57-year-old Mnuchin tells 'joke' about 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg: 'Who is she?'

On Thursday, Jan. 23, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin brazenly dismissed climate activist Greta Thunberg by asking, “Who is she?” and questioning whether she is actually qualified to talk about potential economic challenges and fossil fuel divestment during a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as reported by the Associated Press. He clarified that this jab was intended as a “joke.”

First, a reporter asked Mnuchin if he thought Thunberg’s climate-conscious call to end fossil fuel investments poses a threat to the economy. "Greta Thunberg has called for a public and private sector divestment from fossil fuel companies,” the reporter said, according to CNN. “Does that pose a threat to U.S. economic growth?

“Is she the chief economist? Who is she? I'm confused,” he reportedly said in response, adding, it’s a “joke” and “funny.” 

“After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us,” the 57-year-old continued in reference to the 17-year-old. 

Ah, yes. Because there’s nothing as funny as “joking” about a woman not actually being qualified to do her job or be an expert in something. Of course, given that Donald Trump has repeatedly mocked Thunberg, describing her as a “happy young girl” and telling her to “chill,” it’s no surprise that she’s used to this patronizing attitude from men in the Trump administration.

Thunberg, who was recently named Time’s Person of the Year, actually has a perfectly reasonable take, according to an economist who spoke to The Washington Post. “In many ways, [what Thunberg] is doing—and she’s very blunt and open about this—she is paraphrasing the scientific consensus, which in many ways is, in fact, conservative,” economist Gernot Wagner told the Post in an interview.

Meanwhile, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists just adjusted the Doomsday Clock, a yearly adjustment meant to reflect the ways in which man-made threats like climate change impact the likelihood of an apocalypse of our own making, moving it to 100 seconds to midnight. Midnight symbolizes the end of the world. The clock is, obviously, symbolic, but our efforts to either hinder or advance climate change are very real. 

Thunberg responded to Mnuchin with a lot of grace in a series of tweets.

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My gap year ends in August, but it doesn’t take a college degree in economics to realise that our remaining 1,5° carbon budget and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don’t add up. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/1virpuOyYG

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 23, 2020

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So either you tell us how to achieve this mitigation or explain to future generations and those already affected by the climate emergency why we should abandon our climate commitments. 2/3

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 23, 2020

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Graph from @CarbonBrief by @hausfath and @robbie_andrew based on United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) emissions gap report. 3/3

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 23, 2020

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