what is a way for students to get engaged? play games with them! although games are entertaining and seen as a reward, they also contain elements such as collaboration, participation, and critical thinking. players have to think of strategies and determine which choice will get their character to the goal (or the next save point). the purpose of this game is for players to understand and learn the realities of the climate crisis. climate change decisions require critical thinking as well as weighing different possibilities. in a game setting, the players are motivated to move forward and are determined to make the right choice. 

therefore, presenting pathways: the game to show how our actions impact the world around us. it is a decision-based game with players moving away from the worst-case scenario and towards the best-case scenario. the game’s purpose is to show the connections between humans and climate change and understand why the decisions are hard to make. players will read situations and it is up to them to make the choice that is in the best interest of the planet. to move forward the player needs to consider, “is this the best pathway?” when answering the decision questions. but some climate decisions are not as explicit as others and some decisions only yield negative or positive outcomes. 

in this situation, players will automatically move backward for negative outcomes and forward for a positive outcome. for example, cards that show a decision to burn fossil fuels players automatically move backward.
although the player moves backward, it does not mean that the game is over. creating an opportunity to show that even though you can take a setback, there are many opportunities to move forward. this process parallels what is happening in the climate field, there are complications but no matter how many barriers, we need to overcome them for the sake of our communities and our planet. 

as for the board design, it needed to illustrate traveling through the board to get to the best-case scenario. what better way than through using the shared socioeconomic pathways (ssp). adopting this visual provides both a way for students to recognize the ssp chart in the future and comprehend it. 

the involvement and engagement of the younger generation are crucial to future climate change decisions. making topics labeled as “too complex” accessible to the younger generation includes them in the conversation. this game had a trial run in a classroom of fifth-graders and with their feedback; bridges, free spaces, and skip spaces were added. games spark creativity and collaboration and with the younger generation becoming more involved, interdisciplinary work will be a necessity. 

• meet 9 young climate activists of color. many important activists’ names don’t reach mainstream media. take the time to learn about a 15-year-old chief water commissioner for the anishinabek nation, a 19-year-old co-founder of a volunteer climate organization and others!

• gender equality, climate justice and education go hand in hand. (article also available in spanish. / artículo disponible en español.) a young chilean activist reflects on the intersection between climate change, gender equality and education and calls for the climate crisis to be viewed from a feminist perspective. did you know that giving women access to education and family planning directly correlates with decreased carbon emissions?

• the ocean cleanup successfully collects ocean plastics. a dutch non-profit called the ocean cleanup has successfully developed a device that can capture and collect ocean plastic. see videos of how it works.

check back tomorrow for more info on what is being explored at cop26 — and good reads to keep you informed!

this interview has been edited for clarity and length.

q: tell me about your fundraiser.

a: i originally wanted to do something that would coincide with my hiking trip because it seemed like the perfect opportunity to fundraise for something that was important to me, and i chose the sierra club because they’re one of the leading organizations that helps the environment. i also wanted to take it a step further and go with something that would help with environmental justice and fighting against environmental racism because that was really important to me, especially as we see so many instances of systemic racism. there are so many different levels on which this happens and i chose the sierra club for that reason and i’m glad i was able to do it with them and raise so much.

q: was there a specific event that made you feel like you should involve yourself in the fight against environmental racism? was there anything that inspired you to do it?

a: i don’t know. it’s a new passion of mine. i think, seeing as a lot of stuff has come up with the black lives matter movement, i was just thinking about how like the outdoors can be a very white place. on my hike, it was crazy how… i mean, vermont’s a very white state, but i really didn’t see a lot of color. not only do a lot of communities of color not have access to hiking trails and other places where they can have outdoor activities, but there are so many cases of pollution and bad water. i guess just learning about flint and other places that have these crises because of other people’s uses of pollution. i don’t know. i guess just seeing that, they weren’t the ones polluting, it was other people in like mass corporations, so i thought it didn’t seem fair that they had to suffer because of other people’s actions.

q: what do you think is the biggest issue within climate inequity?

a: hmm, that’s a tough one. i think one of the biggest problems is the fact that people of color can create change in their community and they can try to fight to fix these issues, but it’s so much harder for them to fix the overall issues of why it’s happening and the pollution and the consumerism and everything that’s leading to it. i guess the fact that it’s an inequality and the fact that not only can these communities not fix the problem, but they can’t fix what’s causing it.

q: when was the first time you found out about climate inequity? was it just generally on social media or was it elsewhere?

a: yeah, i guess. it’s kind of hard to pinpoint. also, when i was driving home and i don’t know, we drive through baltimore a lot and there are these smokestacks and it’s, it’s actually funny because it’s turning trash into energy, but it’s still a major pollutant in baltimore. i guess my dad pointed that out to me and that was really crazy to see. but mainly social media, probably. my teacher is super passionate about that. i was interviewing her last year for this program i was doing and i asked her this question, i asked her, “do you think it’s harder for people without money to be able to fight for climate change?” she was absolutely like, “no, it’s the wealthy people who are creating these issues because they can buy everything and it’s not their concern.” once she said that, like i kind of just, my whole way of thinking turned around. that was really a turning point in that.

q: would you recommend that other people do things like you did, connecting with nature through a hike, or organizing a fundraiser to contribute resources to the fight?

a: yeah, definitely. i think the hike was life-changing. not only because i just think that being able to connect with the outdoors really inspired me to continue to fight for climate change, but the connection between the two made so much more sense because when i’m sitting in my suburban home, i don’t really see why i need to be supporting these causes, but in the woods, it left me thinking that if there weren’t people fighting to keep these trails alive and to keep other things like that going then i wouldn’t be there. i think that the connection between the two is very important.

q: do you think that our generation, high schoolers, gen z, whatever you want to call us, are aware of environmental racism? do you think it gets enough general press coverage?

a: i don’t think so. i think that racism and environmental issues get a lot of coverage, but i don’t think that a lot of people necessarily combine the two. maybe that’s just in the area we live in and like around us, since there are not hurricanes and there’s no pollution as much as in other areas, but no, i don’t think the two are necessarily combined as much as they should be. i think that that’s changing, but up until a few years ago, i’d never really heard of it.

q: do you think environmental racism should figure more prominently in political campaigns and in policymaking right now?

a: yeah. i think that obviously it should. i guess what we were saying before, there are environmental issues and racism and all of that and the need to create laws to fight both of them, but i mean, there’s a definite lack in laws that link them. it would be hard to, it seems like more of a local or state thing than a federal issue, because they’re so specific to different groups i guess.

q: for teenagers who maybe don’t have the time or means to go to organize a fundraising hike like you did, what can we do to fight everyday environmental racism in our lives?

a: i think that one’s hard, because if it’s not something you see in your community, it’s a lot harder to understand it than if it is something you’re experiencing every day. i guess that’s a problem teenagers face in a lot of different areas, because i don’t know, like posting. does that really help? i don’t know. yes it awakens people, but it’s not really action. i think that research and starting to learn about it is the first step. i think that’s really important, but is spreading awareness enough? that’s a good question. i definitely want to think about that, because i don’t really have a great answer. i think that it is hard because some people think that slacktivism is pointless, but at the same time it really does spread information quickly. i also think that since older generations just don’t understand it, we definitely have a chance to make something happen and create change.

this unique collaboration will leverage planet forward’s storytelling platform, the global futures lab’s research and subject matter expertise, and the powerful reach of peril and promise, public media’s premiere digital platform focused on climate change and sustainability.  

i am incredibly excited to be hosting this series. we’ll tell stories that reveal both the urgency of the moment and the potential of human ingenuity. we’ll hear from compelling people who are taking bold steps to overcome the odds and 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网 . we’re working with incredibly committed partners.

“we have a shared mission to spotlight scientifically sound stories and fact-based journalism to explore the impact of climate change and creative innovations in possible solutions,” said eugenia harvey, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer for wnet and executive producer of peril and promise. “we’re excited to bring this monthly series to viewers nationwide.”

each episode will look at an issue confronting our changing planet — devastating wildfires, the unprecedented impact of young climate activists, record-breaking heat and what it will take to keep america’s cities habitable — through the experience and stories of people who are on the front lines. 

the series will draw on planet forward’s network of schools, partnerships, students, and researchers who inspire research, action, and hope. each episode will also engage a young storyteller to get the perspective of someone who will live through the 21st century and experience climate change firsthand.  

“we face an urgent challenge to confront the climate crisis and its myriad societal impacts,” said steven beschloss, senior director of narratives at the asu global futures lab. “solutions that can lead to positive futures depend on smart ideas, motivated thinkers and doers, and powerful storytelling that can expand the population committed to making change.”

to celebrate climate week, our first episode is available now at wnet. in this episode i interview two amazing young leaders. alexandria villaseñor, a 15-year-old climate activist and founder of earth uprising, shares her experience protesting at the un and speaking at the 2020 democratic national convention. we discuss how the youth voice can bridge the climate divide in a polarized america. then we catch up with rohan agrawal, a senior at university of mississippi and former planet forward student correspondent. rohan is determined to use technology to find climate solutions. and he tells us he may actually run a country one day!

i started planet forward more than a decade ago to highlight issues, innovations, young voices, and the narratives of remarkable people committed to positive change through courageous ideas and determined action. this new series will help us elevate our students and amplify their stories. 

we face daunting challenges on a scale we’ve not experienced in all of human history. but we have more tools and technology than ever before. and innovators are working hard to change the planetary equation. by telling these vital stories, we will inform, inspire, and engage new voices and new ideas. 

if you have a story to suggest or a person you think we should feature in this series, please reach out and provide background and contact information to editor@planetforward.org.

see the episode here:

the internet is a double-sided tool in that it helps both to spread one’s message and to learn another’s. the resulting effect is that people can learn about a movement and then act on it. hence why many teenagers who use social media feel that they can make a change. 

a recent poll by the kaiser family foundation and the washington post shows that teenagers are less likely to feel helpless about the climate crisis than any other generation, and are one of the most likely to feel optimistic and motivated. in addition, around a quarter of the polled teenagers said they had participated in some form of climate activism. 

i reached out to around 30 high schoolers from all around the country to see whether i would find similar results. in some places, the outcome was as expected, and in others, quite surprising.

when asked what they believed is the most important issue we face today, nearly 40% answered either climate change or a climate-related problem. these answers were not surprising to me, as the coronavirus and racial/social justice issues are topics of extreme importance right now. while climate change was the primary answer, many people explained that they find these other issues equally important in the current world. 

notably, linnea warren, a respondent from syracuse, said, “it’s difficult to choose just one. we have climate change, police brutality and racism, ice holding children in cages, yemen going through a crisis, and the slave trade in libya. there are so many issues in the world that need to be changed, and almost all of these affect everyone.”

on a scale of zero to 100, the importance of fighting climate change scored an average of 84, and only one person gave a rating below 50. 

additionally, 68% said they had taken or were taking action to fight climate change, and 100% said that if there were simple actions they could take to fight climate change, they would do so. this surprised me because, while i had expected a significant commitment to environmental activism, i had not anticipated that the median number would be so high.

these specific results demonstrated that our generation is ultra awake to the fact that climate change is a serious problem worth fighting against. i continued the survey, asking questions geared more toward understanding where they were getting their information from, and whether social media is a large factor in their understanding of these issues.

when presented with a question about how social media informed their view on climate change, only 7% of the teenagers answered “not at all.” furthermore, 57% responded that they source their news from social media, be it all of their information or just a small amount.

these answers help paint a picture of just how impactful social media is in young activism right now. in the same poll where every single person answered that they would, if presented with the option, take action to fight climate change, a large majority finds some amount of their information on social media. 

sasha james, a rising junior from maryland stated: “climate change is the most looming issue by far and most people are either unaware of the gravity of the problem or are denying its existence because they think it is ‘years/decades away’ or because they are too scared to accept the truth and face it head on.”

gen z knows what is happening, and we understand that we must mobilize, as it baldly threatens our future. don’t worry, this generation is not wasting its time on the internet — we’re using it to change the world.

being a high school student, a gen zer, a zoomer, a kid — whatever you want to call me (though please do not call me a zoomer) — has given me perspective on the issues that we face as a nation and around the world in a rather different way. just about everyone at my school knows that they have the ability to make a difference, both in awareness and their personal lives, to combat climate change. 

less and less do i see people simply dismiss our world’s health by saying, “what i do won’t even make a dent.” instead, i see individuals posting daily on their social media, talking about it with the people around them, reducing their waste, engaging in campaigns, starting those campaigns, and many more small activities that actually make a difference. 

as kids, we all felt climate change. we felt every summer hotter than the last, we watched feet of snow (as recently as 2012!) become winters that barely dip below freezing, we saw this nation politicize climate change. this is a fight i have been fighting since i can remember, and i know it is the same for countless other members of my generation.

so why am i, a vastly underqualified, naïve, out of my place high schooler who does not even have his learner’s permit writing an article for planet forward? well, i feel that there is something a bit different about my generation. starting from how the “normal” world we grew up in is one unfathomable to those who lived before us. 

our parents have raised us in a world where we know that if we do not change, we, along with future generations, could suffer. examples of people my age fighting for social and environmental change are everywhere. sweden’s 17-year-old greta thunberg garnered international attention after her school strikes aimed at convincing the swedish government to lower carbon emissions, and reached superstar status after sailing all the way to north america to attend the un climate action summit. not to mention seattle’s jamie margolin, who started organizing lobbying efforts and protests to promote environmental change at the age of fourteen. three years later, margolin has made it onto the bbc’s 100 women of 2019 and co-founded the globally recognized, youth-led nonprofit zero hour. 

our awareness and acceptance of global warming and all of the other effects of climate change are only bolstered by our ability to use the internet. i have heard many people describe my generation as one that is and always has been hooked on the internet, and characterized it as a bad thing. 

the truth, however, is that we are not “hooked.” we have just created a strong virtual community where we can be supported and learn about our interests. the way that social media is set up allows for any person to cultivate a strong, supportive feed that focuses on the most important matters that face us today. if i open instagram right now, i will without a doubt be greeted with a bare minimum of five posts or stories about how we can change the world for the better. it is amazing what some people can do with their online platform.

it’s these characteristics of my generation that make me supremely proud of being a member of “gen z” (or whatever you want to call it). i am inspired by members of my class who, like me, are striving for positive change. in the end, that fact is what makes me want to share the stories of my generation with you. we want environmental change, and planet forward is a platform to share the inspiring stories of my generation’s leaders and movements. in the coming weeks, look for stories about how high schoolers are fighting to make a difference, and what can be learned from that. 

founded by greta thunberg, one youth movement that has gained traction is the fridays for future movement, in which students from around the globe strike for climate in their local cities every friday. students skipping school weekly to protest has become a bizarre enough phenomenon that the news has taken notice, but very rarely is the story portrayed from the youth’s point of view. last fall, i had the pleasure of following around the youth activists of fridays for future in dc, who spend every friday not just striking, but also visiting congress members and writing letters demanding action.

here are the stories of four of the nation’s most influential fridays for future activists: ari rubenstein (17), khadija khokhar (18), sophia geiger (17), and kallan benson (15). when the fridays for future movement was awarded the champions of the earth award by the united nations in 2019, benson was one of the activists who publicly declined the award on stage. benson then delivered an eye-opening speech explaining how the movement refuses the award because “awards are for celebrating achievement, but the achievement we seek has not occurred”. 

in my video, these inspiring fridays for future leaders explain why they strike for climate every friday and why the climate movement urgently needs not just the passion from youth, but from everyone.

environmentalism, often seen as an older version of climate policy, was not always partisan. according to a washington post article in 2014, environmentalism was a bipartisan issue until recently. for example, the clean air act of 1970 was passed with only one member of congress voting no. whether it was president roosevelt and his repartee with conservation or george w. bush’s campaign to expand the clean air act, all parties have supported some form of sustainability. despite the seemingly high tension between both parties in terms of climate policy, there is a hope to get back to what this country once was: cooperative and unified.

i began an internship this semester for the house of representatives’ select committee on the climate crisis. this committee was established via house resolution 6 and was finally adopted in january of 2019 by speaker nancy pelosi. under this resolution, the sole authority of the committee “shall be to investigate, study, make findings, and develop recommendations on policies, strategies, and innovations to achieve substantial and permanent reductions in pollution and other activities that contribute to the climate crisis which will honor our responsibility to be good stewards of the planet for future generations.” if congress follows these recommendations when they are brought to the floor in march, systemic reform can commence.

these past few months have allowed me the opportunity to witness change on the front lines of congress as well as meet and talk to some of the most relevant names in recent climate policy discussions. whether i meet a liberal, conservative, libertarian, or any political faction, each experience has taught me to approach climate with a youth’s perspective.

in mid-september, one of the most prominent faces in climate activism came to the u.s to provide a witness testimony on climate activism in a hearing. greta thunberg sparked an entire generation to fight climate change and now our committee was holding a hearing for her and other youth activists. excitement aside, this experience proved invaluable to me because it opened my thinking up to bipartisanship.

coming from a rural town in new jersey, political support always was divided between republicans and democrats. thus, it’s safe to say everybody loves to argue and i was used to this harsh political division because it seemed normal. however, when i helped put together the hearing i read the witness list that included people like benji backer (a youth conservative from appleton, wisconsin), jamie margolin (founder of the zero hour movement in washington who uses writing to spread climate awareness), vic barrett (a new yorker who fights for climate justice), and of course, thunberg. i was excited to see what they had to say, but i was skeptical that young people could actually enact any kind of tangible change. i found out very quickly that i was wrong. 

margolin and barrett were both phenomenal in how they presented themselves, but they had pretty similar views to what i had already held. for instance, ensuring social inclusion as well as encouraging lawmakers to institute an ambitious goal for a climate solution were both on my agenda already, but nonetheless it was impactful to hear them told to members of congress. however, thunberg and backer provided insights that have since expanded my thinking to bipartisanship.

backer, the president and founder of the american conservation coalition, ended up being someone i look up to and idolize. at first, i was ashamed that a conservative was “going to try and ruin climate progress” and even worse, he was going to encourage fellow students to do the same. in reality, he came into the hearing room with one goal: find a climate solution that works for all. as he questioned the government’s inability to act on the issue, i began to find myself intrigued that a person, whom i thought did not believe climate change was real, could actually bring everyone together. 

as backer concluded his bold testimony, thunberg began to speak. she rolled her eyes over talk of politics and her braveness to sit in her chair with disgust over inaction on climate legislation could not be matched. before the hearing, a few congressmen had an opportunity to meet all the witnesses, but only thunberg refused. she had no desire to talk to people that use gridlock as an excuse for not solving the climate crisis. it was relieving to see that someone young and without much bias shrugged at the idea of political competition over a potential catastrophe.                                       

as i continued my work on the hill, the craziness never seemed to stop. i witnessed a climate protest in front of the capitol, saw the fire drill fridays cause in action with jane fonda as their fearless leader, and ran across rep. alexandria ocasio-cortez talking about her green new deal. all of these experiences allowed me to not only witness first-hand political frustration, but also have hope for the future of bipartisanship. at the climate protest, the speakers emphasized the need for cooperation among all and preached inclusivity to solve the issue at hand. a man in the crowd said to me: “people are always ahead of the government; we can fix climate change, but gridlock is preventing solutions.” sadly, money and power make the world go around, but it is going to take accountability, cooperation, and government efficiency to solve this.

fonda, often seen as a symbol of protest or a meme, surprised me with how she approached the climate crisis. her passion was not about attention or personal gain. she wanted systematic change because she felt that young people had been disadvantaged by their predecessors. i asked the officer nearby if he thought she was doing it for attention, and he offered a valuable insight. the officer told me that she only got arrested the first week and while it looked like a publicity stunt, she has yet to get arrested since, but still comes. fonda has not stopped protesting and she even goes back every friday, week after week. also, she almost always marches with students and supports a youth’s vision for a climate solution. this proved that if people are so concerned that they are willing to sacrifice that amount of time for protest, maybe some money and a party label are not so important.

toward the end of my internship i saw the youthful leader who everyone knows as “aoc.” getting lost attending a briefing at the capitol i saw a woman much shorter than me, in glasses, and with a camera in her face strut by me with confidence. once my excitement settled over seeing an idol, i sat close by in the hall to hear what rep. ocasio-cortez was talking about. she was discussing recent backlash by republicans over her famous green new deal. rather than being radical as some portray her to be, she admitted that a solution will be bold, ambitious, and very expensive. despite all things wrong with her plan, democrats cannot fund or solve this problem on their own.

in sum, my experiences working for the select committee on the climate crisis were beneficial in aiding my understanding of one of the most critical issues of our time. the climate crisis does not have an easy solution, and obstacles are expected to rise in the future. at first, youth activists taught me the power that young people have in uniting the parties, then protests shaped my perspective of the people the government should be protecting, and finally a famous member of congress solidified my support for bipartisanship.  

half of a solution is not going to work. it is not going to save future generations or preserve resources. it is not going to protect vulnerable groups. it is not going to promote economic development or be sustainable. unity, compromise, and cooperation are going to fix the climate and help society adapt to change; this requires both parties.  

as developed nations continue to draw up lofty blueprints of expanded industrialization, one no longer needs to turn an eye on history to find examples of environmental injustice. how about the scheduled drilling of the pristine arctic wildlife national refuge or the destruction of the tongass national forest in alaska? maybe the recently approved kinder morgan trans-mountain pipeline system rings a bell, sending crude oil through established first nation territories in alberta? with every baseless federal proposal and every entangled tribal nation, the line is thinning between indigenous rights and climate activism.

or, at least, so says ruth miller, a recent brown graduate and dena’ina athabaskan alaska native youth leader leading the charge for indigenous representation in the ongoing global climate change debate. i had the pleasure of chatting with miller about her thoughts on the youth climate summit on sep. 21, which she attended at the u.n. headquarters. her responses elucidate the progress we’ve made as an international community and, just as saliently, how far we have yet to go.

q: the youth climate summit on the 21st made ample mention of small island developing states and the unfair climate burden they are being subjected to. but, do you think there was enough talk of indigenous communities in the u.s. and canada, and how their climate concerns are not being addressed?

a: i found that the u.n. youth summit was seriously lacking in productive action. i believe that there was a lot of lip service paid. from a youth perspective, i think that it was almost a convening to let off steam, because what are global leaders going to walk away with from this? that youth care about the environment? well, we’ve been saying that in many different ways for years. if our protests did not make that clear, if our entire movement did not make that clear, this conference did not particularly feel like it added more perspective. 

there were not many indigenous youths attending. those that i was lucky enough to meet were equally frustrated. many were not given particular access to, for instance, the global leaders summit on monday, things that might initiate serious and impactful dialogue about what can be changed. and to me, it was not only this underrepresentation of indigenous people, but the only mention of indigenous people that i saw at the un felt to check a box. if actual inclusion and acceptance was a priority for the u.n., then i would have expected to see many more youths who have been feeling the front lines of these climate change issues for years, not only the youths articulate enough to speak at a conference, but also the youth who have been chaining themselves to pipelines, who are protesting now in mauna kea. and the youth who may not be able to pay their way to a summit like this, for whom it may not be acceptable to miss school. there are so many different kinds of involvement that could have been made acceptable and weren’t. for me, the only real indigenous recognition that i witnessed was an opening prayer.

q: about this youth caucus, in what way did they not adequately address the problems that indigenous communities encounter? was it that they weren’t the true representatives or victims of climate change?

a: i would not put the blame on those individuals, on those youths who are taking the time and energy and sacrifice to occupy these spaces. for me, the blame is much more on the fact that they were not given a platform, they were not given an opportunity to integrate their wealth of knowledge and their experience into a space like a climate summit that is not decolonized and indigenized. if youths, particularly indigenous youths, had been given a workshop, a lecture, a session, anything that would have been able to communicate the importance of integrating indigenous youth voices. but i didn’t see any meaningful engagement with what it means to center indigenous voices in the climate change struggle. the only deep decolonization work that i saw in my time involved with these issues in new york was at the march for the climate on friday, sept. 20, when indigenous youth did take the stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people, to talk about their communities, their issues, what they were doing and what they recommended others to do. that was beautiful and that really set the bar that the united nations did not meet. 

q: i’m astounded that they didn’t have a indigenous communities panel, i just assumed that they would.

a: it’s almost a dangerous assumption, right? and i was almost scolding myself, like ‘ruth, you knew you would be disappointed. why are you surprised?’ you know, i’m committed to being in this space; this is my third summit that i’ve attended at the united nations in the past year. i came from alaska! i had this hope and i’m deeply frustrated that this organization with global leverage, with the resources, with the funding can’t do better, honestly. and i think it’s more important not to just complain about what patterns, what habits those in power are replicating that are maintaining this unsatisfying status quo and think about what can be changed. so, for instance, this whole youth summit was not facilitated and it did not appear to be organized by any youth. the entire program, the schedule of events, everything — i admit i do not know how those events were decided upon, but zero part of it was facilitated or led or moderated by a youth representative, so it almost felt like a playground.

these older adults setting a schedule for what we would be listening to, where we would be sitting, and i don’t even want to say what we would be talking about because we didn’t particularly have any opportunity for dialogue. the breakout sessions were focused on how to make a viral video and how to use instagram effectively, which is fine and useful. i definitely don’t know how to do that. but why in the world are we sitting down and learning how to make a viral video when we are being invited into this extremely elitist space as global leaders — we’re not being treated as such.

what could have been so much more effective would have been workshops to increase the network-building amongst these youth or breakout sessions that were regionally-specific or issue-specific, saying let’s have this room devoted to adaptation to climate change in urban centers, let’s have all the youth who work towards that, who are doing incredible, mind-blowing, innovative projects to solve these problems. that’s why they’re here. let’s have another room for those who are confronting climate change in the arctic and in each of these rooms. let’s set community norms and standards of accountability that we will take into account the fact that we are not representative of all the youth who are experiencing these issues on a day-to-day basis. we are simply those who got enough attention to be invited to a space like this. like, let’s acknowledge how we can decolonize our own institutions and organizations when we leave here. let’s talk about how we can bring other people up with us because none of this happens outside of community and none of this matters if you’re not uplifting the community that got you here. 

if i can come up with this off the top of my head in two seconds, did no one think about how to make this conference more effective and not just an entertaining playground for a day? i definitely got the impression that they expected us to be grateful and satisfied to just to go to the u.n. no! we are demanding action, we are demanding measurable, meaningful, and permanent change. and it was frustrating, it was extremely frustrating to never have an opportunity for dialogue. i am grateful that i had the opportunity to go. it’s an opportunity that most people i know have not had. but what do i bring back to my community after (the conference)? i met some amazing individuals who are doing really cool work. how do i help the people in alaska who are facing the life-changing impact of climate change today? like it’s really cool to invite students who are working on this issue, but why are we not speaking to the people who are living this issue?