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Greta Thunberg's Voyages

 
 
 
Greta Thunberg on Instagram: “I want to thank all the people who I’ve met I North America for their incredible hospitality. And thank you all for your amazing support!…”
Greta Thunberg on Twitter: "I want to thank all the people who I’ve met I North America for their incredible hospitality. And thank you all for your amazing support!
(This wet plate photo was taken by Shane Balkowitsch on Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.) https://t.co/ZFAEqM5RPZ" / Twitter

Greta Thunberg on Instagram: “We sail for home! Track us at www.sailing-lavagabonde.com” - on board the sailboat, presumably looking forward. From near Hampton, VA.

Can track her voyage at https://sailing-lavagabonde.com/

The line emerges from Southall Landings Marina, on the east coast of Hampton, VA, and as I write this, she is just outside of Chesapeake Bay, traveling eastward at 7.2 knots in a north wind of 21 knots (southward wind).

I'm in Pacific Standard Time, GMT - 8h.

The nearest big European city is Lisbon, Portugal, and the Hampton - Lisbon distance is 5763.74 kilometers, 3581.42 ordinary miles, 3110.49 nautical miles.

So at the current rate of travel, it should take 18 days.
 
Roughly 2500 flights between Europe and North America a day, over 18 days, gives us 45,000 flights. Reduction in flights by taking boat is approximately zero.

Positive impact on environment by taking the boat, frustratingly nil. That 900+ kg of CO2 per seat was produced regardless of her option for transportation. Having flown, that 900 kg of CO2 wouldn't have produced to carry an empty seat across the ocean.
 
True, one person is a drop in the bucket, but this trip is a good exercise in feasibility.

Greta Thunberg Sets Sail, Again, After Climate Talks Relocate - The New York Times
Greta Thunberg Sets Sail From The U.S. Aboard Catamaran Bound For Spain : NPR

From the NYT:
Perhaps her most famous American encounter was with President Trump in the corridors of the United Nations. He didn’t see her. But she saw him, flashing icy daggers with her eyes. Asked what she was thinking in that moment, Ms. Thunberg said, “It speaks for itself.”

Ms. Thunberg said Tuesday that she hoped La Vagabonde would bring her to Spain safely and on time. After that, she was looking forward to going back home to Stockholm and hugging her two dogs. “Traveling around is very fun and I’m very privileged to have the opportunity to do so, but it would be nice to get back to my routines again,” she said.
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The trip should take about 3 weeks.

A catamaran is a boat with two side-by-side hulls. This makes possible greater stability and lower drag. Three-hulled versions or trimarans also exist.

From NPR:
The 16-year-old Swede's visit to the U.S. was a barnstorming tour for our time: She had demanded of world leaders at the United Nations, "You all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?" She had marched alongside millions in the Global Climate Strike. She had rallied with thousands of fellow students in places like Iowa City. She had stood with Native American activists at Standing Rock.

And she experienced life in the U.S., a country she says plays an "incredibly important" role in fighting climate change.

"You are such a big country," she told NPR in September. "In Sweden, when we demand politicians to do something, they say, 'It doesn't matter what we do — because just look at the U.S.'

"I think you have an enormous responsibility" to lead climate efforts, she added. "You have a moral responsibility to do that."
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Some Americans pass the buck further, to India and China.
 
It isn’t remotely feasible method of traveling. Americans don’t have months to spend traveling just to go to and come back from Europe.
 
During the big demonstrations on September 20 and 27, I made a list of where those demonstrations were held, to get an idea of the feasibility of activism in different places.

Sources:
Greta Thunberg's Twitter feed for those days
Global Climate Strike → Sep. 20–27
 September 2019 climate strikes

Activism is feasible in all or nearly all of the New World, Oceania, Europe, South Asia, Black/Sub-Saharan Africa, Japan, South Korea

Activism is feasible in some of the Middle East and North Africa: mainly Israel and Turkey. Also some Southeast Asian countries.

Activism is not very feasible in Belarus, Russia, and the Central Asian countries, and it is not feasible in China or North Korea.

India's Greta Thunberg: All about 11-year-old climate activist Ridhima Pandey - Education Today News - India also had plenty of Sep 20-27 demonstrations.

C40 Cities

Has some Chinese cities, though those have only limited activity.

 List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions
 List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions

This means that about 55% - 60% of CO2 emissions are from nations where activism is feasible. The C40 cities include several Chinese ones, so China could be included in a limited way. Checking on renewable-energy news sites reveals a lot of renewable-energy work in the Middle East and North Africa, so that may eventually leave Russia as the nation least committed to renewable energy.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
It isn’t remotely feasible method of traveling. Americans don’t have months to spend traveling just to go to and come back from Europe.
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Yeah. There was a reality TV show in England not too long ago. A race from London to Singapore (the farthest you can get from London by land), your budget for the trip was the price of walk-up economy ticket for the flight, although there were opportunities to earn a bit of money along the way. Weeks of travel and living in pretty poor conditions.
 
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/11/gr...ate-change-protesters-across-europe-and-asia/

...
Tens of thousands of protesters, primarily in Europe and Asia, hit the streets on Friday to make a fresh call for action against global warming, hoping to raise pressure on world leaders days before a UN climate summit.

Carrying signs that read “One planet, one fight” and “The sea is rising, so must we”, thousands flocked to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate for the latest “Fridays for Future” protest inspired by 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg.
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In total, about 630,000 people demonstrated across more than 500 cities in Germany, the Fridays for Future movement said.
...

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Multiplying like gremlins they are!
 
global_emissions_sector_2015.png


I think of this chart when people choose boats over planes.

It does make me ponder just how Thunberg and her generation are completely screwed. We have emitted a large amount of CO2 already over the last 125 years. And India and China are still massive nations that are developing, and this is forgetting about that continent south of Europe that has about a bazillion percent of expansion potential. As these populations grow, they'll need stuff. And stuff requires energy and emissions to produce. Even if we drop our rate of emissions through efficiency, unless we switch to a substantial amount of clean energy whether nuclear or renewable... are we too late to the party? Are we reaching the point where the developing world won't be allowed to get a slice of the pie because we screwed up the ecology too much to get the first world all of the needless stuff it has?
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
It does make me ponder just how Thunberg and her generation are completely screwed. We have emitted a large amount of CO2 already over the last 125 years. And India and China are still massive nations that are developing, and this is forgetting about that continent south of Europe that has about a bazillion percent of expansion potential. As these populations grow, they'll need stuff. And stuff requires energy and emissions to produce. Even if we drop our rate of emissions through efficiency, unless we switch to a substantial amount of clean energy whether nuclear or renewable... are we too late to the party? Are we reaching the point where the developing world won't be allowed to get a slice of the pie because we screwed up the ecology too much to get the first world all of the needless stuff it has?
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There's still time for Asia, Africa to get their slice of the pie.

The planet is most likely on a millennium-long trip to a hothouse, but that still allows plenty of scope for economic growth in the interim.
 
Instagram location of city-lights picture: Cabo da Roca - Most Western point in Europe

Greta Thunberg on Twitter: "Heading into Lisbon!! https://t.co/9p72ONByAm" / Twitter - Instagram location: Cascais

Her boat is now flying, from top to bottom, the flags of Portugal, Australia, Sweden, and the UK. It is still away from land.

Greta Thunberg arrives in Lisbon before travelling to Madrid for #COP25 | LIVE - YouTube - "Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg welcomed by Mayor of Lisbon Fernando Medina as she makes her way to Spain for the UN Climate Change summit."

A boat is following GT's boat, which is still going by sail. It's now traveling at 2.6 knots or thereabouts, and it is now sailing into the wind.
 
The boat's destination is Doca de Santo Amaro, the Santo Amaro Recreation Dock. It is on the north bank of the Tagus River, and just east of Highway A2. It crosses the river in the April 25 Bridge.

As I write this, GT's boat is near Oeiras, with land in the distance. It is traveling at 2.8 knots. Measuring off of the display, it should reach the dock in a little more than an hour.

One of the crew, Nikki Henderson, blogs on the journey in Facebook:
Nikki Henderson - Facebook
FridaysForFuture

Nikki Henderson - Posts
Reflections from the North Atlantic:

For what feels like the first time in the entire journey, we are pointing directly towards Lisbon. We have 100 NM left to run before we can officially announce ‘mission complete’. The mission being - to safely sail Greta to Europe in time for her to attend the COP25 climate conference in Madrid.

Riley and I have spoken many times this trip about the ‘mission’. About feeling like we are now part of something significant. Like this crossing had real purpose beyond the normal “go from point ‘a’ to point ‘b’” which of course, whilst so simple, is one of the true beauties of travelling by sea: purpose.

...
One of my favourite conversations was with Svante and Greta yesterday. We were considering how the sailing trip that we have just done - a voyage that Greta decided was necessary for her to take - is so symbolic. On departing the USA we sacrificed any control or strict agenda. We surrendered to the ocean and to Mother Nature. We relied on science - the weather forecast - to guide us. We supported science with our own instinct for survival. We gained a unique perspective of how small we are in this big world. We compromised many of at least a Westerner’s life luxuries - plenty of food, running water, fast internet access - to name a few. Despite this, we are arriving feeling richer and more fulfilled than we left.

Reflecting on what this trip was about - the bigger ‘mission’- this conversation feels extremely relevant.

...
This trip was about the bigger mission. It was for us to enable Greta - one of our influencers - our role models - to travel in the way that she felt was most in line with the youth climate movement message: To highlight the need for big structural change to fight the climate emergency. To make the point that there isn’t a sustainable way to travel yet, and there needs to be.
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