Chris White on November 11, 2019
The mural of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg that activists hope raises awareness about global warming will likely require hundreds of cans of paint that scientists say contribute to climate change.
The four-story mural shows the 16-year-old activist glaring down at San Fransiscoans as they make their daily commute. The group providing the paint has not revealed how many cans will be required to produce the mural, but artists used up to 500 cans on a similar project in 2015.
“If we can amplify her message and get more people involved and listening to what she’s saying, then we’re doing some good,” Paul Scott, executive director of nonprofit OneAtmosphere, told CNN on Nov. 9. Artist Andrés Petreselli is the artist behind the mural. He goes by the name “Cobre.”
OneAtmosphere, which is financing the venture, has not returned the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. CBS affiliate KPIX in San Francisco produced a feature on the project on Nov. 7 that shows Cobre wearing a ventilator to filter the toxic chemicals from the aerosol can.
Using spray cans like the ones Cobre uses on the Thunberg mural is harmful to the environment, experts say, even though most aerosol products now use propellants, such as compressed gasses and hydrocarbons that are not harmful to the Earth’s ozone layer.
Hydrocarbon is the chief component of natural gas, which many environmentalists argue is as bad for the environment as coal. Unlike some gasses, hydrocarbons tend to dissipate into the atmosphere at a rapid rate. (RELATED: Democrats Didn’t Clap As Trump Touted American Energy Boom In SOTU)
Thunberg traveled to the U.S. from her home in Sweden in August on a racing yacht. Her visit was designed to galvanize American support behind action on global warming ahead of September’s U.N Climate summit.
“We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth — how dare you!” Thunberg said during the U.N. climate summit in New York. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”
Celebrities and politicians who often promote climate causes sometimes find it difficult to live by the mantra they demand of others.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, for instance, burned the equivalent of about 90 tons of coal when he took a private jet on an 8,000-mile round-trip flight from France to New York City in 2016 on his way to pick up an environmental award, theDCNF found in a 2016 analysis.
DiCaprio expanded his carbon footprint at the time when he flew 8,000 miles from Cannes to New York City to secure an award by a clean-water advocacy group at the Riverkeeper Fishermen’s Ball. DiCaprio then flew back to France a day later to attend an AIDS benefit gala.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders spent just under $300,000 on private jet use in October 2018 during his then-reelection campaign, Federal records show. Sanders is now running for president and is using his campaign to promote policies that he believes will address climate change.
