The Time Is Now—Follow Young People
The young people we are around every day are going to be alive for many more years. They will be greatly impacted by climate change. They are living through it now, here and in many parts of the world.
Four years ago when I talked about the climate crisis to the young people in my program, most of them did not understand what it was. Now almost all of them are not only aware of the crisis but also understand some of the science.
I’ve been running a nonprofit organization (Youth Build) for twenty-five years. Our theory of change is based on an “action and support model.” We have used this model to support thousands of young people. Young people need support when they hear hard information or go through hard experiences. They need us to back [support] them. And they need us to get out of their way so that they can take every action they can think of.
I always have people talk to each other in pairs. I ask them what they think. As much as possible, I get all of their minds involved.
I’ve been teaching RC classes for the young people in my program for twenty years. Many of them do RC just while they are in the program. I’ve also built an RC Area with a lot of the young people in it. It’s totally possible.
We adults need to discharge our feelings of urgency and discouragement about climate change so that we can get our tone right. But we don’t have time to get it perfect, and we don’t need to. We can try everything we can think of, apologize for our mistakes, and keep going. We need to bring the young people in close with us. Young people are good at being close and can lead us in this.
In a recent young people’s class, I said the following:
“You look at adults, and you can see that they are making a big mess. And if they could just figure out how to get along with each other, the mess would go away. With climate change, adults are making a very big mess, and we have to do something about it.
“When you try to do something about it, the adults will say that you don’t understand, that you don’t have your facts right, that ‘that’s not how things are done.’ You can say, ‘Well, it’s not working, and we’re in really big trouble. I want all the animals and all the people I know to keep living. Your systems are not working. You need to listen to young people and start thinking big and freshly and redo the whole system—so that everybody has enough, and nobody has too much.’’’
Greta Thunberg [a young Swedish climate activist] has said that the rules are not working, so it’s time to change the rules. When I tell the young people this, I can see a sense of power cross their faces.
I give them facts. I talk about the real situation. Usually no one else is. But it’s part of our job as adults. It’s scary, but we can’t keep hiding things, especially from young people.
Young people have been prominent in liberation movements and revolutions throughout history. The people I’m in the most contact with are thirteen to eighteen years old. They are mostly young people of color from poor neighborhoods who have already seen a lot in their lives. They understand that things need to change. They understand activism. They are empowered when they have real information. I show them videos of young people taking action in the Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion, and other movements. That’s some of the best information they can get.
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, USA
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion list for RC Community members
(Present Time 198, January 2020)