Youth And Climate




Well, well! Hello there class! Young, fresh and beaming with health. Glad to see you hale and hearty, healthy and whole.

It is yet another year and we begin the year on a high note by focusing on us! May it be a year where we take off, soar the heavens and ride the waves.

 To welcome you to the subject matter this year, we will start with a topic that touches home in every heart beating in this class.

 Youth And Climate
We must be the change we want to see.
Embed from Getty Images

And off we go!
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is a well-known climate change activist;he champions the conservation of the environment, especially from the viewpoint of indigenous people who are at the forefront of climate change. He is 16 years old. He is also the leader of Earth Guardians which as the name implies see themselves as the young guardians of this our lovely planet. He is also a recording hip hop artiste. He has spoken at UN conferences and given talks to his peers on the importance of fighting climate change. He has also marshaled fellow youth at a global level to fight climate change. He is doing something.


 A group of children aged 9-20 years in the States have sued the American federal government for doing far too little to stop climate change but accelerating it instead and therefore putting their future in danger. The case will go to trial in Oregon sometime in 2017.

Momentum For Change by the UNFCCC is a platform which also targets the youth. It aims to raise awareness about climate change by increasing visibility. They hold competitions where people from all over the world submit videos or send their applications based on climate change ideas and projects/activities. The winner for the youth competition last year won a trip to Marrakech for COP22. The 13 projects that also won last year’s Momentum For Change Lighthouse Activities awards were  diverse and included Google and a company that powers homes by solar in Tanzania.
Tunza is the name of UNEP’ S magazine that is targeted at the youth and children. It is an online magazine that aims to interest the youth in environmental issues. Tunza is a Kiswahili word for ‘conserve, nourish, cherish, lovingly take care of’. Climate change is a cross cutting issue and should be looked at as what it really is: an issue about the environment, not just about human beings. The magazine avails solid facts and sort of collects relevant information all over the webs and presents it to us, whole. It is mostly non-technical and the info is easy to digest.

Connect4Climate is an online movement with hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers doing exactly that, connecting for climate. 
young people at an event - image courtesy of one.org

 Yale Climate Connections is a platform that focuses on the youth and runs stories about climate change.

 Another example : Technology is used in synthetic methods of absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a type of technology that could help in the fight against climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has hailed it as a crucial measure in the fight. However the highly advanced and efficient technology needed is a bit futuristic because of the sheer amount of CO2 emitted annually. It also has an implied danger in that some people would think this gives us the right to pollute.

 Evidently, most new tech comes from the young, having grown up in the information age and exposed to innovation. Young people are not held up by rigidity and rules. They are free thinkers, innovators. They pioneer disruptive technologies, new ways of doing things. And they change the world. So if you think you can come up with a way of preventing dangerous climate change or even helping in originating and transfer of useful tech, especially in adaptation, go for it. The skies, stars and far away galaxies are never the limit. It is however important to be careful so as not to transfer an environmental problem from one area to another. Find a permanent fix which can work either independently or in conjunction with others to save the world from climate change.

 Music and film is also another dynamic and powerful tool that can help raise awareness and educate young humans about climate change. These forms of communication, unlike drilling, appeal to the senses directly and are easily absorbed/understood. Instead of explaining it to them, we show them.
Leo Di Caprio made a film, Before the Flood. Though not young, he is technically young at heart. His film alongside another documentary ‘How To Let Go Of The World And Love All Things Climate Can’tChange’ by Josh Fox makes one both sad and hopeful. Sad at the extent of activities propelling climate change and hopeful that there are those who take a stand against it.

 Another Hollywood actor and climate champion is Mark Ruffalo. He along others like Cher and Vivienne Westwood have also appeared in a documentary focusing on climate change and doing their part to bring it into public consciousness.

 The sort of star power and mass appeal that such actors possess is enough to sensitize people about climate change. But we must also havesolid information so that it is not just a fad. We must sustain the momentum and make it grow.

 Now if their younger compatriots like Jennifer Lawrence, Zoe Kravitz, Lupita Nyong’o, Maria Borges and the Hadid sisters can sit up, take notice and help raise awareness, then we’d be getting somewhere.

 Emma Watson however is a formidable voice when it comes to environmental conservation.

 On November 2016, during COP22, musicians such as Akon helped give the event a bit more, though not enough visibility among the youth.Music is such a powerful tool. It entertains and educates, but most of all, it connects. Socially conscious music is one way of rousing the consciences and hearts of men and women. Music is able to break down a complex issue into a simple, easy tune. It is sometimes, a voice for the voiceless.

 Today, the world is the most connected it has ever been. It is a global village. Music released today can be streamed and downloaded in another country continents away in a second. Nowadays, we know of an event the moment it happens, what with live feed and viral videos breaking the internet.

 We, the people of the 21st century, use social media as a tool to connect. It can build and break, make famous or infamous. It can also be used to raise awareness on a number of issues, primary among them, climate change.

 We inform, we educate, we raise awareness, we show you why you should care.
And also, you can get a college degree in climate change, to better understand the nuances and 
inflections of climate change as a science and its economic and social importance.

 The Case For The Youth

 First, the climate change we are experiencing now, is a result of carbon dioxide pollution that has occurred since 1850, the beginning of the Industrial Age.
In other words, we are feeling the effects of what others have done.

 Also in climate science, the cause and effect relationship takes some time to be felt. If we continue to emit greenhouse gases in the first decades of the 21st century, we are going to feel the full blown effects of climate change in the last half of the century and it will continue into the following centuries.

 As things are, emissions have not yet peaked so as to then fall. That means, we still haven’t reached optimum levels (so to speak) By the time they peak and gradually start falling, the vast majority of the world’s population will be those people who are currently in their 20s and below

 Lastly, is the fact that for continents like Africa, with slightly more than a billion people, by far the biggest age group is the 20s and under. In countries like Kenya for example, 70% of the population are young people. Incidentally Africa is the worst hit by climate change, so we have to act and make our voices heard.

 The type of climate change we are experiencing is well-nigh irreversible and dangerous. It will possibly take a long time for the mitigation we are doing now, which is far less than what is needed, to have any effect on the Earth’s warming climate.

 What do all these factors mean? That we have the biggest stakes in the fight against climate change.

 We have the numbers, the firepower.

 What then can we do?

 Come together, unite with a cause.

 You’ve heard of diplomats in climate change conferences making statements like ‘…for my children and grandchildren…’ Well they are right.It is us and the generations after us who are going to bear the brunt of climate change.

 And take it from me, not all the money in the world will be enough to shelter you from rising temperatures.

 Young people are technologically at the forefront.  Their minds are agile, nimble, open to new ideas and fresh.

We can pioneer newer ways or fine tune existing technologies of deriving energy which is both renewable and clean. Remember energy can never be destroyed, it is only transformed from one state to another. When it comes to solar photovoltaics, wind and newer forms of energy like piezoelectricity and turning carbon dioxide into fuel; young engineers, scientists, researchers, inventors and intellectuals can change the world. Drive the transition to a low carbon economy.

Again, we as the youth have to pioneer the climate change movement by creating our own jobs in the sector, founding new corporate giants based on IT and climate change. We can revolutionize economies while conserving the Earth.


On that note, young, highly skilled people should make choices wisely regarding their future careers. Choose to work for green companies. Get that paper in companies that are climate friendly. Drive a radical shift in the labor market.

If we marshal the numbers, tech savvy youth and intelligent, artistic and talented youth, bubbling with new ideas, armed with information and with passion blazing in their hearts, then we can change the world.

We can raise awareness by informing our fellow youth.  Get out of the big corporations and bring it to the ordinary person, get into cyberspace and create a movement , talk to your friends, start a club, sing about it, rap about it, make art about it, organize sit ins and gatherings about it, have a climate day in your school, share links to climate websites, have a climate themed sports tournament, civic action, join government and be the change, pressurize your local leaders , ask your national leaders to do something, hold them accountable to playing their part in making the aspirations of climate treaties a reality on the ground.
we all love social media

Spread the info

Like wildfire.

Influence

Educate

Care.

There’s a saying that goes like, we didn’t inherit this planet from our parents, we borrowed it from our children. So it is inherent, incumbent upon us to conserve it.

Put it in mind that we are not the only species on this planet, we are one among millions, and someday we will all die, then all the money we have won’t make a difference.

But our actions will make a lifetime of difference for others after us.

Remember,

I’m a movement by myself, but we are a force when put together.


Umoja ni nguvu, utengano ni udhaifu (Unity is strength, division causes weakness)

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