Wave of Greta merchandise could harm the planet
Greta Thunberg may have insisted that her best-selling book was printed on paper sourced only from sustainable forests, but her supporters do not appear to be quite so environmentally diligent in expressing their admiration for her.
The popularity of the 16-yearold Swedish activist’s uncompromising message about the danger of climate change has led to a boom in the sale of ‘‘Greta’’ merchandise online – but an analysis suggests that much of it is either shipped from China or made from materials that may damage the planet.
Amazon, eBay and Etsy are awash with Greta T-shirts, mugs, stickers, badges and bags this Christmas, most of them emblazoned with her image or popular slogans, such as ‘‘Listen to the scientists’’ and ‘‘There is no planet B’’.
Some vendors have created more niche products, such as the scented Greta prayer candle, or the Greta ‘‘Viking warrior’’ garden gnome. One enterprising eBay seller has managed to shift 600 Greta car air-fresheners.
Few of the products deserve to be on any genuine environmentalist’s Christmas list.
The gnome, for example, is made from bonded acrylic resin, which is not easily recycled nor readily biodegradable. The manufacture of acrylic can also involve toxins that are potentially harmful to factory workers and the environment.
Many of the T-shirts, such as the best-selling ‘‘Skolstrejk for Klimatet’’’, are part polyester, a non-biodegradable fabric made from petrochemicals.
Other merchandise has racked up air miles that would make Thunberg lose sleep. Many of the T-shirts on eBay, for example, are manufactured in China, with shipping offered worldwide. Buyers are perhaps also forgetting the appalling environmental record of China’s textile industry.
Of the dozens of Greta products examined by The Times, only one offered any money to green charities – a lone T-shirt vendor on eBay promising to donate 10 per cent of proceeds to Save the Planet.
There is no suggestion that Thunberg or her family have endorsed or are linked to any of the manufacturers or vendors, or profit from the sales. It is unclear whether images of her are being used legally.
The only officially endorsed product appears to be her book, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, a collection of her speeches on the environment.
Thunberg’s media representatives, the European Climate Foundation, declined to comment.
Not all of the merchandise is entirely supportive of her cause or her attitude. One of the most popular items on Etsy is a Christmas jumper with an image of an angry-looking Thunberg above the words: ‘‘How dare you have a merry Christmas.’’