You know you are the one who changes the system, right?
If one more person tells me they can't make 'a real difference' I-
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Ever been so nervous that you skip every song on your Spotify until you reach the end and hear none of them?
I’m on the train to the climate drinks. You know, that event I was shouting about for weeks. Nervous. Trying to look unaffected. Guy opposite me watches me take my notebook out and put it away, three times.
Why the hell am I wearing a dress? What if nobody shows up? What if everybody shows up and I have to speak?
No going back now. Why do I care so much? If the event fails and I sit there alone in a table reserved for 50 drinking my Aperol Spritz like a woman stood up on a date, does it matter? It’s just drinks, Cass. Chill out.
I suppose it matters because I’m a perfectionist. I suppose it matters because I still have to unlearn the idea that the success of the climate movement depends on me, one person, the centre of my universe.
I suppose it matters because rather than telling people that they can make ‘a real difference’ (as opposed to what? If it’s different then, by definition, you differed from how it was before) - I want to gather all of you in one space and get on a chair and say: Look how many of us are here now! Look how many of us care. Look what we can do when we stop imagining that it’s us trying to change the world and realise we are the world we’re trying to change.
I suppose it matters, too, because I am tired and that won’t do. Chronically tired. Call it a symptom of caring, call it being twenty-something and still unable to separate myself from my activism. I do not keep working fuelled by rage alone.
To be an activist for the long-haul we need to work passion and joy and rest into our days. We need to live as if we are in a society of joy scarcity and must hunt for it at every opportunity. In short, we need a night off and we need other people. We need you now, I need you now, and in 2030 and all the years after.
Oh - and the drinks went amazing.
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What’s Going On?
The G7 announce that they’re forming a Climate Club to push for implementing stronger climate targets across countries.
Useful: Is this actual progress or another self-congratulating rich men’s club?EU countries agree on laws to stop fossil cars by 2035 and raise emissions cuts target.
Relevant: How to reach net-zero by 2050.90% of land, water and forest companies with net-zero targets on track… to miss them.
Relevant: We can halve emissions by 2030, and reducing deforestation is crucial.Taxing corporations that profited from Covid-19 could yield €490 billion to tackle food crisis.
Useful: Why are we in a global food crisis?World’s biggest meat companies are failing on transparency over deforestation and exploitation in their supply chains.
Relevant: Do we have to rethink what we eat, for the climate?Organisations around the world write to UN head to demand leadership as UN biodiversity talks end with little progress (again).
Relevant: What has biodiversity ever done for us?
Focus On… Youth Climate Action
Alexandra Vazquez Mera talks to Damilola Hamid Balogun on how youth in Nigeria and worldwide are creating a better world. Listen to the full interview here.
My name is Damilola Hamid Balogun. I am the founder and chief executive of the Youth Sustainable Development Network (YSDN). At the YSDN we work with young people and changemakers to come up with solutions that affect, or accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs].
We’ve also been working on research in education and on leading action in communities that translate into meaningful impacts.
We are very conscious in our organisation to make sure that we build consciousness in young people to be doers and not talkers. We go along to actually implement grassroots projects.
How did the YSDN start?
It started based on my passion and the other co-founders' passion to be able to effect change. We’ve been able to participate in several international conferences and there we saw the need to be able to drive education [on the SDGs].
We started the network in 2019. We wanted to educate younger adults, younger people here in Nigeria, and in Africa largely. When we started it was just within Nigeria.
We were able to do capacity building projects for young people in secondary schools [so they can] understand the need for the SDGs, how it impacts them and their roles in achieving these goals by 2030 and beyond.
That’s how we started. And beyond the education we want to do, we also want young people to lead action, to lead their vision, that is the whole essence of sustainable development.
Can you tell us about the 2022 Conference?
For the 2022 Conference, we will be having a 3-day virtual conference where young people will be dealing with case study challenges as well as capacity building workshops.
We are working with young social innovators and social entrepreneurs across the world. The Conference is divided into two:
Firstly, we’ll be working with social entrepreneurs on the case study challenges that revolve around the most pressing global issues. And then they listen to panellists, experts in their respective fields so that they’re also able to lead the initiatives that they’re working on.
With the case study challenges we’ll put young people in the position of policymakers and policy-thinkers, as well as innovators and public policy analysts. So that they’re able to think and find solutions to all of these present problems. So, that way, we rest assured that we are building the consciousness of young people to be thinkers and to actually be doers.
(P.S. The Green Fix will be at the Conference! Stay tuned for details on our panel).
By the end of the conference we look forward to implementing the most feasible solution, that can transform into good impacts within the communities where we decided to implement the projects.
What is climate action like in Nigeria?
The situation in Nigeria is like the situation in every other [country from the] Global South. It’s a work in progress. We have a lot of problems in addressing other developmental issues, of which we consider climate change to be one of its causes.
We must put climate change at the heart of the developmental issues. To address all of the developmental problems, the issue of climate change must be addressed.
Recently, the Nigerian Government passed the Climate Change Act. It gives prescriptions and talks about how Nigeria aims to achieve its targets by 2050. Also, the Nigerian government pledged at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last year, promising to achieve net zero by 2060.
One major aspect of climate action and climate change in Nigeria is the energy space. Talking about energy is crucial for the just transition. In Nigeria there is still a big energy access gap, electricity is not constant. You find a lot of people making use of unclean wells to generate electricity. We need to address this to address climate change in the country.
What is the one thing you would like to tell young people who feel powerless in the climate change discussion because they don’t have a seat at the table?
Take the space, because the space belongs to you. It’s difficult because you probably won’t get support as you should. But I think we are making progress. Because 10 years ago you probably wouldn’t find young people engaging in conversations around developmental issues.
UN statistics say that there are over a billion people between the age of 15 to 24. If we collaborate strategically we can get what we want.
The future belongs to young people just like the present belongs to young people.
You have to make the decision. By whatever means: get into governments if you can, lead initiatives if you can, volunteer for organisations, use your skills to communicate your want for a better world so that we can inherit a good world we can pass onto the next generation.
You can find out more about the Youth Sustainable Development Conference by following them on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can follow Damilola on Instagram and Twitter.
So Now What Do I Do?
LEARN MORE
Join us at the EU Youth Conference on the 10th July for a series of youth talks on sustainability, inclusivity and accessibility.
Join this free online course on how to design solutions for environmental sustainability and social impact.
Catch up on our webinar on what sustainable activism actually looks like.
TRY SOMETHING NEW
Plastic Free July has started! Are you joining the challenge?
Calling photographers! Submit your entry into the Irex photo contest showing youth leadership by the 17 July.
CHANGE THE SYSTEM
Happening now! Activists are in Strasbourg demanding MEPs stop the move to label gas & nuclear as green energy. Support the petition and join in on social media.
Take 10 minutes to share your views on the future of food systems to inform the World Food Forum, by 15 July.
By the way…
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