Speaking for the youth, speaking for the planet: Greta Thunberg and the representational politics of eco-celebrity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Greta Thunberg is the world’s best-known environmental activist. She has been covered by the international press, featured on television talk shows, presented in music videos, and been the object of social media memes – a visibility that has made her a global celebrity. But unlike other public figures whose stardom is attached to, rather than driven by environmental activism, Thunberg’s eco-celebrity is anchored to her role in starting a global climate movement. Her activism is youth-centric and her eco-politics highly confrontational. Focusing on English language media from around the world, this essay explores how Thunberg’s rise to global eco-celebrity has been media-centric while still being remarkably resistant to co-optation within the broader terrain of climate change politics. Emphasis is placed on how Thunberg has used her celebrity status to take aim at the material realities and social practices that have caused the climate crisis, and push for radical and immediate change.