Youth for COP23 & Beyond
By Kehkashan Basu
Founder of Green Hope, NGOCSD-NY Youth Leader
Our planet is at the edge of a precipice and we have only ourselves to blame for the situation we find ourselves in. History will either remember our generation as one that was bold enough to look beyond short term economic gains or one which put our planet firmly on the course of self-destruction. The current signs are ominous and yet, most of us, choose to remain blissfully unaware of the consequences. Polar ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, typhoons and hurricanes are wreaking havoc, forest fires are choking our skies and fossil fuel driven economies are turning our cities into veritable gas chambers. This escalating environmental degradation has given rise to a new phenomenon – “climate refugees.” Millions are forced to migrate from their homes and countries devastated by floods, droughts and rising sea levels as a consequence of climate change and a large portion of these migrants are, unfortunately, children. Changing climate impacts our right to life, to health, access to education, to food and shelter, and in the case of migration from disaster zones, we suffer as a consequence of being uprooted from a stable setup to one that is fraught with uncertainty and exploitation. This must change and this is why young people like me are speaking out and demanding the right to live with dignity, because we are the citizens of tomorrow --- but we will not live to see tomorrow if our today is not taken care of. Environmental apathy must be done away with and this was the message which I, along with my team members of Green Hope, reiterated during COP23 and COY13 in Bonn. Green Hope conducted a workshop at COY13 titled “Impacts of Climate Change on Sustainable Consumption.” Addressing a full house of youth activists during the workshop, we emphasized the fact that climate change is the harshest reality of our times and we can see its impacts all around us. A panel of youth leaders from the Netherlands, Mexico, France, Lebanon and Yemen also spoke at this workshop sharing their views on the linkages between climate change and sustainable consumption. Green Hope always uses different modes of communication to convey its messages and during the workshop, we also performed a self-composed song on Climate Justice. Several of our members also joined the workshop via video link from Dubai.
During this three day COY13 conference, Green Hope put up an info-booth through which we interacted with hundreds of visitors, using interactive methods to spread awareness about climate change impacts. The visitors to the booth also wrote their eco-pledges on hand cutouts and stuck them to a Tree of Hope.
Green Hope is one of the partners of World Bank’s Connect4Climate initiative and we joined in their “Uniting4Climate” Global Digital Surge which sought to reach out to millions of people across the world connecting them via the social media, during COP23 showing the world that climate action demands a global response - and that includes everyone: cities, businesses, youth, the arts and governments at every level. As part of this activation, Green Hope conducted a “Twitter campaign” which engaged young people from different countries demanding youth empowerment in the climate change process.
The Paris Climate Accord had given the world a clear roadmap to address climate change impacts and COP23 could only partially live up to its promise of delivering on the commitments. It is imperative for young people to influence their governments to act decisively, keeping the long term benefits of our planet in perspective. Unfortunately, time is not on our side. Every day of inaction and procrastination is bringing our planet closer to annihilation. As “future generations,” the onus is on us, the youth, to bring about change and create a future that is just, peaceful, sustainable and equitable.
