Activist Greta Thunberg had announced that she wanted to travel with a racing yacht as climate-neutral as possible to the summit in New York. But now it is known how the boat should come back.
Skipper Boris Herrmann and Pierre Casiraghi will fly back home from USA to Europe. "Boris and Pierre have adapted this trip to a very tight schedule at very short notice. They would first have to rest and then sail back, which their schedule does not allow."
There will be now at least seven flights. If Greta and her father had simply flown to New York themselves, it would have been four.
According to Herrmann, Thunberg chose the "cleanest, most environmentally friendly option" for the Atlantic trip. But that is not the case in this case. Alone the hype surrounding their departure has certainly caused more CO2 than a simple flight. Dozens of volunteers, journalists and PR experts had pilgrimaged to the harbor in Plymouth - and certainly not the full stretch.
In New York now beckons again a media hype, before Herrmann hands over his boat to the flown helpers and even back on the plane back home. The climate activist certainly gets more attention for her project with her journey in the racing yacht than if she had just taken a freighter. But the message is fatal: as long as the show is good, the real consequences for the climate don't matter. Well meant sometimes leads to the opposite of good.
Greta Thunberg_ Jetzt ist ihr Segeltrip nicht mehr sauber - WELT
I totally agree that Albert would do so in a second..but I don't think Pierre would accept-or maybe he will down the line.
