The Other Greta Effect (OGE)

Abstract

Since Greta Thunberg’s rise to international prominence as a youth climate activist, other youth activists have been identified in mass media as the ‘Greta Thunberg’ of their respective nations or regions. Through an analysis informed by decolonial approaches to global media studies and climate change and scholarship on climate justice, this article finds that this discursive phenomenon, termed the ‘Other Great Effect’ (OGE), constructs Greta Thunberg as a global icon whose identity and approach establish a normative framework for youth climate activism. The OGE supports a universalizing narrative that legitimates the global North as leaders on climate change policy and downplays the different contexts, experiences, and identities represented within youth activism. Through case studies of four young activists who have been subjected to the Other Greta Effect, we find that the OGE paradoxically contributes to these activists’ illegibility while also providing opportunities to call for a more diverse climate movement. Finally, we present the Global Youth Activists Map as an alternative visualization that advances a more intersectional approach to climate justice.

Keywords

• youth climate activism
• media studies
• Climate justice
• decolonial studies