Youth not wasted on the young who fight for climate justice

(Eco Business, 1 Oct 2019) Alongside Greta Thunberg, who recently delivered a powerful address at the United Nations Climate Summit, a generation of young change makers are taking matters into their own hands and offering solutions to the climate crisis.

Last week’s United Nations climate summit may go down in history—but not for the reasons intended. It was not the tipping point for action on global warming that organisers hoped it would be.

It will instead probably be remembered for the powerful address by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg, who castigated world leaders on behalf of the generation set to bear the brunt of inaction.

Young people are not sitting back and waiting for older generations to act on the climate crisis. Days before the summit, school students led a climate strike attended by millions around the world.

And at the first ever UN youth climate summit, more than 500 young people from 60 countries, including myself, explored how to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement.

This group of activists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and change-makers aged between 18 and 30 showcased potential solutions and put global political leaders on notice: they must fight off the climate crisis at the scale and pace required.

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Eco Business, 1 Oct 2019: Youth not wasted on the young who fight for climate justice