12 minute read
Effective Engagement of Youth
from Turning the Tide on Youth-Washing: 5 Ways to Effectively Engage Young Environmental Leaders
by Lonely Whale
4.Facilitate Career
Growth Opportunities
Introduce Paid Internships and Positions:
Youth surveyed indicated that providing youth access to internships, mentorship or paid work opportunities is a priority area of support for youth across nonprofits, governments, and policy makers. Investing in expansion of professional opportunities is of critical importance as it helps both build capacity across the movement by enabling skills acquisition while also supporting continued participation by youth who may otherwise be unable to without financial compensation for their time. Importantly, all youth positions should be empowered with shared decision making frameworks implemented and specific measures to engage girls and young women are skey; eliminating barriers and gender biases is a critical step for women to move forward with science/climate-related careers.
5.Rethink Mentorship And Media Moments
Combat “Youth-Washing” by Centering
Youth Voices: Young people have called out “youth-washing” as a problematic trend most often experienced in media and when working with adult led organizations. For youth, presence on global stages is critical - but ensuring their platform is presented and respected is of the utmost importance. Youth interviewed reported receiving invitations to participate in public events or media interviews which sometimes turned out to be opportunities for adult-led outlets or organizations to leverage young people in order to appeal to the public’s interest in youth environmental leaders through photo opportunities and sound bites. In order to combat this experience in both media and with adult led organizations, it’s critical that every opportunity for youth engagement is co-defined with members of the movement to ensure their needs are reflected and met in resulting press, programmes, or positions.
Champion Autonomy: Although mentorship is critical, so are boundaries. It is important that youth leaders maintain their autonomy and adult allies should be careful to limit the overt influence of their existing organizational agendas. This too will support in combating “youth-washing” within media moments.
– Azalea Danes, 19, USA
– Zanagee Artis, 22, USA
– Titouan Bernicot, 23, French Polynesia
Conclusion and Call to Action
Today’s youth environmental movement is bold in its demands. Pushing forward the entire conversation on environmental action, they are asking for adult allies to think bigger and shift the paradigms in place to secure their future on a livable planet. From campaigning for inclusion and gender equality to combating eco-fatigue, this generation of young leaders is acutely aware of the human toll the climate crisis is already having and the importance of bringing compassion into the fight for an equitable future. As today’s generation continues to gain influence, it’s vital that adults in power meet youth environmental leaders where they are and foster intergenerational engagement that supports shared decision making on policies that will impact the future of both parties. By reframing youth participation in the climate conversation from passive to active, adults have the opportunity to step into a critical allyship role, empowering youth not just as spokespeople for the environment, but as critical constituents within the decision making process. Although the environmental movement has been driven by young people for decades, today’s movement is unique in both its intersectional values and ability to connect with and mobilize a global community of peers. And adults currently in power have a responsibility to ensure the future of the next — and largest — generation. It’s no longer enough to simply ask young people to share their perspective on environmental issues, it’s about empowering their ideas, experiences, and values at the decision making table. Successful integration of youth hinges on adults’ ability to evolve their engagement methods in order to consistently and transparently empower its youngest community members. This evolution, if properly executed, is poised to change engagement frameworks across government and business, ushering in a new era of shared, intergenerational decision-making.
Recommendations for Future Research
This playbook highlights opportunities for further research to more effectively engage with young people globally across adult-led organizations, government institutions and also UN entities. In order to build upon the present publication and broaden understanding of today’s youth environmental movement, further research recommendations include:
1. Study on effective engagement platforms.
A report published by the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development found that when communication is tailored to young people it can support transparency and trust with the government (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] 2019) . Deeper understanding of how governments can use social communication platforms to open a dialogue with young people through tangible case studies would assist a range of adult stakeholders in more effectively reaching young people en masse to participate in policy discussions, especially those who might not otherwise engage with or seek out government interaction.
2. Research the impact of shared decision making models in institutions where they have been successfully implemented with intergenerational stakeholders in order to validate and create case studies highlighting successes. 3. Rerun the global youth environmental leaders survey. In order to gain more diverse insights and broader representation, we suggest re-running the survey undertaken in Spring 2022 in multiple languages and on a longer timeline with dedicated support from global organizations in order to validate the findings and sentiment of youth at a larger scale.
Our qualitative research included interviews hosted between September 2021 and April 2022 with 25 youth environmental leaders from 14 countries, 13 of whom were female identifying, in addition to 7 adult allies to learn from their experiences across the movement. Youth interviewees were identified by Lonely Whale and UNEP with selection criteria including current participation within environmental advocacy, geographic location (minimum of 1 representative from each continent excluding Antarctica), and age (25 and under). Each semistructured interview was conducted in English over Zoom and was recorded to accurately reflect answers to questions that touched upon the interviewees opinions, and experiences as a member of the youth environmental movement. Our team reviewed transcripts of each recorded conversation and identified 10 trends that emerged across the conversations.
In order to validate our qualitative findings, we launched a global online survey for youth environmental leaders with a focus on responses from those 25 years and younger. The survey included 34 questions broken into 5 sections covering: 1) reflection of their work to help protect the environment 2) their perspective on the youth environmental movement 3) their perspective and experience working with governments and 4) their preferences and experiences with communication mediums. The survey also included 4 optional sections which covered: 1) learning from their peers, 2) learning from the Tide Turners programme, 3) learning from Ocean Heroes Network and 4) experience with nonprofit organizations. Open to all youth under the age of 25, the survey was made available in English from February 17, 2022 - May 15, 2022. Hosted on SurveyMonkey, the anonymous questionnaire earned 637 responses and was shared with more than 100 amplifying organizations via both Lonely Whale and the UN Environment Programme, including its partners in the Tide Turners Programme. To reach a wider audience it was also promoted on Lonely Whale’s social channels and through direct invitation of publicly known youth leaders to both take and to amplify the opportunity to their network of peers.
Before publication, the survey was reviewed for bias by MIT Solve and EMC Research. The survey was anonymous, voluntary and clearly communicated that responses would be aggregated and shared as part of a forthcoming playbook commissioned by the UN Environment Programme and produced by Lonely Whale. Participants were not compensated for completing the survey.
We also recognize that this research was limited by a few factors. Importantly, the survey was only available in English which likely resulted in fewer respondents than if we were able to offer the survey in multiple languages. Overall, this resulted in a smaller sample size than we aimed to earn with an oversampling in countries where we had stronger relationships with organizations that facilitated distribution of the survey namely the United States and India. Equally as important was the limited timeframe for the survey to earn organic distribution. Considering these limitations, we would suggest future research that includes re-opening the survey for a longer time period in order to return responses from a larger sample set. However, this survey still supports our understanding of the youth environmental movement, providing a snapshot of its sentiments and critical insights into the viewpoints of some of its most active participants.
Eco-fatigue
A mix of eco-anxiety, overwork, media overexposure, and pressure for perfectionism.
Global North and Global South
Broadly referring to global regions as one of two categories, the Global South most often includes South America, Asia, and Africa while the Global North includes North America, Europe, and Australia. The Global South identifies lowerincome countries while the Global North identifies rich nations.
Intersectional Environmentalism
Articulating the relationship between social and environmental justice in order to advocate for an inclusive environmental movement.
Intersectionality
The study of overlapping but interdependent identifies that result in nuanced experiences and unique disadvantages.
Microgrants
Small scale grants that usually amount to a few hundred or thousand dollars and support the earliest stages of an initiative.
Perfectionism
A rejection of anything less than the absolute defined by any industry or community.
The Tide Turners Plastic Challenge (TTPC)
A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) led-initiative that educates young people around the world about plastic pollution, giving them the tools to change their personal behavior, inspire their communities, and create a better future for people and the planet.
UN
An intergovernmental organization whose purpose is to maintain international peace and security.
UNEP
The United Nations Environment Programme is the global authority for the environment with programmes focusing on climate, nature, pollution, sustainable development and more.
Youth Environmental Movement
The global collective of young people advocating for the reduction of carbon emissions through grassroots organizing and participation in coordinated climate and environmental campaigns.
Youth Leader
A young person who is actively coordinating an effort dedicated to advancing a specific goal. The United Nations defines youth as someone 25 years old or younger.
Youth-washing
Youth-washing happens when young people are invited but not allowed to participate in high-level meetings where decisions are made.
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