CLIMATE Youth Protestors people have overcome social media,’ going beyond ‘retweet activism.’ Now, Michiels explains ‘they actually come down to the streets.’ Placards that day varied from the witty: ‘Procrastinating is our jobs, not yours;’ to the accusatory: ‘We skipped school, but you skipped your care of our planet;’ to the referential; ‘Make the world Greta again;’ to the plain outraged, ‘F**k the system, before it f**ks us.’

Any leader attempting to dismiss these youths as merely bunking off school, only needed to tune into the World Economic Forum. A teenage Swedish girl with Aspergers was addressing the owners of the world’s resources: ‘Some people, some companies, some decision makers in particular have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people.’ The climate youths were now on all channels.

TIPPING POINT? The extent to which youth activists will be credited with influencing international climate change policy at the start of the 21st century is still unclear. What is certain, however, is that a lot of young people have already been engaged. ‘The more politicians lose interest in youth’ Michiels commented to the Brussels Times, ‘the more young people are interested in politics.’ While the current decision makers in society were contemporaries of struggles for racial, gender or sexual equality, there’s now an increasingly large proportion of the electorate who have first-hand experience in the climate justice movement and who soon will be voting with their feet.

Before Juliana finishes our Skype call, she comments on youth involvement in the actions taking place in Europe. ‘It’s hard to measure the impact of strikes or marches, but I can tell you, it is really empowering.’ She cites the solitary school strike of 12-year-old Haven Coleman in the sub-zero temperatures of Denver, Colorado. Asked why Coleman remains alone in the US – unlike Thunberg in Europe – Juliana is unsure. In the UK there was a groundswell of protest for climate action in November 2018 when Extinction Rebellion blocked access into London. School strikers were late to catch on, but on 15 February, an estimated 10,000 pupils skipped lessons across 60 British cities and towns.

O’Brien believes that youth in the US and the UK may be distracted. ‘When stressed with difficult problems such as immigration or economic crises, you can either shrink or you can grow. It’s so visible in the UK and the US. A lot of the young people I teach,’ she says, considering her students in Norway, ‘their line between “us” and “others” is dissolving.’ To generate a critical mass of people demanding action on climate change, O’Brien suggests, developed societies must first have the emotional capacity to consider those ‘others’ most affected by it. The debate around how much youth activists, while demanding systemic change, should make personal compromises to limit their own emissions seems undecided and could become a source of weakness

While faith in politicians is low among global youth, rising stars such as US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offer youth hope for better representation at government level for the movement. Mental health issues are also a concern for teens conflicted between the existential threat of climate change and how little is being done about it. At the age of 11, Thunberg lost 10kg before finding focus again for her action. Working in groups, feeling part of a broad movement and avoiding despondency is a common thread for youths who maintain climate action commitments. Whether systemic change is best achieved via system coercion through the courts; or system reinvention on the streets also remains unclear. For now Juliana still has hope in the integrity of US courts. ‘Focus in,’ she says, ‘on what is going to create the most political pressure in your country.’ Ultimately, the current generation of decision-makers might argue that the complexities of managing the transition to sustainable energy systems is lost on youth. Yet as world emissions continue to rise and the carbon budget rapidly dwindles, young people understand the consequences of their failure. l

24 • Geographical