THE age-old saying that youth is wasted on the young is outdated. In my experience, today’s young people are intentional in their choices and keen to leave a lasting legacy. And it is welcomed!
The world is home to 1.8 billion young people - the largest generation of youth in history - and, thankfully, many are increasingly aware of the challenges and risks that the climate crisis poses to our planet.
As the impacts of a changing climate intensify, international movements like Fridays For Future are demanding that we do much better to protect our planet and inspire change. They are actively finding solutions to contribute to this pressing challenge. Their unprecedented mobilisation around the world shows the massive power that they possess to hold decision makers accountable.
Last year, Stormont passed the Climate Change (Northern Ireland) Act, which finally brought Northern Ireland into line with other jurisdictions in having a dedicated climate act. We would not have achieved this important piece of legislation without the many young activists who consistently demanded better from our Executive.
Many of those very same climate activists will be continuing on the campaign to ensure that the next Executive takes action to fix the problems highlighted by the Climate Change Committee’s latest report identifies in our pathway to net-zero target by 2050. Their message is simple - change cannot wait.
Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is listening to the youngest in our society, too. Recently, we introduced our '30 Under 30 Northern Ireland Climate Change-Makers' programme, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, and the first of its kind in the UK.
We drew on an international 30 Under 30 initiative introduced by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) to create the programme with our delivery partner Podiem, and we are using it to fuel, connect and upskill 30 young minds who are passionate about our climate present and future.
The 30 young people selected from Northern Ireland to participate in the inaugural year are conscientious, sharp and duly tuned in to the gravity of the climate crisis. The class of 22/23 are already well on their way to making a lasting, positive contribution to Northern Ireland’s future, having participated in various workshops such as ‘Science, Build, Biodiversity and Ecology’ and ‘Persuasion, Influencing and Communication’, which they recently completed and used to consolidate their burgeoning leadership credentials.
The 30 individuals come from a wide range of industries and sectors, including Ashleigh Henry, aged 26, a chemical engineering PhD student at Queen's University and Ralph Lavery, aged 28, a net zero applications engineer at Catagen.
Ashleigh, Ralph and their cohort of like-minded individuals will use this programme as a tool to pursue a greener career pathway in their chosen field.
Going forward, our hope is that we can continue the programme year on year to provide more opportunities to young change makers, and we want to create an inspiring, empowered and connected alumni of environmental leaders.
In Northern Ireland, climate-crisis disruptions to communities, businesses and our day-to-day lives will continue to escalate until we follow the example given by our youth.
The reality is that if we don’t act now, these issues will only deepen, resulting in a greater risk of flooding, rising sea levels and precious nature loss across Northern Ireland that will put pressure on drainage, sewage infrastructure, roads and habitats. Increased temperatures, heightened pollution and poorer air quality will also bring discomfort to the vulnerable and threaten thousands of our indigenous species.
We can take greater responsibility for climate action by uniting with young people, like the 30 Under 30 Northern Ireland Climate-Change Makers.
With more resources and support from government and business leaders for cohorts like them, we can show future generations that we are really in this together and that we are listening.
:: Jenna Potter is environmental leadership project manager at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful
