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A note from...
Nick Lehr
Arts + Culture Editor
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When Time magazine named Greta Thunberg its Person of the Year, it published a cover photo of the 16-year-old activist standing on a rocky shoreline, looking skyward, with water crashing at her feet. To Amherst College history professor Ellen Boucher, this is part of a troubling trend of media outlets canonizing the 16-year-old girl as a climate messiah.
Boucher explains why this sort of framing is misguided – and can even serve as fodder for climate deniers. Save the over-the-top veneration, Boucher writes. Thunberg wields more than enough power just being who she is: an outspoken kid.
Also today:
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Top story
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Climate activist Greta Thunberg listens during a meeting with climate scientists at the COP25 summit in Madrid, Spain.
AP Photo/Paul White
Ellen Boucher, Amherst College
Some have started to frame Thunberg's activism in messianistic terms – and this can serve as fodder for climate deniers.
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Environment + Energy
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David Goldberg, Columbia University
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Matthew Savoca, Stanford University; Jeremy Goldbogen, Stanford University; Nicholas Pyenson, Smithsonian Institution
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Politics + Society
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Tom Quinn, University of Essex
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Kelley Fanto Deetz, University of Virginia
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Alexandra Isfahani-Hammond, University of California San Diego
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Science + Technology
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Kristoffer Whitney, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Kathleen Prudic, University of Arizona
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From our International Editions
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Kristof Titeca, University of Antwerp
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