On NBC’s 3rd Hour Today on Tuesday, co-host and weatherman Al Roker conducted a gushing interview with radical climate crusader Greta Thunberg, hailing her as “the face of the climate movement.” He even fondly recalled Thunberg’s melodramatic meltdown in front of the United Nations in 2019 as “one of the most memorable speeches in U.N. history.”
“Climate activist Greta Thunberg is back. After holding rallies virtually for more than a year, she’s taking to the streets once again, challenging world leaders,” Roker excitedly announced as the segment began. After playing a sounbite of Thunberg bitterly mocking world leaders for making “blah, blah, blah” statements about climate change, Roker touted: “Thunberg’s Fridays for Future marches resumed last month and are gaining momentum ahead of the United Nation’s climate change conference, known as COP26, later this month.”
He then lobbed his first of several softballs: “If you could fill in the ‘blah, blah, blah,’ what words would you want to hear from these leaders?” Thunberg ranted: “I mainly wouldn’t want to hear words because we’ve heard many words, but as it is now, these words aren’t really leading to anything.”
“In 2019, Thunberg grabbed the world’s attention by sailing to New York City on an emissions-free solar powered racing yacht to attend the United Nations General Assembly, giving what became one of the most memorable speeches in U.N. history,” Roker happily recounted. He failed to mention that Thunberg’s sea voyage gimmick was not actually “emissions-free” because two crew members had to fly to New York from Europe in order to pick up the boat and sail it back.
The “memorable speech” Roker referred to was actually a nasty tantrum that showed how unhinged Thunberg was. A clip was featured of the screed:
How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation, and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil and that I refuse to believe.
Roker justified the extreme rhetoric: “The then-16-year-old was angry that promises made in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement were not being met, namely by the U.S. and China, who are responsible for 80% of global emissions.”
“What do you think it is going to take for that change to happen?,” the NBC host asked Thunberg. She demanded: “It’s a very big task that’s ahead of us. We need to change social norms....if we do not start to treat the crisis like a crisis, then the people around us will not understand that we are in an emergency.”
Of course Roker never pressed her on what she meant by a “change to social norms.”
Wrapping up the segment, Roker assured viewers: “President Biden has pledged to make a major reduction in U.S. greenhouse emissions in order to meet the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement...” He also promoted how “we conducted this interview as part of NBC’s news partnership with Covering Climate Now.” On Earth Day in April of 2020, Roker hailed that “partnership” with the group of radical climate activists masquerading as journalists.
The left-wing media infatuation with Thunberg has been going on for years and shows no signs of abating any time soon, especially as reporters press Democrats to shove through a costly environmental agenda.
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Here is a full transcript of the October 12 segment:
9:14 AM ET
AL ROKER: We are back with our series Today Climate. At just 18 years old, Greta Thunberg is arguably the face of the climate movement. I got a chance to speak with her about the action she wants to see now and her hope for our planet’s future.
PROTESTERS: The people, united, will never be defeated!
GRETA THUNBERG: Hope is this! Hope is us, the people! Hope is when people gather to make change!
ROKER: Climate activist Greta Thunberg is back. After holding rallies virtually for more than a year, she’s taking to the streets once again, challenging world leaders.
GRETA THUNBERG [SEPTEMBER 2021]: Build Back Better, blah, blah, blah. Green economy, blah, blah, blah. Net zero by 2050, blah, blah, blah. Net zero, blah, blah, blah. Climate neutral, blah, blah, blah.
ROKER: Thunberg’s Fridays for Future marches resumed last month and are gaining momentum ahead of the United Nation’s climate change conference, known as COP26, later this month. If you could fill in the “blah, blah, blah,” what words would you want to hear from these leaders?
THUNBERG: I mainly wouldn’t want to hear words because we’ve heard many words, but as it is now, these words aren’t really leading to anything.
ROKER: In 2019, Thunberg grabbed the world’s attention by sailing to New York City on an emissions-free solar powered racing yacht to attend the United Nations General Assembly, giving what became one of the most memorable speeches in U.N. history.
THUNBERG: How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation, and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil and that I refuse to believe.
ROKER: The then-16-year-old was angry that promises made in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement were not being met, namely by the U.S. and China, who are responsible for 80% of global emissions.
What would you say is the price of waiting as opposed to globally trying to take action, no matter how small or large?
THUNBERG: I think that already we are seeing devastating effects of inaction and of waiting. And if we continue to wait, that will only get worse. These damages will be irreversible.
ROKER: The U.N. says global warming has already pushed our planet into a code red for humanity. And Greta is challenging more than 100 countries to renew their vow to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and actually fulfill those promises.
What do you think it is going to take for that change to happen?
THUNBERG: It’s a very big task that’s ahead of us. We need to change social norms. One thing that it will take is honesty. We need to be honest about what we are doing and we need to be brave. Because if we do not start to treat the crisis like a crisis, then the people around us will not understand that we are in an emergency.
CRAIG MELVIN: Wow.
ROKER: So it’s going to be interesting. President Biden has pledged to make a major reduction in U.S. greenhouse emissions in order to meet the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement but, you know, you’ve other countries, China being one of the other major ones, that needs to make those reductions as well. So it’s going to be kind of interesting. And we conducted this interview as part of NBC's news partnership with Covering Climate Now.
SHEINELLE JONES: Very good.
JACOB SOBEROFF: She always brings it home. Something else this morning I wanted to show you guys that brings it home for me. This side by side of what the Santa Monica Pier is going on look like in a hundred – not even in a hundred years, by 2100.
JONES: Wait, what?
ROKER: Yes.
SOBEROFF: So in our children’s lifetime, they say – correct me if I’m wrong, Al – but if we continue on the trajectory of emissions –
ROKER: Yeah, if this – if this is a three-degree temperature rise, this is what the Santa Monica Pier will look like.
SOBEROFF: In 2100.
ROKER: In 2100.
SOBEROFF: This is the lifetime of kids living today.
ROKER: Yeah.
MELVIN: So all those businesses and homes gone.
ROKER: Yeah, because of – because of ice cap melt.
JONES: That puts it in perspective.
ROKER: So if you go on the Climate Central website, they have a number of those comparisons, New York City, Washington, D.C.
SOBEROFF: I grew up going out there, it gave me the chills to see that, yeah.
MELVIN: Thank you for that.
JONES: Those are the kind of things, I think, that will resonate. Because I think sometimes people almost lose sight of it. You almost hear climate change and there are some, like Greta, who like take it seriously...
SOBEROFF: Exactly.
JONES: ...and then others just kind of say, “Okay, let me just recycle that,” and keep it moving. But it is so much more than that.
ROKER: And it’s already happening in cities like Miami, places like that, where you have, you know, blue-sky flooding because of high tides, winds, and sea level rise.
JONES: That was good.
