A 45 year old accountant may not have to face the same impact of climate change as someone who's ~30 years younger.

I'm not shocked that someone from a younger generation is worried about the long term impacts of climate change and how it may change their future.

> If she was a 45 year old accountant trying to take a stand on climate change I don't think she would be trotted out like this.

Because she inspired many other kids her age to start speaking up and do something. I can clearly remember when I was 16 and started to realize how bad the grown ups were actually at implementing all these things they thought me I should value. Starts with democracy and goes to environmentalism.

On a symbolic level she represents the generations who will get the blunt of it. The generations that will have to battle all of that mess the generations before them created.

I don't really see, why her decision to use that publicity should be any kind of valid critizism really, unless it is meant to be an ad hominem attack to avoid talking about the topic.

No, it's particularly striking that a high-school age girl has taken the initiative to start such large protests and raise awareness about the issue and about the fact that something needs to be done yesterday. More generally, we find young people protesting and taking action against irresponsible, greedy, amoral "45-year olds" (as you put it) that yield the power and use it to enrich themselves at the cost of a trashed planet for the next generation.

I think it's pretty obvious what the message here is: the (older) politicians and business men are incompetent or corrupt, the powerless youngsters are showing themselves to be infinitely more responsible. It's a striking image.