Millennials Trashy Heritage: Climate Change

Research

We didn’t start it and we won’t see the end of it, but we are the first ones feeling the effects and the ones with the responsibility to act on it now for others not to get the scariest consequences. High concentration of greenhouse gases and a way of living that relays on them are the heritage we were given, because of it, new generations face the threat of rising oceans, less fresh water to drink, threats to food security, and others.

Young people all over the world have come together in the past 6 years to amend this heritage by commanding action where future generations are taken into account. Chinese, French, Arabs, British, Taiwanese, Americans, recently Latin-American youth, and others, work in their societies with activities, activism and organizations that aim to have the voice of young people heard in different settings such as the UN, schools, streets, cultural events, etc.

The Latin American and Caribbean Youth Movement on Climate Change – CLIC! is an example of it by daringto create spaces in which the participation of youth increases. Its most recent bet is the YoutHab Project a platform in which youngsters over the world can freely discuss the new urban agenda given the undeniable relationship urban planning has with climate change.The movement has created spaces like this since its creation; the Conferences of Youth in Climate Change (COY) in Latin-America started with them and have quickly spread to other organizations of the region with their experience,support, and guidance aiming to produce learning environments where its participants are the protagonists. As well, events such as e-CLIC! have become spaces of dialogue to define strategies in which Latin-American youth must work to give more awareness on the topic.

Why are theseevents important? They become spaces where people can consciously deliberate, a process necessary to understand the problematics,create their own point of view and ideas around the challenges that come with climate change. Societies, and especially those from developing countries, have to figure out ways of evolving that go out of the path that has been traditionally portrait in history where environmental destruction and high level of emissions take place. When deliberating an open space for new ideas is open to find these new paths, because it enables imagination, creativity and collaborative work.

Creation of new groups of young people, more awareness of the problem and how we can act, collaborative work with other organizations of youth, NGOs, government, and multilateral organizations represent some of the results they have had. The world economic forum discovered in a 2015 survey that “millennials are changing the concept of work, shifting prioritization from career advancement to making a difference in their society”. Well, this is exactly what is happening with this Latin-American youth, they have given their free time to work as volunteers and provide spaces of knowledge sharing, solution thinking, and common construction to tackle climate change, all based on the vulnerability they face and others like them face.