{"id":273922,"date":"2024-09-16T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=273922"},"modified":"2024-09-16T04:33:20","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T03:33:20","slug":"young-people-will-save-the-world-because-were-the-last-generation-that-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/09\/young-people-will-save-the-world-because-were-the-last-generation-that-can\/","title":{"rendered":"Young People Will Save the World, Because We\u2019re the Last Generation That Can"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Justin Reiss<\/p><\/div>\n

13 Sep 2024 – <\/em>The past 20 years have been critical in the fight for bold and sustainable climate solutions. The next five years will be even more vital \u2014 and young people like me are fighting hard to make sure our leaders get it right.<\/p>\n

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Research shows we have about five years left to avert global warming beyond\u00a01.5 degrees Celsius<\/a>, the tipping point when even more severe climate disruptions could exacerbate hunger, conflict and drought worldwide.<\/p>\n

Climate change \u2014 long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns primarily due to the\u00a0burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 impacts our livelihoods and our lives. It harms our health and well-being and threatens our access to vital resources, from water to food to housing.<\/p>\n

Communities on the front lines of the climate crisis are already paying the price for inadequate climate action. Pacific islands like\u00a0Tuvalu<\/a>\u00a0are already sinking and expected to be completely submerged in coming years. Meanwhile, scientists predict that rising sea levels will leave\u00a060 percent of Miami-Dade County under water by 2060<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While we can\u2019t count on certain stubborn politicians to save our only planet, we can count on the young people at the heart of the climate movement.<\/p>\n

The global youth-led climate movement has a long history of standing up to corporate giants and their political allies who exacerbate climate change. Despite failed attempts by some politicians to patronize, belittle, or discredit the teenagers and 20-somethings leading protests and driving policy demands, young climate activists are fueling hope \u2014 and winning change.<\/p>\n

In June 2023, youth climate activists won a landmark lawsuit,\u00a0Held v. Montana<\/i>, when a judge ruled that\u00a0the state\u2019s failure to consider climate change<\/a>\u00a0when approving fossil fuel projects was unconstitutional.\u00a0Similar suits are underway<\/a>\u00a0in many other states.<\/p>\n

Universities also have a prime role to play in encouraging students to practice sustainability and foster social change. At my university, Virginia Tech, students can participate in a\u00a0Climate Action Living Laboratory\u00a0<\/a>(CALL), where they work with faculty and staff on sustainability projects and research, using our campus and surrounding community networks to work towards the university\u2019s\u00a0climate action goals.<\/a><\/p>\n

In my Virginia Tech coursework, I got to harvest food for our dining facilities at our campus farm, compost on an Indigenous farm, visit a local community garden, and tour a food sorting facility \u2014 all while working closely with campus partners I wouldn\u2019t have met otherwise.<\/p>\n

Across the country, institutions like Colorado State, the University of California at Berkeley, Cornell, Dickinson College, Furman, and the University of Vermont have implemented\u00a0living learning labs of their own<\/a>. In addition to advancing sustainability initiatives, these labs combine disciplines and skills \u2014 and unite diverse groups of people \u2014 to incubate innovative climate solutions.<\/p>\n

You can help us grow the movement, too. Consider supporting\u00a0domestic climate activist youth movements<\/a>\u00a0in your local community and organizations like\u00a0Sunrise DC<\/a>, a local branch of the youth climate organization where activists in the nation\u2019s capital get involved at both the local and national level.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re the last generation that can save the world from climate disaster \u2014 and we\u2019re giving the fight for our lives and for a better future everything we\u2019ve got. Join us.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Keara Sosa is a Henry A. Wallace Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – counterpunch.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13 Sep 2024 – The past 20 years have been critical in the fight for bold and sustainable climate solutions. The next five years will be even more vital \u2014 and young people like me are fighting hard to make sure our leaders get it right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":273928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[229,686,519,401,993,391,380,2423],"class_list":["post-273922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activism","tag-activism","tag-climate-change","tag-ecology","tag-environment","tag-global-warming","tag-nature","tag-solutions","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273929,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273922\/revisions\/273929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}