/ 12 April 2013

Youth lead the way

Youth Lead The Way

In a world where global climate negotiations are sluggish and bring few tangible results, young people — who will inherit the problems developing today — are starting to come together to give their concerns a louder voice.

In South Africa, more and more organisations are providing platforms for the youth to be heard, and to change things in their communities.

One of the largest and most vibrant of these is Generation Earth, a youth organisation that has cells in schools across the country. Ella Bella, its co-founder, has used the organisation as a platform to talk to political leaders from around the world — from former president Nelson Mandela to diplomats at the United Nations General Assembly.

Her message is that young people will inherit the world, so they should have a say in how it is run now. The organisation regularly holds summits and also gives young people practical tips on how to change their surroundings.

In each school where it has representation, Generation Earth has Green Your School programmes in which pupils are taught how to be more environmentally conscious — and hopefully spread the message to their homes and communities to make a more profound impact.

Bella was selected as a youth ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme, a role that allowed her to address the UN General Assembly. This role has allowed her to put pressure on influential politicians in a bid to make sure they care about the world the youth will inherit, she said.

    A great deal of the energy of the youth environment movement is captured in Tunza, an organisation based in Kenya, the home of the UN's environment programme. Tunza publishes a magazine with stories from youth around the world, who share their experiences and thoughts. This allows great ideas to circulate quickly and make a big change, said Maurice Odera, one of its drivers. Tunza also holds an annual meeting to bring groups such as Generation Earth to Kenya to share ideas and talk, he said.

Another global body, the World Student Environment Summit, will be coming to South Africa next year for its annual meeting. Deidre Baartman, one of the organisers, said: "The youth of our country often underestimates what we can achieve. Soon motivation to implement change will be a necessity."

The way the world is currently being run means the one young people will inherit will not be pleasant unless they take more action. This is the ultimate motivation, she said.   "Everyone knows the environment is in trouble."

With young people constituting the majority in South Africa, there is big scope for change, Baartman said. "We are vibrant and very passionate about the things we care about."

Given the tools to implement their ideas, the change could be profound. This is why she is driving next year's World Student Environment Summit. At the previous one only two African countries attended.

"If we really want to see radical change in terms of development, we will need to focus on developing countries and instil a culture of sustainability and innovation at a young age," Baartman said.

The summit is one of a growing number of similar events being staged by youth environment movements. In the past they were fragmented, but increasingly they are coming under umbrella groups.

Pienaar du Plessis is part of EcoMaties, a student organisation at Stellenbosch University that aims to advance sustainable practices on and around campus. "The problem is that our parents and their peers are doing a very bad job at managing our heritage," he said. And this means the environment they hand down to their children will be in a poor state.

"If we want to be certain that we will even have a future that is worth looking forward to, we are going to have to tackle the mess that we as humanity are making today, before it is too late," he said.

This is what is driving his generation to move into environmental groups and do things to change what they can, as well as extending their voice to have more of a say in how things are run, he said.

And although things are looking bleak, the world could be saved for future generations if young people got up and moved out of their comfort zones, he said. "Sadly, it's not just the politicians that are uninspired," he said.

People had become so disillusioned with politics that they were no longer willing to engage on issues, and this had to change, Pienaar said. The naivety of youth could catalyse a meaningful environmental movement in South Africa.

"We need people to face the realities of local and global environmental destruction, to stare it in the face, realise its enormity, and not shy away because it seems impossible [to fix]," he said.

EcoMaties aims to create a world where young people can be a major agent of change, he said. "We are looking for a world where people have realised that environmental and social issues are one and the same," he said. "A world where the quality of life is not measured in the amount of things one owns, but in the quality of relationships one forms." These relationships would be with other people and with the environment, and all life on Earth.

Glenda Raven, senior manager of the environmental leaders' programme at the WWFSA, said young people for nature are showing more and more commitment to changing the status quo of environmental management and conservation.

Her programme runs internships each year and has "amazing" new graduates who harness their skills to change the world. They go on to work at places such as mines, or in conserving priority ecosystems and helping with sustainable agriculture.

"There is a whole lot of hope," she said. "Many of the interns come into the workplace with few inhibitions in their thinking, unlike those of us who have been around the block a few times and have become inhibited by reality. So they have the freedom to dream."

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