Introduction

5 WAYS

© 2022 Lonely Whale

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SUGGESTED CITATION Lonely Whale (2022). Turning the Tide on Youth-Washing: 5 Ways to Effectively Engage Young Environmental Leaders.

Acknowledgments: This playbook was commissioned by Sam Barratt, Siiri Mäkelä and Georgina Avlonitis of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Youth, Education and Advocacy Unit and was published with the generous support of the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). We would like to thank all of the young leaders who participated in this playbook’s production.

Table of Contents

Foreword................................ I

Executive Summary........................ IV

Introduction............................. 01

Trends Driving Today’s Movement.......... 05

Youth Experiences & Expectations ....... 11

5 Recommendations for More Effective Engagement of Youth ........... 17

Conclusion and Call to Action ........... 23

Recommendations for Future Research ..... 24

Research Methodology .................... 25

Definition of Terms ..................... 26

References .............................. 27

We need to rewrite the rules of engagement with the global youth environmental movement.

Today’s youth are synonymous with environmental activism, taking center stage in the global fight to protect the Earth from harm. Rising up across the world, young men and women are our disruptive innovators, our future entrepreneurs, decisionmakers and brave industry-leaders. They know tomorrow belongs to those who see beyond today. They have the courage to invent the future – and they want to carve their place in a greener economy with creative tools and new careers. Their commitment is not a game, not a hobby or a side interest. It’s a full-time dedication to ensuring the viability of our future.

Since the youth environmental movement began making global headlines in 2018, young people have been increasingly recognized for their leadership in raising awareness about the need for environmental action and seen as changeagents on the ground through climate strikes. This attention has propelled invitations to selected young people to speak on the world’s most prominent stages. Yet, despite this selective attention by media and global leaders, youth are still poorly integrated into critical policy discussions and decision making processes within adult-led arenas. Young people today refer to these invitations without impact as “youth-washing” and rightfully fight back against misalignment between their presence at marquee global events and the perception of their support for existing agendas.

As key protagonists in our collective future, young people are calling for safe spaces and enabling platforms where they can play meaningful roles as advocates in shaping the changes we need for the future we want. Melati Wisjen, a 19-year-old Indonesian activist and co- founder of Bye Bye Plastic Bags, puts it plainly: “We kids may only be 25% of the population, but we are 100% of the future.” Youth-washing highlights a missed opportunity – the opportunity for adults in power to open avenues for access and inclusion rather than promoting further tokenistic opportunities. Their meaningful engagement and perspectives in high-level forums is crucial and, as outlined in this playbook, is exactly what today’s youth environmental movement is asking for from government o cials and key decision-makers.

Young people today are reinforcing that their involvement should not simply constitute social media retweets, youth-dedicated side events or ornaments on adult panel discussions to ‘tick a box.’ They are the generation that needs to be empowered with a seat at the decision-making table and the tools and processes to meaningfully add value at that table.

Government o cials have a responsibility to listen to the voices of young people within their communities and carry out their civic duty by ensuring actions and endorsements are informed by the demands of their younger constituents. In the words of United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres: “Young people are an enormous asset to our societies. We must cherish them, invest in them and empower them.”

Shaped and guided by the perspective of global youth leaders, this playbook provides insights for adults allies and decision-makers into the key trends of the youth environmental movement so that they may effectively make space for them, not as a symbolic gesture, but as active participants in today’s policy decisions that will dictate our shared future. Our hope is that this playbook inspires meaningful engagement of young people and intergenerational collaboration in service of a bright, green future for us all. Susan Gardner, Director, Ecosystems Division UN Environment Programme

Thank You to the Community

This playbook from Lonely Whale was commissioned by the Tide Turners programme with the support of UNEP and funds from the UK Government. Lonely Whale and UNEP would like to recognize and thank the young leaders who agreed to share their time, perspective, experiences, and vision for a future where youth are more effectively engaged in critical environmental conversations. Thanks is also owed to the support of staff members from both Lonely Whale and UNEP, in addition to the Tide Turner implementation partners in Kenya and India who provided introductions to global youth leaders which further amplified the survey to their networks.

Context for Change

In 2020, Gen Z surpassed Millennials as the largest generation, making up one third of the world’s population and projected to hold the biggest-ever purchasing power (Litman, Oz 2022). Although young people are already leveraging their reach and influence to lead global demonstrations to raise awareness for the environment, they still require allyship from adult decision-makers to ensure meaningful policies are passed to ensure the future of the environment they are set to inherit.

In order to identify opportunities for more effective engagement, it is vital to listen to those shaping the movement’s demands and activities. This is why we spoke with young people from across the world to create a playbook intended to give adult decision-makers insights about youth’s expectations and key principles for meaningful engagement We found that youth today are asking for a seat at the decision-making table in order to share their perspectives and influence decisions to guarantee a sustainable future for all. This playbook aggregates our secondary and qualitative research into a compendium of insights about the state of the global youth environmental movement and its support network, and presents recommendations intended to encourage meaningful, intergenerational engagement across the spectrum of adult stakeholders. Research was commissioned by the Tide Turners programme, a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) led-initiative, that educates and empowers young people around the world to take action on plastic pollution, with the support of UNEP and funds from the UK Government.