Jaden Smith ‘inspired’ by Greta Thunberg’s environmental ‘passion’

Jaden Smith said he hopes to collaborate with Greta Thunberg because he is inspired by her “passion” and “fearlessness” when campaigning for environmental issues.

The US rapper and actor, 25, performed before the Swedish environmental activist spoke at a global climate strike march in New York City in 2019.

Smith, who has launched a number of his own sustainable projects and is an advocate for electric vehicles, said he would “100%” like to be involved in a similar project with Thunberg.

Asked what inspires him about her, he told the PA news agency: “Just (her) passion, education, fearlessness, standing up to adults and speaking the truth better than them.”

Thunberg has led protests and spoken at marches around the world to urge those in power to protect the environment.

Smith said sustainability became a priority for him when he learned at school about the damage being done to the oceans and environment.

He later set up several companies which focus on delivering a more sustainable approach to bottled water and suitcases.

The rapper has also developed a passion for electric cars and Formula E racing, which he feels will surpass other forms of motor racing like Formula One.

Speaking at the British E-Prix, he said: “For some reason, when you do things that are good a lot of people think that it’s going to be different from the other things that you enjoy, like when people eat vegetarian food they assume that it’s not going to be as good as other food. But that’s just not true.

“Because if you put the same time and attention into something, it’s equally as cool. It can be as cool, as cultural, as awesome.”

Smith, the son of actor and rapper Will Smith, added: “In fact, the electric cars are going to go even faster and they’re going to be better for the environment.

“And you’re going to be able to actually stand there without wearing headphones because it’s not so loud, it’s not terrorising people with sound.”

During his time at the racecourse, Smith took a Formula E Gen3 race car around the track for a lap, describing it as a “beautiful” experience.

“I just love that I got asked to drive the car because I feel like everything that is being done here at this race is everything that I want to be a part of and everything that I really believe in (in) the world,” he said.

“I just feel that racing into the future and accelerating into the future is so real because everything here is really pushing the sustainability of electric cars in the world and electric energy and power and sustainable energy in the world.”

Smith featured an electric car in the music video for his 2017 track Icon and suspended one above the stage during his performance at Coachella in 2019.

He said he wants to feature a Formulae E car in a future music video and teased that one of the vehicles may be in one of his upcoming creative projects.

“I think that this is the beginning of just a beautiful partnership and of a life-changing experience that is going to end up benefiting so many people in the world, because the learning that’s happening from trying to accelerate these cars and make them as fast as possible is actually accelerating us into the future”, he said.

“We’re learning so much from the development of, ‘Oh, we need the car to go faster, we needed it to charge faster, we need the batteries to last longer, we need it to stay colder, we needed to be more aerodynamic’.

“All of these learnings are going into the electric cars of the world.”