by Amber Church, CYCC National Director
I have been trying to save the world my entire life. I’m sure that sounds like an exaggerated statement, but it’s true. When I was four years old I dictated to my mother my first letter to an elected official and I had run multiple environmental campaigns before I turned ten. By 16 I was working on climate change and before I turned 22 I was running an international youth NGO. The question I want to explore right now is why I did this. Why would a young person feel the need to take on that much responsibility?
My generation has been burdened by those who have come before us – and in more ways than one. We face environmental and social devastation everywhere we turn. Climate change terrifies us – as it should everyone. I can’t walk out of my parent’s back door in Whitehorse without seeing the physical impacts. My friend Ben, a young man from the Pacific Islands, can’t hold back the tears when he talks about sea level rise – most of his country is below an elevation of one metre and he’s facing the reality of his nation being wiped off the map. As if the crushing weight of this reality wasn’t enough, youth have had another burden added to our shoulders – the burden hidden in the statement “you will be the generation to solve the climate crisis”. That sounds incredibly inspiring, but if you think about it that’s also a lot to ask us to do.
The good news is that we are taking on that challenge, by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. The answer to the question of why is a very simple one – we don’t have a choice. If we don’t do something, we, and every generation that comes after us, loses our future. There’s only one acceptable option. There’s only one moral option. We do not have the luxury of a choice.
In my role as National Director for the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition I have seen the youth climate movement do amazing things. We have changed the course of United Nations climate negotiations; we have set up NGO’s, social enterprises, and democratic governance structures; we have become leading experts in climate science and policy, and the technological and economic solutions to climate change; we have led advocacy and education campaigns; and we have designed and built solutions that are making real differences in communities around the world.
So speaking now to the members of the generations who would feel awkward to be referred to as “youth”, it’s time you started to give us a little bit more credit and respect. I want to throw something across the room every time I hear today’s youth described as “apathetic and un-engaged”. Anyone who makes this statement hasn’t met very many youth. And to be clear, giving us credit and a pat on the back is not good enough – it’s time you start listening to us – and I mean really listening to us.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the body that governs the UN climate negotiations, has just made youth an official constituency within their process. What that means is that it has been recognized at an international level that youth play an integral role in the negotiating process and deserve to be heard.
Here at home the upcoming Power Shift Canada conference taking place in Ottawa on Oct. 23-26 provides the opportunity for Canadian leaders to learn from the UNFCCC and really start to listen to and value what the youth of Canada have to say. The conference, the largest ever Canadian youth event on the environment, will form a historic moment for the Canadian youth climate movement. Over 1000 young people from every region of Canada will converge on the nation’s capitol for four days of workshops, concerts, keynotes, and actions. We’ll be topping it all off on Oct. 26 on Parliament Hill for the Power Shift Canada lobby day. On that day we will be meeting with MPs and Senators, as well as asking each of the major federal party leaders to join us at our national press conference to publically sign on to the Power Shift Principles. The Power Shift Principles represent the asks of the Canadian youth climate movement of our elected officials and include: an immediate reduction in carbon emissions, investing in clean and renewable energy, creating effective green jobs, demonstrating a commitment to environmental justice, managing a sustainable and clean economy, and taking a strong leadership role at the UN climate negotiations this December in Copenhagen.
Canadian youth have taken up the huge weight that has been handed to us. I now ask that our leaders and fellow Canadian help us carry it.
