‘I Am Greta’ looks at the young woman behind the revival in climate change activism

Having started 2018 as an unknown Swedish teen, Greta Thunberg quickly built a global following based on her school strikes about governments’ inaction on climate change. Since then, she’s met with former U.S. President Barack Obama, and appeared on the Ellen Show and even pop songs.

Thunberg has largely avoided questions about her personal lifeuntil now. Director Nathan Grossman’s new Hulu documentary, “I Am Greta,” explores the personality that sparked the school strike movement across the globe.

Grossman was there when Thunberg started protesting on the street outside Stockholm. He says at first he wasn’t taken with Thunberg as a subject since she was shy. But as he spent more time with her and listened to her public speeches,, he came to realize she was onto something.

Grossman talks about why Thunberg’s “hemma pappa” (Swedish for “stay-at-home dad”) featured so prominently in the film. He also discusses the two-week boat ride across the Atlantic Ocean that he took with Thunberg, her father, and a captain — in order for her to speak at the United Nations. Thunberg, a principled environmentalist, did not consider taking a high-emission plane ride.