A Brave New World!

Maybe it’s the post holiday blues but I am feeling old and starting to think the world has gone mad! 

Firstly, this complete ''gender neutral'', non-binary thing and secondly having robbed “Greta Thunberg” of her childhood! 

Having read about parents that kept their babies gender a secret for two years (sorry but we are not born without a gender and changing a nappy makes that perfectly obvious!) and then Sam Smith's declaration of identifying as ''non-binary'', referring to himself as ''we and they'' confused my addled brain completely. I have great respect and sympathy for those who feel that they are in the wrong body but ''gender neutral '' awards and toilets, nope, not my world. That said, female artists might have had a fairer shot in the history of art if their sex had been hidden. 

I had wanted to finish this painting but then I discovered I had robbed Greta Thunberg of her childhood and I couldn’t paint on. It’s not that I think she hasn’t got a point, indeed we have to tackle environmental issues but dear Greta you didn’t discover climate change and you are doing exactly what others have done before you (Al Gore for example in 2006), talking, talking and more talking (with a bit of crying and shouting too.). Don’t get me wrong, I’m impressed that someone of your age is putting herself out on the line and I believe that you have the capacity to reach teenagers in a way that older politicians can’t but I am concerned that a vulnerable 16 year old with medical issues could be used as an instrument, and to be honest your speech at the UN Climate Summit really put me off. For me, too staged, too theatrical and what with the ''little girl'' image, you lost me there. 

I didn’t steal your childhood, you are a product of your time, we had no internet, no mobile phones, no gaming consoles, we played outside, often with ''toys'' we made ourselves . I ate my first burger at 22, wasn’t impressed, we didn’t eat snacks out of plastic packaging or drink drinks from plastic cups, we didn’t need ''coffee to go'', my mum shopped with a cotton, string shopping bag which she used every week and fruit and vegetables were unpacked or popped into paper bags. We had political concerns too, I was concerned about the culling of seals and whaling and equality. 

Now, school strikes weren’t your idea either and to be quite honest as German schools very often don’t have lessons in the afternoon, I can understand why Fridays for future on Friday mornings are a great success here, I wonder if they would be as successful on Wednesday afternoon. I also wonder how many of the pupils would be willing to part with their mobiles to reduce the amount of child labour in the Congo (cobalt is necessary for the batteries and is mined under shocking conditions). Education is in many countries a privilege, so appreciating the opportunities it offers is another point to consider, many of those children working in the cobalt mines would be grateful for good schooling. Germany has indeed serious emission problems but also are very active on the environmental front, reducing plastics (we have a deposit system on glass and plastic bottles that was introduced in 2003), plastic waste is collected every two weeks and children are certainly taught at an early age not to litter and how to separate waste. 

As a landscape artist, I think it is vital that we protect our world and preserve it for future generations but I am tired of talk and blame; there is big business in the eco trends too, just look at the shelves full of industrially produced ''vegan'' food, and don't even get me started on ''superfoods'' like quinoa. How super are superfoods when they are flown around the world! 

Greta, I wish you success and most of all happiness, that those around you are not using your youth and enthusiasm to their own ends, I would like to see you become proactive, we oldies have heard this before, take it up to the next level, do something. Personally, I feel that to make a statement you should have insisted on video conferencing because I am sure that all the delegates didn’t arrive on an emission-free yacht and that in itself makes a bit of a laughingstock out of the whole conference. Your message has been heard by many but fell on the deaf ears of Mr Trump, pity! 

Now I hope I've got that off my chest and can get back to painting.