12th August is the day the UN celebrates International Youth Day this year, and what a year to shine a spotlight on all the incredible action young people around the world are taking. This year’s theme is Youth Engagement for Global Action, and over the last year, we have seen so many amazing activations from young people, like the Fridays for Future school strikes led by the incredibly inspiring Greta Thurnberg, as well as the landmark court case Juliana v. United States, which asserted that the impacts of climate change were violating Americans’ federal rights.
So in this week’s journal, we celebrate the highlights of the last 12 months of youth action, and in celebration, we developed a youth activation kit that is on sale for half price for the rest of August!
Friday School Strikes
#FridaysForFuture started in August 2018, by then 15-year-old Greta Thunberg, when she and other young activists sat every school day for three weeks in front of the Swedish parliament protesting the lack of action on the global climate crisis. The now famous youth leader Greta posted what and why she was doing this on social media, and it soon become a viral phenomenon that has grown into a global youth movement.
By mid-2019, young people were striking on Fridays in more than 2,000 towns and cities in over 100 different countries with millions of students joining in. This year, September 25th will be a national day of action whereby hundreds of thousands of young people around the world will strike from school, demanding leaders take action on climate change (with Covid-19 precautions in place).
YOUNG PEOPLE SUE the US Government OVER CLIMATE CHANGE
Since 2015, a group of young Americans fought an inspiring battle against the US government, claiming that their constitutional rights were being neglected if the government did not take action on climate change. Sadly, in January this year, a U.S. federal appeals court threw the case out, causing a major setback to efforts to spur the U.S. government to address the issue.
The pioneering law suit was brought against the government by a group of 12-18 year olds, including Aji Piper, Levi Draheim, Journey Zephier, Jayden Foytlin, Miko Vergun, and Nathan Baring among a total of 21 plaintiffs, all whom were passionate about the planet and not willing to sit by and watch their government continue to ignore the science on climate change.
Judge Andrew D. Hurwitz, who presided over the case, said the following when providing his opinion on the ruling, saying that the young people “have made a compelling case that action is needed… Reluctantly, we conclude that such relief is beyond our constitutional power. Rather, the plaintiffs’ impressive case for redress must be presented to the political branches of government.”
All is not lost as this action has clearly inspired others. After the devastating fires that ravaged Australia in early 2020, a 23-year-old Australian student brought a class-action case against government over climate change. More and more young people are demanding action from their governments and taking action themselves to secure their future against catastrophic environmental issues.
Youth-led Action Networks
There are countless youth-led climate and environmental action networks, educational organisations, not-for-profits and campaigns set up all over the world. Here is a list of just some of the initiatives set up and run by young people:
Youth Leaders
Here are some of the youth leaders and their twitter handles all using their voices to forge a pathway towards a sustainable future for all of us:
Nadia Nazar, 17 from USA @nadiabaltimore
Holly Gillibrand, 13 from Scotland @HollyWildChild
Vic Barrett from the USA @vict_barrett
Isra Hirsi, 16 from the USA @israhirsi
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, 19 from the USA @xiuhtezcatl
Jerome Foster II, 16 from the USA @jeromefosterii
Luisa Neubauer, 23 from Germany @Luisamneubauer
John Paul Jose, 22 from India @johnpauljos
David Wicker, 14 from Italy @davidwicker_hf
Lilly Platt, 9 from the Netherlands @lillyspickup
Leah Namugerwa, 14 from Uganda @NamugerwaLeah
Saoi O’Connor, 16 from Ireland @saoi4climate
Timoci Naulusala, 12 from Fiji #timoci
Shalvi Shakshi, 10, from Fiji
Nakabuye Hilda from Uganda @NakabuyeHildaF
India Logan-Riley from Aotearoa / New Zealand @IndiMiro
Brianna Fruean, 20 from Samoa @Brianna_Fruean
Ridhima Pandey, 12 from India @ridhimapandey7
Marinel Ubaldo from The Philippines @YnelUbaldo
Winnie Asiti from Kenya @Asiti
Ayakha Melithafa, 17 from South Africa @ayakhamelithafa
Xiye Bastida, 17 from Mexico @xiyebastida
Autumn Peltier. 16 from Wiikwemkoong First Nation @StephaniePelti3
Amariyanna Copeny, 13 from the USA @LittleMissFlint
Take Action: our 4-Week Youth Activation Challenge
We have designed a 4-week learning challenge for any young person who wants to take action. With loads of UnSchool content from systems thinking to agency development and creativity, we have packed this program full of exciting and motivating content perfect to get any young mind activated and engaged.
To celebrate International Youth Day, the Program is half price for the rest of this month. Just use the code IYD2020 when signing up
