The Youth Climate Movement

By Aminah Barrow

Attending Ramapo College’s online conference on “Reaching the Turning Point: The Youth Climate Movement and the Election,” I discovered that this community experiential learning event really opened my eyes on how the climate, racial injustices and our youth community are huge factors in every November presidential election and or other election cycles. This is an eye opener because during the presentation by Gabrielle Heidrich, I discovered that America’s youth groups have always fought against racial injustices and climate actions including school shootings. I learned that our younger generations fight for a change that gathers in the older generations to open their eyes and fight for what is right.

In a slideshow, Heidrich showed us youth movements include The Little Rock Nine, 1957, Greensboro Sit-ins,1960, Vietnam Students Strikes, 1960’s-1970’s, Black Lives Matter, 2013- present, and March For Our Lives, 2018- present (against school shootings). Our youth gets the media's attention and gets the attention of our government so that they can listen to our demands for change. Once they have heard our demands politicians change their speeches, views, and promises so they can make a great fit for front runner as president and or other government positions.

During the conference I learned about successes that our youth climate movement has achieved. The successes include over 4 million Americans participated in September 20, 2019 global climate strikes, the largest climate demonstration in history, climate questions have been asked during the 2020 presidential and vice presidential debates to see what changes they plan to make for the greater good, young people filing a constitutional climate lawsuit against the U.S. Government, and bringing more people into the climate movement and participating in climate activism.

I believe that our youth climate movement has achieved so much and yet has a long way to go so we as a whole country can make a difference so we can save the human race and the earth. With learning the youths’ theory of change, which is urgency, scale reduction of actions, not words. This is their way of having peaceful protest, being respected, and having their voices heard, which let’s people in power understand the youths' approach to intersectionality, diversity, equity, and inclusion be valued.

Overall when a youth group speaks out and shows respectable actions of wanting change it brings attention that something is wrong and actions must be taken to fix these issues. While listening and taking notes at the conference, I believe I learned the most from Gabrielle Heidrich. Her powerpoint presentation and the information she shared outside of the powerpoint let me know she understands and is able to relay the message of the youth climate movement. After learning about the youth climate movement, if I would like to be a part or be an ally, I can help by confronting biases, be aware, spread the word, connect, and take space, make space.