Many in my generation have no hope for the future. In a survey conducted among young people in ten countries last year, 75 percent answered that they think the future is scary. It’s no wonder. All our lives we have heard about gloomy future scenarios, with extreme weather, refugee flows, cities that will be taken by the sea, and an uninhabitable planet. Already in sixth grade we had to read future dystopian short stories, set in a world where there were only a few people left on earth. We have been peppered with content created to scare adults into action, ever since we were little. Do teachers, journalists and politicians sometimes think about what it does to the rising generation when they talk about climate in that way? Yes, much of the content we have been exposed to may be necessary to influence slow adults to action, but it is not intended for eight- or twelve-year-olds. When you are a child, emotions override reason. You are easygoing, and you trust everything the adults say. So when someone without thinking discusses the possible doom of the world, or he one substitute in primary school says that we do not have much time left to live, it becomes the reality we believe in. We were probably more children who could cry when we came home after a school day, terrified of what awaited us. The result is a generation where some actually choose not to have children due to climate change. We are many who have walked around with lumps in our stomachs for large parts of our lives, because we believe the world will perish by 2050. It does not. Even if everything goes as the worst forecasts suggest, we are adaptable, and we will manage. You will be able to feel good. And there is actually a lot going in the right direction. We are getting more and more electric cars, and large sums are being spent on developing clean energy. In many places, it is now cheaper to develop renewable energy sources than it is to develop fossil energy. Before 2015, we were on a track that could lead to 4 degrees warming by 2050, but now the number is declining. World politicians have committed to 2 degrees, and preferably 1.5 degrees. The pressure on them to follow up is growing. The very worst case scenarios that have been drawn for the future are now probably unlikely. You do not see much of it in the news, but everywhere around us it sprouts of action and the will to change. There are many who are fighting for our climate. I am not trying to downplay climate change and claim that what is happening is not dangerous. To me, this is the most important issue in the world. But if we have an adult generation that takes all the hope from the youth, they can not believe that we should think it is a good idea to do something. It is when we give up, when we stop hoping and fail to do anything, that things go wrong. So here’s a call to our adult population: Spend less time scaring the kids, and more time doing something. You have talked enough about everything that can go wrong. What we need are adults who lead by example and who give my generation faith in the future through their actions. And feel free to hear with your children what they have heard, and steer them in the direction of hope, rather than despair. Fear of the future has become such an important part of our lives that we almost forget that it is now that we live. No wonder it creates clutter in the system. We are not made to deal with more than what is happening here and now. And this is exactly where our focus must be: on what we can achieve today. It’s time for a different philosophy of life. It’s time for climate positivity! We live in an exciting time, and we have so much power to help the climate. It tingles in my stomach when I think of everything we have to do. The truth is, you are not helping anyone by digging into a hole. Both anger and despair can be useful emotions – when they are a driving force that inspires action. But anger and despair that black paints life so you become completely paralyzed, no one helps. Declare yourself terrified! That everything can go well should not be a statement we lean on as we continue as before; it must be what gives us the power to change: Eat less meat, throw away less food, buy used and vote green. Choose to take the train, even if it takes a long time, and even if it requires a little more of you than taking a plane. I live in northern Norway myself, and look forward to (yes, really) one day on a night train when I go south this summer. Dare to influence your friends and your family. Talk to your climate-denying uncle, even if he’s hopeless. And, perhaps most important of all: get involved in politics. Join a youth group, join a party or organization that puts pressure on our politicians. This will take you approx. three minutes to get started. You have time for that. And then it is actually allowed to look a little less at the news at times. We are not created to deal with the whole world at once. Do not let the generations above decide how you should feel in your life. Dare to do something. And dare to hope. You have every reason to.
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Generation frightened – Expression
