Youth, there’s still time to take action, protect Earth

IAM dedicating my column today and next Saturday, August 15, to be in harmony with the Filipino youth in celebrating International Youth Day on August 12 with the theme “Youth Engagement for Global Action.”

Teenagers as an icon can be traced back to the 1890s, the same period that the foundations for the new century were being laid out. It is the same period as part of the Industrial Revolution. Over the decades, each generation was given identities or names. The last three generations were identified as Generation X (called Gen X), Generation Y ( called millennials), and Generation Z (called Gen Z).

In the Philippines, according to Republic Act 8044, otherwise known as the “Youth in Nation Building Act,” the Filipino youth are those ages are from 15 to 30. Youth, therefore, comprises the whole of Gen Z and part of the millennials.

In this pandemic-shaken world where lockdowns are common for most countries globally, all generations are hard hit and members of the younger generation are no exemption.

The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2020 titled “Resilient Generations Hold The Key to Creating a Better Normal” that inlcudes the Philippines revealed that by being battle-hardened by the trying circumstances from the very beginning, the millennials and Gen Zs remain steadfast, refusing to compromise their values and that attitude may ultimately help change society. Given their resilient attitude and determination, millennials and Gen Zs will surely shape the new world that will emerge.

Critically- acclaimed author Jon Savage wrote in his book titled “Teenage: The Creation of Youth,” that “Things aren’t going to go back to normal. The young are going to play an active part in either destroying or creating a new world. That’s kind of extraordinary.”

Although no doubt that millennials and Gen Zs are deeply affected by the pandemic, they also see opportunity in the darkness. Millennials and Gen Zs aren’t just hoping for a better world to emerge after the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic releases its grip on society; they want to lead the change.

In the same study conducted before the pandemic, half of the respondents said they believe that it’s too late to repair the damage caused by climate change. However, in a subsequent study done during the pandemic, the figure dropped, suggesting that Covidpandemic’s environmental impact — reduced economic activity that led to lower energy use and improvement of air quality — has given confidence that there is still time to take action and protect the planet.

While a quarter of the respondents consider the environment and climate change issues as one of their top ten primary sources of anxiety and stress, the pandemic has brought about an even stronger sense of individual responsibility. The study showed that nearly three-fourths said the pandemic has made them more sympathetic towards others’ needs and that they intend to take action to have a positive impact on their communities. Millennials and Gen Zs know that a postpandemic society can be better than the one that preceded it, and they’re tenacious enough to make it a reality.

Despite the individual challenges that millennials and Gen Zs are facing, they remained focused on larger societal issues, both before and after the onset of the pandemic.

When millennials and Gen Zs were asked to choose their top three concerns before the pandemic, both chose climate change and protecting the environment as their top societal issues. In The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019 released a year earlier, both generations felt personally concerned about climate change and protecting the environment on top of other issues like income inequality/distribution of wealth, unemployment, among others.

On the onset of the pandemic, climate change and protecting the environment remained to be the issue of greatest concern demonstrating the importance of environmental issues to these generations.

The study shared that if anyone doubted the importance of protecting Earth to these generations, the fact it was ranked as a top concern both before and during a global health and economic crisis demonstrates where their priorities lie. Before the pandemic, the study continued, both millennials and Gen Zs expressed serious anxiety about the planet’s health. But as the Covid-19 pandemic initially slowed global activity, and people began seeing clear skies and waters where they seldom existed, a renewed optimism emerged.

Millennials and Gen Zs are taking action to protect the environment and have chosen their top ten priorities for environmental actions.

– 65 percent of millennials and 57 percent of Gen Z begun or increased their efforts to recycle

– 65 percent of millennials and 55 percent of Gen Z have taken steps to reduce their use of singleuse plastics

– 58 percent of millennials and 55 percent of Gen Z increased their use of public transport, walked or biked more often

– 52 percent of Millennials and 42 percent of Gen Z increased their purchase of organic and/or locally-produced food

– 50 percent of millennials and 41 percent of Gen Z stopped or reduced their regularity to purchase “fast fashion”

– 47 percent of millennials and 42 percent of Gen Z educated themselves of the environmental aspects of the brands that they consumed

– 40 percent of millennials and 35 percent of Gen Z have reduced their consumption of meat and/ or fish

– 39 percent of millennials and 28 percent of Gen Z considered the environmental impacts in their family planning

– 34 percent of millennials and 28 percent of Gen Z dedicated some of their time toward improving their local environment

– 21 percent of millennials and 23 percent of Gen Z have participated in environmental activism or protests

It is worthy to note that 83 percent of millennials and 79 percent of Gen Zs agreed that climate change is happening and is caused primarily by humans. Such revelation illustrates that the narrative on climate change has never changed and that only we, humans — being the primary cause of climate change, can actually change that narrative. And both millennials and Gen Z believe that there is still a chance to reverse the damage from climate change.

As millions of our youth will celebrate International Youth Day, we remind ourselves that we are at a crossroads of history. We know that the world is changing and the perspectives of these generations are critical in shaping a new and better normal. We are in that moment to make that reset and create a brighter world.

Our future and the future of the generations to come will depend on it. The author is the executive director Forum and a non-resident fellow of St rat base A DR Institute. He will share his environmental journey during the General Membership Meeting of the Rotary Club of Cebu Port Center on Monday, August 10, and will deliver the closing presentation with our young Moro brothers and sisters forth eU sap angLigua sanYouth Day. He completed his climate change and development course at the University of East Anglia( United Kingdom) and an executive program at Yale University( USA ). He can beemailedatludwig.federigan@gmail.com.