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Authors, sign in! CBS's Morning Show had a piece on the youth activism around global climate change. Young people like 15-year-old Alec Loorz is taking
"his message across the country, using poles to illustrate the predicted sea level rise if nothing is done to prevent global warning."
But this generation of youth isn't new to global warming nor the activism surrounding it. The 1990's brought a nation wide effort in Canada called the Youth Alliance for the "Turnaround Decade" where young people advocated for solutions to climate change, and young people in California particularly advocated for recycling programs when environmental activists invested in a generation of young people who also convinced their parents to take action. And who can ever forget growing up with Jesse the good-hearted environmentalist on Saved by the Bell (before she became a stripper). There was even an entire episode about how "drill baby drill" on the school football field killed hundreds of the crew's beloved science pets in the school's pond.
A whole generation of youth from 35 and under grew up with saving the world from ourselves and the extenuation of "last chances" has sputtered on and on like an old diesel engine.
The fight among young people to stop global warming isn't merely a US fight, its become the common bond to unite a generation of our planet's youth. The UN's Environment Program announced Thursday it's new partnership with the Republic of Korea for increased reduction in carbon emissions.
But while UN officials met with State Leaders, 700 young people ranging from 10 to 24 attended the largest ever UN backed global youth gathering on taking action against climate change.
"They issued a declaration, entitled “Listen to Our Voices: The Future Needs Strong Vision and Leadership,” expressing their “concern and frustration that their governments are not doing enough to combat climate change,” and emphasizing that “we now need more actions and less talking.”The week-long Tunza Children and Youth Conference on the Environment is part of the UN’s “Seal the Deal” campaign spearheaded by the Secretary-General, who has made tackling global warming one of his top priorities.
The young people’s “voices will and must be heard because they will inherit the outcomes of our actions,” Mr. Ban said."
India too has noted the importance with incorporating youth into a global climate change agenda.
"Calling for strengthening the scientific foundations of environment policies with mass participation, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday. "We must involve more stakeholders, particularly youth, to lead the movement for environmental protection."
If only we'd listened to Saved by the Bell back in 1991, we wouldn't be drilling anymore or using styrofoam containers. Instead a quiet majority works through the process to enact meaningful social change in hopes that the threats of a last chance decade can be pushed off for another ten years.
Published August 21, 2009 by Sarah Burris |
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Climate Change
Environment
Global Warming
Green
Youth
Comments (1)
Sarah,
The youth activism to stop global warming, pollution and healing the ozone began with my generation in the 1960s and came to full fruition in the 1970s. Unfortunately, the activists of my generation (baby boomers) were out shouted by the destroyers of my generation (like George Bush, et al) who drowned out our voices by taking over the government. The shouting from that same crowd in this month's town halls is reminiscent of the upsurge of opposition. There will be opposition in your generation too, just like there was in ours. People of all ages (who care about people and the planet) need to work together (across the age divides) in order to be strong enough to combat their resistance. Don't underestimate their voraciousness.
Back to youth of the 60s and 70s. We established the first Earth Day, for example in 1969. It was not the beginning of our environmental movement but it solidified it because the United Nations adopted it. Earth Day's birth in November 1969 held this explanation:
Our movement has tremendous results - Many important laws were passed by the Congress in the wake of the 1970 Earth Day, including the Clean Air Act, wild lands and the ocean, and the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.Remember, we began "Zero Population Growth" as a movement in the 1960s to save the earth. Also, in the 1960s, Congress passed the sweeping Wilderness Act, and Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas asked, "Who speaks for the trees?" All of this came as a result of grassroots activism.
The baby boomers also began organic gardening and caused a nationwide resurgence of growing food without chemicals. We composted.
Ecology became the buzz word. Also, we were the first generation to demand EPA controls on industrial pollution and demanded sweeping efforts to stop littering and demand proper disposal of trash.
We rallied global efforts to heal the ozone layer in our atmosphere, a crisis we faced in the 1970s successfully.
Each generation since the baby boomers has taken a piece of the environmental challenge and made a movement out of it.
The trick, though, is two-fold:
1) The youth movements need to work with people of all ages in order to be successful, and,
2) The youth movement should learn from the previous movements and - fight for legislation and change - but keep an eye on the opposition because the opposing forces are powerful and are relentless. (The baby boomers, for example, underestimated the other side and was unprepared when the opposition regained control of the government and started trashing the earth again.)
Great post Sarah! Thanks for letting me write on it!
Posted by Pamela Jean
|
August 21, 2009 12:08 PM
Posted on August 21, 2009 12:08