Actress Louise Linton sided with 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg in a since-deleted Instagram post Saturday after Linton’s husband, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, criticized Thunberg.
“I stand with Greta on this issue. (I don’t have a degree in economics either),” Linton wrote. “We need to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels. Keep up the fight @gretathunberg.”
In a now-deleted Instagram post, Louise Linton voiced pointed support for @GretaThunberg, whose ideas about fossil fuels ruffled @stevenmnuchin this week in Davos. Mnuchin said Thunberg should “stud[y] economics” in college before weighing in. https://t.co/zKWpASZ5j3 pic.twitter.com/qYl297cSla
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) January 25, 2020
Linton’s comments come days after Mnuchin criticized Thunberg during remarks with reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying she should first take some economics courses in college before lecturing global leaders on climate change.
“Is she the chief economist? Who is she? I’m confused,” Mnuchin said of Thunberg when asked about Thunberg’s demands to abandon fossil fuels. After a brief pause, Mnuchin said “it was a joke.”
“After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us,” Mnuchin followed.
Thunberg shot back on Twitter.
“My gap year ends in August, but it doesn’t take a college degree in economics to realise that our remaining 1.5 degree carbon budget and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don’t add up,” she wrote.
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
Thunberg, a teenager on the autism spectrum, has risen to global prominence on environmental issues in recent years after completing a transatlantic voyage to attend conferences on climate change in New York City.
Speaking at the United Nations in September, Thunberg accused world leaders of stealing her youth as she campaigned for stricter environmental regulations.
“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean,” Thunberg charged. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”
In 2019, Thunberg was declared the TIME Person of the Year.