How Teen Eco Campaigner Sam Gee is Empowering his Peers to Make a Difference
Change sounds a bit too much like futile hard work for many students, but teen eco campaigner Sam Gee is determined to change their minds…
- by Sam Gee
“Young people care about the planet like never before,” I insist to other teenagers and adults alike. I receive varying levels of enthusiasm in response. But all too often, I’m trying to convince myself just as much as them, because sometimes it feels depressingly far from the truth.
As a young activist, of course you will face obstacles, including from many who have your best interests at heart – whether it’s the teacher who suggests stepping back from the school’s Eco-Committee to devote even more time to the exams that have already killed off the rest of your life, or the parent who sees the use of social media for campaigning as a sign of a spiralling screen-time addiction. So far, nothing unexpected, nothing too prohibitive.
It’s the attitudes of some other teenagers that can upset me most. Sometimes it can seem that so many young people genuinely do not care. And why would they?
When I find myself, in my low points, seeing teenage life today as an almost inescapable culture at the intersection between societal hyper-consumerism and adolescent nihilism, it can seem that young people are compelled to do nothing, because behavioural change sounds just a little bit too much like futile hard work – a drop in the ocean.
A matter of scale
You see, the real problem, I believe, is not that people do not care. They do. It’s that they don’t know how their actions can make a difference. When my peers occasionally show annoyance at my environmentalist messages, they are not disagreeing that there is a problem.
They are frustrated at their perceived powerlessness. Climate change, world hunger, racism: these are vast issues, seemingly insurmountable. They make us feel small and weak.
Yet if that is all we think about, we guarantee that we will have no impact, and we consign another generation to accelerating environmental degradation and resource scarcity.
It is rare that a scientific report moves us, but the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on 1.5°C of Warming did just that.
It made it clear that for every bit that the planet warms up, lives are being lost. That means that every emissions reduction, no matter how small, counts.
Every beefburger swapped for a veggie one, every journey made by foot or bike, every dollar taken out of the fossil fuel industry, it all counts. That’s really empowering.
And I also find hope in the fact that so many young people are genuinely rising up to take on the big problems in our world.
From teen-led marches against guns in the US, to the youth Zero Hour Climate Marches around the world, to the newly charity-status UK campaign Kids Against Plastic, ‘the youth’ really are taking action like never before.
David Luke Schoolwear’s ‘16 Under 16’ search for the UK’s top young environmentalists has been an incredible opportunity for me, giving me an influential platform alongside other like-minded young people from across the UK.
Growing hope
Globally, more than 18 million students attend an Eco-School – that’s more than the population of Chile.
At my own school, where I lead the committee behind the Eco-Schools programme, our environmental work is snowballing, involving people from right across the school community.
It’s so inspiring to see the energy and drive that people already have, that can be tapped when they are given the right mechanisms to get involved.
Leaders in all sectors of society, from teachers or faith leaders, through to politicians or corporate directors, need to make action easy and attractive.
Sure, there’ll be some who stand in our way as campaigners. But the truth is, given the right opportunities, such as the powerful Eco-Schools programme structure or being part of the ‘16 Under 16’ collective, the change that can be created by those who would not normally consider themselves activists is incredible, and certainly gives me hope for a truly equitable and sustainable future.
Sam Gee is a ’16 Under 16’ ambassador for David Luke Schoolwear and is recognised by Eco-Schools as being one of the UK’s most promising young conservationists.
