Greta Thunberg Did Not Tell Chinese to Quit Using Chopsticks
The Claim
Greta Thunberg advised the Chinese to quit using Chopsticks to save trees.
News posted on
Emerging story
On February 16th, 2021, Twitter user @SortedEagle posted a picture of Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg, saying “Greta advised the Chinese to quit Chopsticks to save trees.” The post goes on to say the “Chinese asked Greta & her friends to go back to school, learn that they’re made of Bamboos & that’s grass. And advised her not to use tissues to wipe her butt as they’re made from trees.”
This post has received more than a thousand retweets and the same claim has also been found on Facebook. Many people reacted by slamming Greta Thunberg, saying things like “Ignorance seems to be the basic (perhaps even only) requirement to become an activist,” or “#GretaThunbergExposed…If she looks within she will find shitloads... instead of poking her snotty nose in other's business.. silly female..”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found this claim to be fake. This is actually an old claim that originated around March of 2020, but it has resurfaced with a slightly different appearance. The old claim uses a different picture, but the text is quite similar and has the exact same premise. The old claim says “Greta Thunberg invited the Chinese to stop using Chopsticks to save trees.” It also goes on to say that the “Chinese invited her to go back to school and learn chopsticks are made from bamboo, a grass. They also suggested she stop using toilet paper because that’s certainly made from trees.”
According to Reuters, Greta Thunberg’s team confirmed that she has never made such a statement.
An advanced search of @GretaThunberg on Twitter reveals no use of the word “chopsticks”. A Google search of “Greta Thunberg chopsticks” only leads to results that fact-check and disprove the first claim from early 2020. It seems this claim has no credible source and is just a recycled meme from last year.
