There is, at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South in New York City, a striking bronze and gold-leaf statue honoring Union General William T. Sherman, sitting high atop his faithful warhorse Sam. Unveiled in May, 1903, it is one of the last and finest works of the American sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens. The good people of New York had every reason to be proud of their neighbor. Sherman and Grant were the two iron-willed Generals that Lincoln had desperately needed in his effort to quash the ill-fated rebellion in the South. Together, they finally brought an end to the conflict, at least the military part of it.

To most of the millions who pass by here each year, it probably seems like just another statue in just another park. But for many of the visitors from Georgia, the mere site of it stirs generational feelings of bitterness and loss. Even after all these long years, today in most parts of Georgia Sherman is still considered to be a bona fide War Criminal by any definition that you care to use.

Best known for his March to the Sea, Sherman set out from a still smoldering Atlanta with 60,000 troops and the objective of marching 285 miles southeast to Savannah to secure its port. Rather than establish the usual supply lines in their wake, part of Sherman’s strategy was to forage along to way to resupply his army. This meant stealing crops and livestock from the local citizenry, at gunpoint, without discrimination. What’s more, he ordered that what wasn’t taken should be burned, leaving a large swath of innocent dirt farmers and their families without food for the coming winter. He also burned every factory and destroyed all the railroads. In perhaps his coldest act, he took advantage of thousands of slaves who had escaped to follow him, using them for labor in exchange for food and protection.  Then, in a cruel moment of emancipation treachery, he ordered that they be abandoned at Ebenezer Creek outside of Savannah, destroying the bridges before they could cross.  Many drowned trying to follow. Most were left to face starvation and the fury of their former masters.

This scorched-earth policy was intended to break the will of the Southerners and snuff out what remained of their desire to continue the fight. Whether or not he achieved his purpose is for historians to debate. What is without any doubt is that the plunder and devastation of his “campaign” left a permanent scar on the state of Georgia and its people.

So there’s your hero, in all his gilded glory, right in the middle of Manhattan. I don’t see anyone protesting about it, wanting to remove it or put up a plaque “to add context”.  I don’t suspect I will.  Incidentally, under old Sam’s rear hoof is the branch of a pine tree, complete with its cone, being crushed as horse and rider march on.  A nice touch of symbolism by the artist. Unless, of course, you’re from Georgia.

A teen-aged Swedish girl with Viking braids has taken up the torch from Rachel Carson. The glaciers are melting. Maybe we should listen.

            Greta Thunberg first began hearing about climate change at the ripe old age of 8 while in grade school in her native Stockholm.  According to her own narrative, she became confused by one simple notion:  If it’s clear that there’s a serious problem, why isn’t anyone doing anything about it?  Oh, those silly children.

            She started her now-famous environmental activism with herself, first by becoming a vegan and then by refusing to fly.  It was also about this time that she was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, OCD and Selective Muteness, whereby she only spoke if it was necessary.  She would later refer to the latter condition in interviews on the subject of climate change, declaring “Now it is necessary.”  She became increasingly disturbed by the absence of action, or at least the slow pace of it, and in August of 2018, aged 15, she took the first bold step towards what would become a movement.

            Rather than enroll in classes for the new school year, she went to the Swedish Riksdag (Parliament) and stood outside with a hand-made sign that read “School Strike for the Climate”.  One small girl.  One small sign.

            Rachel Carson was already a well-known and highly respected nature writer in 1958 when she began to meticulously research and write “Silent Spring”, the seminal clarion call that would begin the modern environmental movement.  She included a 55-page bibliography at the end, referencing her sources in anticipation of the massive blowback from the chemical companies whose products would eventually be banned as a result of her work.  First serialized in the New Yorker in 1962, it connected the dots between cancer and certain pesticides, primarily DDT.  Its publication in full book form later that year led to the creation of the EPA and would spawn a new era of awareness about the fragile relationship between us humans and the world that we inhabit.

            Now comes Greta.  No research, no footnotes, just a sign that maybe took four minutes to create vs Carson’s four years for the book, yet in our viral age of global connectivity she has become better known in two years by exponentially more people than Carson could ever have imagined.

            Her message is simple, direct and delivered with a forceful urgency.  It goes something like this:  You people have made a real mess and you need to clean it up before you leave.  Her School Strike sign was picked up by some local news outlet, caught a wave, and by now there have been well organized and massive school strikes all over the civilized world.  Greta has spoken (It was necessary) to the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in New York.  She has addressed committees of the US Congress, telling one “I don’t want you to listen to me.  I want you to listen to the scientists!”  She can seem impertinent for one so young, but it is her youth that gives her message its purity.  To the UN Assembly:  “… all you care about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth.  How dare you!”

            Rachel Carson’s writing was eloquent and clear, just right for 1962 to deliver a much needed wake-up call.  She wrote “Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species – man – acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.”

            Greta, not so eloquent but equally clear, says “I am here because you are shitting on my future.”  Oh, those silly children.