Will Today’s Youth Matter? A Look Ahead

As leaders across the world return home from Copenhagen, many critics are asking what changes will be made.  Some of the world’s top producers of carbon emissions have committed dollars towards Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. While our world leaders indeed seem to be making the financial commitments it will take to match their policies with their campaign promises, or at least seem to be getting there, one eco-conscious non-profit is hoping to plant the seeds of change in a group that they believe can have much more impact than today’s global leaders.

Eco-Schools is a program designed to help foster environmental awareness and action in schools worldwide. NPR’s Rob Gifford investigated Poplar Elementary School, a participant in Eco-Schools, and he noted the program’s imprint, “If you take my generation, for instance, you know, you can almost hear my brain working after I’ve drunk a can of Coke or had a beer – I must put beer in recycling bin. I have to force myself to think like that. These kids are growing up thinking like that. It’s in their DNA.”

Eco-Schools teaches students about sustainable development through eight “Pathways,” which help schools choose a focus on subjects such as water, climate change, and transportation. The staff at Eco-Schools believes that they are giving students the tools in order to change an entire generation. The idea is that by the time today’s students are leaders of nations, there will be no need for a global summit on Climate change, even if today’s leaders aren’t able to pave the way. The hope is that programs like Eco-Schools can change the consciousness of a generation. Not only will they recycle and use less gas and energy with much less effort than Mr. Gifford and his can of beer, they will elect leaders whose eco-values are akin to their own.

If we are to believe that a program like Eco-Schools will work – and after all, why wouldn’t it? Haven’t studies shown that many good habits, like healthy eating and saving, start young? – then to get from point a (teaching kids to be green) to point b (a healthier, longer lasting planet), we need to be sure of one thing – that there is enough time.

It’s difficult to say exactly when today’s generation of grade schoolers will become the most influential. Data of voters between 2000 and 2004 shows that a much higher percentage of people in their 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s voted than people in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s; however, there weren’t nearly as many people in their 50’s and 60’s, and 70’s, so who had the most impact? And what about the additional 5 million voters in the 2008 election? The biggest increase was among 18 to 24 year olds, although the older voters still had a higher turnout.  Taking population into account, people over 58 made up about 29% of voters in elections between 2000 and 2008. 18-29 year olds? A mere 16%. Let’s be generous and say that it will take about 40 years for today’s eight year olds to rule the polls.

Scientists cannot give an exact timeline for the decline we’ll see in our planet in the next 100 or so years, but changes are imminent. For instance, some believe that “Hubbert’s Peak,” the worldwide peak in oil production, will occur by 2018.  The Hirsch Report, published by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2005, predicts the peak and consequent decline in oil production and discusses the effects this could have on the American and ultimately the world economy. A sudden decline in oil production would result in no alternatives for many forms of transportation – auto, plane, train, ships. Such changes would drastically affect travel, trade, and many lifestyles. The Hirsch Report also concludes that such events would deem the dwelling place of the majority of Americans, the suburbs, “an unsustainable living arrangement,” forcing suburbanites to relocate to cities or rural areas.

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) predicts several other changes in the next 40 years, including a marked increase in natural disasters, droughts, shortage of drinking water, and rising sea level necessitating the relocation of tens of millions of people from the coastline per year.

Clearly, we cannot wait 40 years for the students of Poplar Elementary School and many other Eco-Schools across the globe to make changes. It is vital that our leaders work together to start making changes now, and while 2018 doesn’t seem like a long way off, we are armed with information and with a history of innovators; no doubt we have the capabilities to make changes if we act now. And thanks to programs like Eco-Schools, the heirs of our legacy will be ready and waiting.

Also by Caty DiDonato Anderson:

Whose Right? Adoption Exclusion in America

Will Today’s Youth Matter? A Look Ahead

The Wrong Way: What No Child Left Behind