No seat! Climate Brat Greta Thunberg Learns the Hard Way Why Many People Prefer to Fly

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Deutsche Bahn apologised for allegedly making Greta Thunberg sit on the floor for part of her journey, while travelling on an overcrowded train in Germany.

Greta Thunberg in first-class Twitter spat with German rail firm

Deutsche Bahn says activist’s tweet implied she had not been offered a seat on journey home

Kate Connolly in Berlin
Mon 16 Dec 2019 05.51 AEDT

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been criticised by a German rail firm for what it said was her implication that she had spent a journey without a seat on an overcrowded train.

The teenager tweeted a photograph of herself looking pensively out of the window of her German train on Saturday, writing: “Traveling (sic) on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home.”

Greta travelled by train from the COP25 UN climate conference in Madrid via a climate protest in Turin, Italy, on Friday. She is due home in Stockholm to celebrate Christmas with her family after a year travelling the world by rail, sea and road to highlight the threat of global heating.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/15/greta-thunberg-in-twitter-spat-with-german-rail-firm

Greta later clarified her position, by suggesting she never said there was a problem, because overcrowding shows how popular trains are.

It could have been worse. If Greta was attempting to travel through France, they’re all on strike, though there has been some talk of interrupting the strike during the Christmas holiday period.

And if Greta was attempting to travel long distance by train in Britain, my personal experience there’s a good chance she would have been sitting in a puddle.

At least that German train floor looks clean.

Update (EW): Some people have suggested Greta travelling on the floor was a publicity stunt, perhaps there was a seat available.

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Paul Deacon
December 15, 2019 10:06 pm

Deutsche Bahn have publicly stated that Greta purchased a first class ticket for this journey.

Jaap Titulaer
Reply to  Paul Deacon
December 16, 2019 1:06 am

Yep, and those are reserved seats.

Krudd Gillard of the Commondebt of Australia
Reply to  Jaap Titulaer
December 16, 2019 1:44 am

joining the dots….this is a stunt. If so, what does she want to achieve? Is she cracking up?

I heard the hall she spoke in at the conference as about 2/3 empty. Maybe it’s all getting to her?

Terrible case of child exploitation. But that’s what they do.

4 Eyes
Reply to  Krudd Gillard of the Commondebt of Australia
December 16, 2019 3:20 am

Agreed, this is child abuse and the oh so progressive Swedish authorities should be doing something about it. They are doing nothing for Sweden’s image.

Y. Knott
Reply to  4 Eyes
December 16, 2019 5:25 am

“HOW DARE YOU?! – I should have been given a private car!”

Alba
Reply to  Krudd Gillard of the Commondebt of Australia
December 16, 2019 7:52 am

Maybe she got the idea from this:
A mother put her four-year-old son on a pile of coats on the floor of a hospital emergency ward. He was photographed, and the photo was circulated to these propagandists, who duly made them headline news.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/15/what-the-boris-landslide-means-for-the-climate-debate/

Greg
Reply to  Jaap Titulaer
December 16, 2019 3:57 am

Check out twitter link. Her photo of the “crowded train” has ONE likkle girl in the whole view. It is apparently rather crowded by the enormous amount of baggage she has with her.

First class tickets , $15M world class racing yachts and Tesla cars, she is certainly giving us a good example of the lifestyle we should all adopt as soon as possible.

comment image

Scissor
Reply to  Greg
December 16, 2019 6:18 am

The others were around the corner lined up against the wall.

Reply to  Greg
December 17, 2019 2:04 am
Goldrider
Reply to  Jaap Titulaer
December 16, 2019 2:47 pm

Speaking of bananas . . . I think Greta’s pseudo-event roadshow is just about over in 3–2–1 . . .

Sara
Reply to  Paul Deacon
December 16, 2019 3:45 am

Update (EW): Some people have suggested Greta travelling on the floor was a publicity stunt, perhaps there was a seat available. – article

Yeah, another attention-seeking behavior posted online to get sympathy. No sympathy from me. I took commuter rails daily to and from work and if there were no seats, you stood in the aisles.

What a load of baloney this teen is promoting. “Oh, pity me!! (I have a 1st class ticket, but I have to make a statement.)

Anyone wonder just how long she sat there? Yeah, me, neither.

StephenP
Reply to  Sara
December 16, 2019 3:58 am

Corbyn tried a similar trick in the UK, but got found out when photos showed there were empty seats available.

Jasonn
Reply to  Sara
December 16, 2019 8:32 am

In a different article on this subject it was revealed that the Lying Loony Limo Liberal Loser had a first class seat and yet staged the floor photo op.

William Astley
Reply to  Sara
December 16, 2019 10:09 am

I would vote for staged, publicity stunt, particularly as she was offered a first class ticket.

If I remember correctly, Germans limits the amount of luggage that can be carried on to a train, similar to an airplane.

There is limited storage on the train and they do not want people dragging piles of luggage through the train.

peter
Reply to  Paul Deacon
December 26, 2019 10:07 am

This train is NOT crowded.
No other person is there!
I have seen crowded German trains.

Ivo Schaefer
December 15, 2019 10:15 pm

Looks very overcrowded. All those people standing there, crammed in a small space…
Oh wait….

She was offered a 1st class seat.
Little brat.

Greg
Reply to  Ivo Schaefer
December 16, 2019 4:00 am

Not offered : bought. Spoilt brat daughter of bourgeois swedish family travels first class everywhere : racing yachts, Tesla cars and first class tickets. Just setting a good examply you understand.

December 15, 2019 10:23 pm

A physically healthy 16 year old could stand, welcome to the real world.

MJE VK5ELL.

DrDweeb
Reply to  Michael
December 15, 2019 11:24 pm

It’s a long way to Sweden from Germany … just saying

LdB
Reply to  DrDweeb
December 16, 2019 12:26 am

Depends if the toilets are out of commission 🙂

Scissor
Reply to  Michael
December 16, 2019 5:11 am

Earthling2
Reply to  Scissor
December 16, 2019 9:01 am

LOL..coffee on screen…Where’s the Workers Compensation Board when you need them to be enforcing public safety. And yet, probably 97% of these poor folks survive the ride home from work.

Scissor
Reply to  Earthling2
December 16, 2019 5:13 pm

I hazard to guess that the high speed version has fewer passengers.

Reply to  Scissor
December 17, 2019 12:14 pm

That IS the high speed version.

Mr.
December 15, 2019 10:26 pm

Greta Kardashian will do whatever it takes to keep the media talking about her.

Because – “if there’s one thing worse than people talking about you, it’s people NOT talking about you”
(Oscar)

December 15, 2019 10:28 pm

Does overcrowding in public hospitals also show how popular they are?

Maybe it’s just a service that is offered below cost to the user and subsidized by OPM so there’s no incentive to offer a bed or seat?
Doesn’t matter whether it is train, plain, bus seat or a hospital bed.

To be clear, 140-160 million Americans are quite happy with their medical coverage from the jobs, both for union collective bargaining delivered coverage and non-union employees. The actual health care is delivered by private networks of hospitals competing for those coverage contracts. Competition works. Never doubt that.

If I want a guaranteed seat on a commercial airplane from Phoenix to Stockholm, I simply would pay for it. I have multiple carriers and multiple classes of service to choose from. Each competing for my money.

Greta apparently wants equal misery for all. AKA, socialism.

Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
December 15, 2019 10:48 pm

“plane” duh my bad.
Too quick to hit post comment. I still miss edit.

Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
December 15, 2019 11:06 pm

The train was overcrowded because an earlier service was cancelled. Surely you have flown enough to know a seat on a plane leaving when scheduled isn’t guaranteed at all.

Reply to  Duker
December 15, 2019 11:25 pm

I’ve never sat on the floor of a commercial plane which I have a booked seat.
Have you?

Greta’s train is paid for with huge OPM subsidies in Europe. Like Wind and Solar power. They will provide it when they can. And when they can’t ???????

Sitting on the floor of a 10-hour train ride sucks.
Sitting in the cold, dark of a 14 hour cold winter’s night, night-after-night because green OPM failed to provide enough electricity from “Green energy” can be deadly.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Duker
December 16, 2019 12:53 am

Oh dear! Seats on aircraft are allocated, esp at the pointy end, just in case they have to scrape your remains form a seat. You will then be identified by the passenger list. Trains are a bit different.

Stephen Philbrick
Reply to  Patrick MJD
December 16, 2019 5:25 am

Not quite. The allocated seats on most flights will be helpful in such situations, but you leave the impression that this is a requirement. As a fan and frequent user of Southwest Airlines, where seats are not allocated, I know this isn’t the case. Not to mention, I have been on other carriers, and if not full, often choose to sit other than my assigned seat.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Stephen Philbrick
December 19, 2019 5:19 am

That might be true in the US, certainly was when I flew L.A. To New York in 2003 but not all countries and carriers permit that, for instance the UK, Belgium, New Zealand and Australia in my experience.

Paul Johnson
Reply to  Duker
December 16, 2019 6:57 am

Or was it overcrowded because all the French trains were shut down?

Cynical Seamus
Reply to  Paul Johnson
December 16, 2019 1:20 pm

Um. If all the French trains are cancelled, how did St Greta travel from Spain to Italy? France seems to be in the way.

John Endicott
Reply to  Duker
December 17, 2019 6:13 am

Duker, have you ever been on a plane where you had to sit on the floor because all the seats were filled? didn’t think so.

Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
December 15, 2019 11:09 pm

Subsidized (with OPM) public transportation at work.

A picture:
https://images.app.goo.gl/WY6vGMMKu54E9XSHA

A video:

David Blackall
Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
December 16, 2019 1:51 am

Ha, you beat me to it. I wanted to suggest she catch some Indian trains, but on second thoughts I wouldn’t even think of it for her. They are hard.

Eamon Butler
Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
December 15, 2019 11:53 pm

Maybe, if she just said ”crowded” instead of ”overcrowded”
She seems to say a lot of things she doesn’t actually mean.

Hugs
Reply to  Eamon Butler
December 16, 2019 1:06 pm

Well, the ’against wall’ thing was probably not about butchering but just discutering. The Swedes don’t like executing people. They lost their last war 210 years ago. Got rid of their king, and acquired a new French one.

The winner in that war continues being troublesome and while they don’ t have a cezar any more, their president behaves like bloodthirsty one. Known also by the left as the man behind Trump, and by the right the man who bribed Hillary to get uranium. We Europeans tend to call him the pompouse dictator with a military budget exceeding his gross personal product.

Nona
Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
December 21, 2019 1:00 pm

I would hope that you and your family never use ssi, medicare, medicade, liheap, hud (which helps house elderly and disabled), tanf (child care assistance, the emergency food and shelter program, job corps, foster care title IVE, adoption assistance title IVE, community health centers, child care food program, etc. etc. etc. I mean seeing as how those are all socialist programs it would kind of make you a p.o.s. hypocrite if you or your family ever used them.

David Chappell
December 15, 2019 10:30 pm

She has an awful lot of luggage, but that twitter pic has the look of being staged (a bit like Corbyn’s fiasco a couple of years ago).

In my young days it was considered the height of bad manners for a young person to occupy a seat if adults were standing.

Megs
Reply to  David Chappell
December 16, 2019 1:35 am

Funny you should mention her luggage David, she has apparently been travelling for a year on many forms of transport including fairly cramped sailing craft. Seriously.

Reply to  Megs
December 16, 2019 2:37 am

Megs said that Greta was traveling on a “fairly cramped sailing craft”.

Cramped? Are you serious? The catamaran she she hitched a ride on is an Outremer 45, with a loa of 48 feet and a beam of 23 feet. Here’s the brochure:
http://catamaran-outremer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/oy_book_45.pdf

Regards,
Bob

Reply to  Bob Tisdale
December 16, 2019 3:08 am

P.S. Megs. The Outremer 45 has a minimum of 8 berths.
https://www.boat-specs.com/outremer-yachting/outremer-45

When Greta sailed from the U.S. to Spain, there were 4 adults and a toddler aboard. They were NOT cramped in the slightest.

Regards,
Bob

Megs
Reply to  Bob Tisdale
December 16, 2019 3:34 am

Yeah I get it Bob, but wasn’t their six of them on board and did you see her luggage? Maybe I just need to meet some seriously rich people to see how they live.

December 15, 2019 10:41 pm

Is that all her luggage? And is it all made from fossil fuels?

Bentley Nixs
Reply to  Retired_Engineer_Jim
December 16, 2019 8:23 am

When I was 15 ,I’m 58 now,I sat behind one of my idols Frank Gifford and his wife Kathy ,not an idol.They were traveling to LA,by plane, for Monday Night Football.Thruogh some small talk I found out that they were going to be there for the game and fly out the next day.So fast forward to baggage claim and there they are waiting at the carousel collecting their bags.Frank had 1 bag that looked like he had owned it since college.Kathy on the other hand had no further than 16 bags.Let me say that again,16 BAGS for A ONE night stay.I was dumbfounded.All I could think of was this woman couldn’t figure out what to wear for diner so she brought half of her wardrobe with her.
On the other end of the spectrum my best friend from HS traveled the world for 2 years out of a small backpack he ust to use to carry his school books in.
So 6 bags for a 6 month journey isn’t all that bad,I’d say it was about average, I just don’t want to be the one to wash all that dirty laundry.
And of course they are derived from fossil fuels. Sustainable materials cost to much ie leather and cotton and are not as durable. So help this climate warrior out and buy her some Louis Vuitton luggage so she can properly virtue signal the world.

Garland Lowe
December 15, 2019 11:03 pm

Wonder how crowded the trains will be when there are no cars or planes.

Phillip Bratby
Reply to  Garland Lowe
December 15, 2019 11:26 pm

Only the elite will be allowed to travel.

Chaswarnertoo
Reply to  Phillip Bratby
December 16, 2019 12:58 am

Zil lanes. Silly gretins.

Tom in Florida
Reply to  Garland Lowe
December 16, 2019 4:47 am

Yep, there will not be a single luxury, like Robinson Crusoe, as primitive as can be.

niceguy
December 15, 2019 11:19 pm

“though there has been some talk of interrupting the strike during the Christmas holiday period.”

The train unions have their credibility on the line on how much pressure they put to stop Macron. They will not back down easily.

On the other hand, train workers have families and want to be able to do a Christmas dinner too!

FrankH
Reply to  niceguy
December 15, 2019 11:51 pm

If they’re on strike, describing them as workers is not exactly correct. 🙂

niceguy
Reply to  FrankH
December 18, 2019 9:21 pm

“Les syndicalistes ont tellement l’habitude de ne rien faire que lorsqu’ils font grève, ils appellent ça une journée d’action”
Coluche

Union members are so used to never do anything, when they go on strike, they call that a day of action.

Davidlm2
December 15, 2019 11:41 pm

Greta was caught out telling porkies. She did have a first class seat and was even given celebrity passenger treatment. Has Greta managed to derail the Thunberg express?

Reply to  Davidlm2
December 16, 2019 3:39 am

There is a suggestion that one of her connecting trains was cancelled and for part of the journey she was unable to get a seat.

Just for once (this almost hurts!) I think we’re getting a glimpse of a normal teenage girl glad to be going home even if she isn’t sitting quite as comfortably as she had planned. I think her face tells the story. Let’s cut her a bit of slack. This time!

Gerald Marquardt
Reply to  Newminster
December 16, 2019 6:03 am

No!!

Sunny
Reply to  Newminster
December 16, 2019 7:24 am

Newminster

Cut her some slack 😐 Seriously?

Hugs
Reply to  Newminster
December 16, 2019 1:10 pm

There is a suggestion she just lied. I believe her … lies were stupid.

BCBill
December 15, 2019 11:44 pm

Come on, she’s an angst ridden teenage girl. Where else would you find her but sitting on a floor, no doubt singing sotto voce in the hope that someone will notice her unbearable suffering.

John McClure
Reply to  BCBill
December 16, 2019 7:13 am

A picture is worth a thousand words.

I’m very surprised most of these comments are 1st person perception.

She just crossed the Atlantic Ocean, attended the COP mess, stopped, as invited, to several Countries, and is finally headed home for the Holidays.

The snapshot is reflective staging or simply a moment captured in time after a long journey. Who took the photo?

Greta is the posterchild for ClimatePhobia. This is the takeaway!

Reply to  John McClure
December 16, 2019 2:11 pm

I believe the BBC have had a team following her travels quite closely. Comment from professional photographers suggests this was carefully posed. Note the lack of other passengers in the corridors of the “crowded” train.

Phil.
Reply to  It doesn't add up...
December 17, 2019 5:13 am

You can’t see the corridor in that shot, however, if you look at the video which does show other people standing in the corridor and one sitting on his suitcase.
https://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/tyska-tagbraket-reste-greta-thunberg-pa-golvet-eller-i-forsta-klass/

Carl Friis-Hansen
December 15, 2019 11:50 pm

The issue was in the morning new in German TV today.

That is how rich spoiled kids wanting to be in the limelight are.
My parent were not particular poor either, but despite that, we could always adapt to any situation and be thankfully friendly to others. I would wish for her to think about President Trump’s words trying to chill a bit and enjoy her privileged high society circumstances.

Apart from that, have a nice Christmas Greta, and you do not need to feel bad about the petroleum based presents you may receive and give. The presents may be good for the soul, but will not change the weather in Stockholm one bit. – Ha en bra Jul

December 15, 2019 11:54 pm

The railway company say that she had a first class seat which used, except for two occasions when she went and sat on the floor outside of first class and had her photograph taken.

December 15, 2019 11:59 pm

Where is the crowd ?

Looking at the picture, I see only a shameless brat posing for a scam :

German Rail responding to Greta tweet: “Thank you for travelling with Deutsche Bahn… It would have been nice had you acknowledged how well and competently our team treated you in your First Class seat.”

https://twitter.com/PeterRNeumann/status/1206200930879840256

Scissor
Reply to  Petit_Barde
December 16, 2019 5:13 am

Perhaps the picture of her alone was taken after the others were removed and lined up against the wall.

Kristen
December 16, 2019 12:02 am

For someone who claims to be woke, and cares deeply for the environment – she has an awful lot of luggage. And where are all these people filling the seats so she had to sit on the floor? I don’t even see any seats in that picture, even occupied ones. My money is it’s just another stunt to impress the lemmings.

Reply to  Kristen
December 16, 2019 2:12 pm

Some of the baggage probably belongs to her minders.

Perfecto
December 16, 2019 12:04 am

As someone who has traveled on plenty of overcrowded trains in Germany, including sitting on the train floor on the very line she was on, I’m going to believe her that it was overcrowded. The train personnel probably recognized her as a VIP midway and upgraded her to 1st class.

Kristen
Reply to  Perfecto
December 16, 2019 7:00 am

She bought a first class ticket. she wasn’t upgraded.

tonyb
Editor
December 16, 2019 12:04 am

I have just got back from Austria by air, but often travel by train within the continent, once there. It is generally a very pleasant experience and more interesting than a plane. Clearly there are times when it is much easier, quicker or cheaper to fly.

One big problem with trains is that the journey is often convoluted if you want to travel long distances and the route needs some working out and often becomes expensive and extended.

So both forms of transport have their merit and Greta was obviously making a point in much the same way as the unlamented Corbyn sat on the floor of a Train here in the UK to make a political point even when seats were available.

I don’t get your point about long distance train travel in the UK Eric. You would reserve a seat in advance. I have never sat on the floor in a puddle.

tonyb

David Chappell
Reply to  tonyb
December 16, 2019 3:10 am

“You would reserve a seat in advance.”
You obviously aren’t Jeremy Corbyn who staged a similar stunt.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  tonyb
December 16, 2019 9:23 am

I haven’t traveled Deutche Bahn since the early 80s when I was stationed in Bad Kissingen. It was always very nice and clean, pleasant rides.

Reply to  tonyb
December 16, 2019 2:19 pm

I travelled extensively across Europe on a 1 month interrail card. The art was finding overnight couchettes that took you somewhere completely different without having to find a room for the night. But some trains definitely got overcrowded, standing in the corridors only for many hours, particularly in Italy. Not a problem in Germany though.

Andy in Epsom
December 16, 2019 12:48 am

Attention seeking diva.

Anyone still trying to claim that she has any kind of mental disorder. All this attention seeking really shows how uncomfortable she is and how she wants to isolate herself. all this travelling around the world absolutely screams of someone who needs things to continuously to be in order to stop them from panicing.

she has a disorder like i have 8 legs.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Andy in Epsom
December 16, 2019 9:24 am

Custom-tailored pants then?

Patrick MJD
December 16, 2019 12:49 am

GT is of a generation that has never had to go without ANYTHING. I grew up without electricity sometimes, not because of environmental issues, no, it was striking coal miners and power workers. I grew up when so many “workers” went on strike the country almost went bankrupt. When I was young, I used to watch the 747’s stream across the skies over south east England and wondered what it looked like from within the cabin, actually seeing the condtrails. I saw this while flying from LA to NY in 2003. And now we have 16 years olds telling us it’s OK to “go without”. Greta, please, go without or go away!

Patrick MJD
December 16, 2019 12:56 am

I just saw the picture in her tweet. This is what you espouse, get used to it Greta!

Gumnut
December 16, 2019 12:58 am

I take it wasn’t a steam-train, then.

Reply to  Gumnut
December 16, 2019 2:21 pm

The Bundesbahn made a point of the fact that they purchase only “renewable” electricity. Perhaps that’s why their trains are less reliable these days.

Sunny
December 16, 2019 1:00 am

First class 😐 I am actually sick and tired of reading about this vile spoilt girl! She is repetitive, boring, uneducated and has yet to state one single fact about the weather climate…

First she has multi million pound yachts take her to the usa and back to spain, then a fossil fuel made EV drives her around! Five flights back to europe and four or five back to the usa for the first boats crew, then one flight for her second boat trip, now she has the cheek to complain about a packed train 😡 I truly wish the media would grow tired of her and destroy her “climate scam”…. And trains are made/maintained by fossil fuel products and energy, maybe she should have stayed in school and got a education.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Sunny
December 16, 2019 9:26 am

“got a education.”

Now that’s unfortunate.

Barry Sheridan
December 16, 2019 1:06 am

If foolish Ms Thunberg policies are implemented she will not find a train to travel on!

December 16, 2019 1:06 am

Does anybody know who paid for Greta travelling around the world?

I know some of the travel was offered for free (yachts, cars), but who paid for the flights used by the crews to get them to where the yachts were?

How did her entourage, minders, parents get to and from all these places and who paid? Her parents are quite wealthy but surely not wealthy enough to indulge their daughters’ fantasies?

Who sponsored her?

Sunny
Reply to  Redge
December 16, 2019 1:39 am

Redge

I have been wanting to know the same thing, firstly her parents don’t work so how have they got money? Her dad was supposedly on the trip with her, so that shows he has no job, her mother quit working due to co2 or something along those lines..

I would like to know how much money the greta clan has made and like yourself, who pays for the travel, food, clothing, hotels, train tickets etc etc

Reply to  Sunny
December 16, 2019 2:20 am

Her parents are wealthy enough to have paid for the trips. She is an opera singer and he is an actor. Her mothers’ career has been more successful than Greta’s father. Both are activists.

But since when do activists spend their own money when there are enough wealthier doners prepared to bankroll this sort of thing?

Kenan Meyer
December 16, 2019 1:08 am

Fact of the matter is, that she and her group had been travelling in first class.And in first class everyone is guaranteed a seat. DB railways have proof in their ticket system. Her handlers ought to be a bit more careful when crafting and sending messages

shortus cynicus
December 16, 2019 1:24 am

“overcrowded” means that depopulation program is not working as efficient as intended.
It is time to start putting the deplorables against the wall.
What holds them back is lack of progress in CO2 neutral guns.

toorightmate
December 16, 2019 1:33 am

Q How rotten is this little grub?

A1 Not quite as rotten as her parents who should never have been allowed to breed and/or
A2 Nowhere near as rotten as her minders – the Club of Rome.

December 16, 2019 1:40 am

She’s a world famous celebrity. That snapshot is not credible.

Ed Zuiderwijk
December 16, 2019 1:42 am

Notice the term ‘global heating’. Why was the window not opened?

William Haas
December 16, 2019 1:54 am

Where did the energy come from to power the trains that she was on?

Patrick MJD
Reply to  William Haas
December 16, 2019 2:45 am

Carbon free wind…

Carl Friis-Hansen
Reply to  William Haas
December 16, 2019 3:09 am

Electricity in Germany is a mix. At times they also import coal and nuclear generated electricity from neighboring countries. Within the borders they have nuclear (slowly closing), coal and NG from Russia. On top of this complexity, the have wind and solar export/import through HVDC via Denmark to Norwegian hydro. Then there is the problem of getting the power from northern Germany to southern Germany where the big industry live.
They probably have some coal fired steam locomotives on museums and elsewhere if their electricity grid goes down – no problem.

Megs
Reply to  Carl Friis-Hansen
December 16, 2019 3:36 am

Bloody nora, Germany are doomed!

December 16, 2019 2:09 am

With apologies to Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber:

Oh what a circus,
Oh what a show.
The world’s gone crazy over the words of an actress named Greta Thunberg.
We’ve all gone crazy, striking all day and crying all night
Just to get the misery right

Oh what a farce, that’s how to go
First class on a train
and then sit on the floor
demand to travel like Ms Thunberg.

But who is this Santa Greta ?
Why all this howling, hysterical cheering?
What kind of goddess lives among us?
How can we get by without her?

She had her moments (How dare you?), she had her fans
The best show in town was XR outside COP25
crying “5 more years”
But that’s all gone now
well until Glasgow next year

Reply to  John
December 16, 2019 2:23 pm

Don’t cry for her.

Jim
December 16, 2019 2:42 am

The first lesson of political indoctrination is: never let the truth get in the way of your political agenda.

Joe Ebeni
December 16, 2019 2:50 am

Could have walked or rode an ass. Only 60 plus days

polski
December 16, 2019 3:19 am

You wonder if her handlers and advisers prompt GT to stage these theatrics? Or maybe her opera star mother. If so, they sure don’t seem too smart. As far a so far as over crowding she was lucky she wasn’t travelling in Bangladesh!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CZ8fejXB7Y

Carl Friis-Hansen
December 16, 2019 3:28 am

With Joe Ebeni’s comment above, I came to think:
Would it not have saved more energy if GT had used train and Greyhound bus, instead of the battery car from Arnold? – Hm, forgot she may not be comfortable with all those common people around her in the bus.

Craig from Oz
December 16, 2019 4:09 am

It wasn’t really ‘overcrowded’.

She just used the literal translation from Swedish and didn’t realise it has a different meaning in English.

Megs
Reply to  Craig from Oz
December 16, 2019 4:27 am

Very clever Craig.

L. Rodrigues
December 16, 2019 4:21 am

Greta Tintin is just preparing us to the near future where her wishes have come true. After the last plane and the last motor car have been eliminated, she will miss the 6 square meter space at the overcrowded DB. Bollywood explains it all her

Video not relevant to WUWT. Any videos submitted are viewed by the mods prior to approval. Please don’t waste our time with irrelevant or inappropriate material! MOD

JS
December 16, 2019 4:48 am

She’s a healthy young teen, why did she have to sit down? I commute now as a middle aged lady and even I can stand on a moving train or bus for at least half an hour.

Scarface
December 16, 2019 4:53 am

Time for a little quiz. Who said “you have stolen my childhood’?

comment image

Megs
Reply to  Scarface
December 16, 2019 5:08 am

Ahhh, I know I heard it somewhere..

Carl Friis-Hansen
Reply to  Scarface
December 16, 2019 5:40 am

That quiz tells everything, just sad she may never dare to see it.

David
December 16, 2019 4:53 am

I recall being in Italy on business in the 70’s – bought a first class ticket from Bologna to Milan – and had a first class STAND in the corridor for the 2-hour journey – no seats available. Showed my ticket to the conductor – who did that (typically Gallic) shrug….

Welcome to the real world, Greta….

Phil.
Reply to  David
December 17, 2019 5:54 am

Same thing happened to family members traveling in France/Switzerland a year ago, because of a cancellation the reserved seat became moot.

Flight Level
December 16, 2019 5:08 am

Anyone in doubt on air transport popularity can visit http://www.flightradar24.com and obtain a somehow realistic picture on what has been achieved.

Michelle
December 16, 2019 5:24 am

A 16 yr old Aussie girl traveled around the world by yacht solo. Used the sweat from her own brow. Gret bitches about first class seating on German trains using staged photographs.

Judge not by words, but deeds.

jeff gold
December 16, 2019 6:03 am

returning to scandawegia where sea level continues to fall .

Carl Friis-Hansen
Reply to  jeff gold
December 16, 2019 7:23 am

Yes, land rising because those neanderthals 20,000 years ago melted all the ice, when driving around in their fossil fuel powered Flintstone cars.

John Endicott
Reply to  Carl Friis-Hansen
December 17, 2019 6:24 am

Sorry Carl Friis-Hansen but that’s a damn lie. Flinstone cars used renewable foot power, not fossil fuels. 😉

BallBounces
December 16, 2019 6:04 am

Please tell me that luggage was for her entire entourage and not just her.

starzmom
December 16, 2019 6:48 am

My daughter traveled around the world for 2 years and did not have nearly as much luggage. Who does Greta think she is?

Ken V
December 16, 2019 7:00 am

Maybe if we just ignore her, whe will go away. She does not deserve the attention or the acclaim she has been given.

jim hogg
December 16, 2019 7:01 am

Riff on kids. Be proud of your work on this page . . Love that you’re getting kicks from abusing a 16 year old whose only crime is that she’s acting according to her beliefs (right or wrong) – much like the rest of us. . . With every word we reveal who we are . . .

Sunny
Reply to  jim hogg
December 16, 2019 7:28 am

Jim hogg

So we should respect a girl who lies, and causes mass anxiety among young children? She has made children miss days of school, all while she travels all over the usa/canada and europe on yachts, trains and tesla cars 😐

She isn’t following her beliefs as she isn’t educated in weather sciences or any other sciences, she is following a lie a scam.

John Robertson
Reply to  jim hogg
December 16, 2019 11:08 am

Sure thing Jim Hogg,I too am proudly supporting child abuse and the cruel usage of a teenage Retard.
Sorry make that a Teenage very special person,climate expert and future seer.
Greta’s 15 minutes are over and once again have revealed the callous cruel nature of the Cult of Calamitous Climate.
Any organization that uses children in this way,has zero chance of gaining any credibility with me.

George V
December 16, 2019 7:03 am

How many coal or natural gas molecules had to DIE to produce the electricity that keeps the servers running that host Twitter so Greta could send out her tweet to her many followers around the globe?

No, seriously, if global warming due to fossil fuels is so important, why is it necessary to increase the load on the electrical grid so people know you are sitting on the floor of a train?

Triffin
December 16, 2019 7:25 am

Why is anyone talking about this spoiled brat kid ??

Olen
December 16, 2019 7:34 am

Beats an eco friendly ox cart.

Who took the picture. She is handled by adults and that is where the blame should be.

ghalfrunt
December 16, 2019 7:55 am
Michael Ozanne
Reply to  ghalfrunt
December 16, 2019 9:00 am

Checking the DB web site, you are asked to reserve a seat BEFORE they collect payment and there’s no additional fee for first class. So if she got parked in the aisle its the fault of the berk who booked the tickets…. or personal choice….

Geraldo Lino
December 16, 2019 8:58 am

Here we go again! What will be the next media piece about this nice girl? Her triumphant entry in Stockholm, perhaps being received by King Gustav and Queen Silvia themselves? Her celebrated return to the school she hasn’t gone to since the end of the last school year? Her next historic speech at some world stage? Please, it’s high time that the media leave her alone with her opportunistic and unscrupulous handlers (beginning with her parents). Despite them, she is entitled to the “normal” life of a teenager with all her troubles, challenges, duties and responsibilities. Perhaps facing them will help her to mature and become a “normal” adult.

Linda Goodman
December 16, 2019 9:05 am

Imagine a world where everyone but the 1% travels the same way, if at all. That’s the goal of Sustainable Defilement, wrapped up in a pretty green package to fool the gullible, while scaring them into losing their minds as Greta has. An army of freaked out useful idiots. The shocking opening ceremony of the Gotthard tunnel, just weeks before Donald Trump gained control of the WH, more-than-hints at the Agenda…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikDpJZRSqz0
BBC’s take: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36423250

GoatGuy
December 16, 2019 9:44 am

Jeez…

When I was 14, and my brother close, we went from Oakland CA to NYC NY by Amtrak to visit an old, crazy aunt. 71 hours. Very often I too was on the floor, sprawled out as the other passengers were willing to tolerate. I could color my coloring books, or read Mad magazine again, and again. Or talk with my bro. Or solve puzzles. It was way better than sitting in a seat.

So what was her complaint, exactly?

That she got to sprawl out in FIRST class, on a clean-looking (tho’ it wouldn’t have mattered to me or my bro) floor, on a temperature-controlled train, which she didn’t need to drive or advise? Ah, er… seems pretty cozy to me.

Just Saying,
-= GoatGuy ✓ =-

December 16, 2019 11:51 am

Yea. I’ve been traveling in Germany by train at least once a year for the past 9 years. That train wasn’t so crowded she couldn’t get a seat. If it were, there would have been a bunch of people in that area. That’s the passageway right next to the doors and when a train is packed, that’s where most of the overflow hangs out and there would have been a bunch of luggage stashed there, not just the little pile she’s sitting on in the picture.

Also, if you pay a couple of extra Euros, you can reserve a seat even in 2nd Class. I’ve never ridden First class so I don’t know how that works, but I’d assume you’d automatically have a reserved seat there.

That was definitely staged.

Phil.
Reply to  Sailorcurt
December 17, 2019 6:10 am

Yea. I’ve been traveling in Germany by train at least once a year for the past 9 years. That train wasn’t so crowded she couldn’t get a seat. If it were, there would have been a bunch of people in that area.

You mean like the guy sat on his suitcase in the corridor and the other people stood there?Phil.

December 16, 2019 2:40 pm

She’s got a ticket to ride
But she don’t care

I don’t know why she’s ridin’ so high
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
She said that carbon O2
Is bringing her down, yeah
But she would never be free
When COP was around
Ah, she’s got a ticket to ride…

Phoenix44
December 16, 2019 2:50 pm

How did she get from Spain to Germany without going through France?

Some trains are running in France but not many.

Strange she seems to have just bypassed it all?

Reply to  Phoenix44
December 16, 2019 4:08 pm

She went from Spain to Italy via France, and then I think via Switzerland to Germany. Basel was on her route from Turin to Hamburg.

December 16, 2019 6:03 pm

“Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been criticised by a German rail firm for what it said was her implication that she had spent a journey without a seat on an overcrowded train.”

Imagine what it will be like when trains are the only fast transport method over the oceans… At least she will not be one of the people suffering mal de mer.
/snark

David Cage
December 16, 2019 10:50 pm

Rail as eco is as honest as all other eco information. Think of the energy used in producing thousands of miles of track and wiring compared to that of a runway. Much of the track is not even used more than once a week.

niceguy
Reply to  David Cage
December 18, 2019 8:30 pm

The tracks, the rocks that needs to be extracted, moved and installed; the concrete.

The bridges, the tunnels.

Air travel is probably much more enviro friendly.

Serge Wright
December 17, 2019 12:53 am

She should have mentioned the 5 pieces of luggage that she carried on board. Obviously travelling light is not a requirement for a low carbon lifestyle.

December 17, 2019 1:56 am

The truth about Gretas train journey:-
https://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/tyska-tagbraket-reste-greta-thunberg-pa-golvet-eller-i-forsta-klass/

I believe she is travelling with her father so the luggage will be for both of them. It will have included bulky warm clothing and waterproofs.

RH 2
December 17, 2019 10:01 am

Just off topic a little. Is there any way to find out how many gallons of diesel that Greta yacht bought at various ports on its round trip across the Atlantic?

Steve Z
December 17, 2019 4:03 pm

The train that Greta rode was probably pulled by either a diesel or electric locomotive. Even if it was an electric locomotive, the electricity to power it was generated by burning coal (Evil Fossil Fuel) or natural gas (Less Evil Fossil Fuel), since Germany shut down their nuclear power plants. How dare you, Greta?

From the point of view of emissions, it would be helpful if the train was crowded. A train full of people doesn’t consume much more energy than an empty train, so that the energy consumed (and CO2 emissions) per passenger is less for a crowded train than for a train with a few people on board. Be happy for your crowded train, Greta! For nearly the same emissions, lots of people benefited from the ride, not only you!

niceguy
Reply to  Steve Z
December 18, 2019 8:16 pm

The train should be wind dependent and stop whenever there is no wind.

John
December 17, 2019 6:39 pm

all that baggage.. Presents for mum and dad and handlers

Brad tittle
December 20, 2019 8:44 am

A long time ago, I took a train from Southern France to Frankfurt. I got to try and sleep on a train that day. I ended up in about the same place she is right now. Sitting against a bulkhead in the companionway reading book because I didn’t want to disturb my bunk mates..

Peter
December 26, 2019 10:04 am

She is alone in the photo.

In a crowded train, many people would be visible. Yes, German trains area sometimes crowded. But it looks totally different.

She is a liar.