold the demonstrations on Fridays, dubbing the event Fridays for Future. She took a year off from school starting in 2019 to focus on her climate activism...

She made a name for herself with her blunt criticism of world leaders, saying they aren’t doing enough to address climate change. Time magazine named Thunberg Person of the Year in 2019, which was criticized by then-U.S. President Donald Trump. She led 25,000 climate protesters in 2021 at the COP26 United Nations climate summit, calling for a more rapid and robust response to curb growing carbon emissions.

Greta Thunberg as a pre-teen "was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism" (Wikipedia). She "struggled with depression for almost four years" and came out of it when she became a climate activist. She took time off from high school and graduated this month at the age of 20, two years behind her peers.

My sense is that she is not regarded positively even by people on her own side. (If she were, wind, solar, and other green-power companies would hire her for ad campaigns.) I hope she finds balance and happiness after the fever passes and people stop returning her calls.