The Many Faces Behind This Face

We all need images of people we admire and wish to emulate.  “When the image is new, the world is new,” wrote Gaston Bachelard in his Poetics of Space, and perhaps that’s the best way to describe the effect of Greta Thunberg’s visage that has so captivated the Western world.  For a period of some two weeks, the face of the 16-year old Swedish activist was everywhere, challenging leaders to take climate change seriously and inspiring a new generation of young people to take their own activism to the streets.  And now we learn that Thunberg might be in for a Nobel Prize.

It's all great and energizing, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.  In the modern era, the image is perhaps the most popular type of currency.  But we can make the mistake of overlooking the substance behind such images.

There are 80-year olds in nations around the world who have pressed for environmental reform for decades, for instance.  There are millions of kids in schools who have taken protecting the planet seriously and have joined climate change clubs while at the same time educating their parents at home about the need for stronger action.

Recently, the Guardian reminded the world of Kenyan Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and inspired the global Green Belt movement.  The world took to her, as it has to Thunberg.  Though her photo was displayed in most magazines, newspapers and their digital counterparts, the majority of people now hardly ever think of her – out of sight, out of mind.

In reality, it takes the developed world’s penchant for money, images and notoriety to elevate women like Maathai and Thunberg to fame, yet the truth is that millions of such activists are just as arduous, just as committed to the climate, but will never be known by the broader world.

That’s especially true in developing nations, where the effects of climate change can be the most severe, despite the reality that such regions contributed hardly anything to the carbon emergency we are now in.  Thunberg will experience little of the unseen persecutions, racism and climate devastation that these others activists face on a daily basis.  They are in the process of suing their government, taking stands in their own communities, experiencing the curse of anonymity and at times enduring the physical violence for an engaged commitment to the planet.  They have been championing their causes for decades and decades, but because of where they live will never stand a chance of rising to the heights of Thunberg’s success.

It took the powerful forces of the Western world to elevate the Swedish activist to global stardom in just one year.  It’s a remarkable story of wit, courage, commitment and exhausting travel and Thunberg’s journey has inspired us all.  But behind her are millions of other faces – images of young and old, men and women, from the developed and developing worlds who, in effect, smoothed the path for her trek into notoriety and success.  They don’t have the funds or networks Thunberg has to promote her cause, nor the connections to hoist their efforts to a higher strata, but they are just as committed, just as tired,  just as scarred and just as important to the environmental movement as the young Swedish superstar.

To her credit, Thunberg acknowledges this in every speech she utters.  She’s sharp.  She knows she is but one of millions who care for their world.  But she also knows that for whatever reason, fate stepped in and selected her story, her majestic efforts, for attention.

In a strange twist of reality, many of these activists are now being described as following in Thunberg’s footsteps.  Hardly.  They were in the heat of action before Thunberg’s meteoric rise and will remain active long after the world moves on, looking for another face to pin their aspirations on. 

Put plainly: Thunberg in lucky, fortunate enough to make it into the stream of public consciousness because she was in the right place at the right time, with the right supports, and with the right cause.  Yet she is but one of millions. She might be the most famous, but it’s unlikely she is the most scarred or most rejected.  She is a hero of our time, but it is the millions of faces behind her – the unknowns – that are working with her that will ultimately save the planet.