The Youth and Future Generations theme day provides an opportunity for policymakers to listen to young people, to hear their concerns and to be inspired by their actions. We present information about the impacts of climate change on children and young people and celebrate their activism which often puts our inactivity to shame. (Science also runs as a theme today).
Thank you for the passion, energy, enthusiasm and vision of young people. May their voices be heard and welcomed. Forgive our complacency. May we not dismiss their arguments and give us the humility and graciousness to learn from them, sacrificing our comfort for their futures.
Father God, today we lift to you the children and young people caught by the extremes of climate change: those who do not have enough to eat, those whose families have been separated, those caught in floods and those caught in droughts. Comfort and provide; feed and heal; and reunite families. We pray for children required to work and for young girls sold into marriage, both because of extreme poverty. We ask for your protection of them and for practical changes to the circumstances that have caused these things to happen.
And today we give thanks for the young people in our lives who are prepared to speak out about environmental and social justice issues. Thank you for giving them a voice to speak truth. Thank you that they cut across the complacency of so many that are older than them. Thank you for their passion. We who are older ask that we have ears that listen, minds that engage and hearts that seek to understand, so that together we can work to heal the world that is their inheritance. Forgive us when we assume that our abundance of years means we know more than them in their youth.
Matthew 18: 2-5 (NIV)
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
Jeremiah 1: 9-10 (NIV)
But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
"Climate change is affecting people’s ability to feed themselves. And when that happens, it is children who suffer the most. Because they are still growing, children are at greatest risk of injury, disability and death caused by the impacts of climate change. They are less equipped physically, mentally and emotionally to cope with life-threatening conditions. The greatest killers of children – malnutrition, diarrhoeal disease and malaria – will get worse because of climate change. Children living in developing countries face the greatest risks of all, not because climate change effects will be any worse there than in other countries, but because poverty limits their ability to respond." (a verbatim quote from Climate change: The effects on children).
The climate crisis forces children into dangerous work e.g. children sent to work in gold mines in Burkina Faso (Tearfund).
Climate change drives child marriage, making already vulnerable girls even more so (The New Humanitarian).
There is a lot going on in the young climate activism arena, some of it international and within a clear framework that enables longevity and some of a moment. Here is a flavour at a world and a local level.
YOUNGO: the official youth constituency of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
COY (Conference of Youth) is run by YOUNGO to 'empower youth and formally bring their voices to the UNFCCC processes to shape the intergovernmental climate change policies'. Conferences are global (GCOY), virtual (vCOY), regional (RCOY) and local (LCOY).
Young Christian Climate Network: an action-focused community of young Christians in the UK aged 18-30, choosing to follow Jesus in the pursuit of climate justice.
UK Youth Climate Coalition with a mission to mobilise and empower young people to take positive action for global climate justice.
Youth strike organisers: UK Student Climate Network (the grassroots youth climate strike organisers in the UK); Fridays for Future Scotland (similar for Scotland) and an article asking Whatever Happened to the UK Youth Climate Strikes?
Greanpeace's 2020 article profiling over 30 young people worldwide who have been prepared to take a very public stand for climate and other justice.
We also came across a suggestion from Tearfund about how to pray with children about the climate emergency, which seems relevant in this context.
Opening Ceremony of the Thematic Day and the Youth-led Climate Forum: Bringing together high-level policymakers with young representatives of the Conference of Youth (COY17) to present the Global Youth Statement (The COP26 statement gives an example ahead of publication).
Passing the Baton: Intergenerational Policy Dialogue on Adaptation, Resilience and Loss and Damage: Intergenerational Policy Dialogue between policymakers, negotiators, young practitioners, advocates and experts on Adaptation, Resilience and Loss and Damage i.e. dealing with the impacts of climate change.
Passing the Baton: Intergenerational Policy Dialogue on Mitigation Solutions and just transition: Intergenerational Policy Dialogue on Mitigation Solutions and just transition i.e. how to transition to low carbon economies fairly.
At the Frontline: Children and Adolescent-led Action for Climate Change: highlighting the specific challenges of young people who are vulnerable to impacts on health (including eco-anxiety), nutrition, education caused by extreme weather events, toxic chemicals and temperature changes.
Young Africa: The Vehicle of Climate Action: Stories from Egypt and the rest of the continent: A youth-led session African youth experts, entrepreneurs and solution makers will present their ground-breaking activities and grassroots initiatives for climate adaptation and mitigation.
Special Event by YOUNGO, Children and Youth Constituency to UNFCCC.
Closing, Press Conference.
UNICEF, 19 August 2021. The impacts of climate change put almost every child at risk - a photo essay on the UNICEF website.
Articles on youth climate activism from The Conversation website
COY16 and Young, October 2021. The Gloabl Youth Statement. (The statement from COP26).
