Recommendations for Increasing Youth Resilience
Young people will disproportionately bear the burden of the accelerating processes of environmental breakdown.64 This section outlines several recommendations for increasing the resilience of our youth to climate change-related events through education improvement, relationship building and mentorship, increased youth participation in governance, and community-action-based projects.
Kate Feldman discusses the role of youth leadership in climate action and the importance of focusing on local (1:38)
Make strategic investments to strengthen the involvement of children and youth in responding to climate change and ecosystem disruption through research, education and leadership opportunities
Climate Change Education
Why is Climate Education Important?
There has been an established need for a greater emphasis on the environmental curriculum in BC’s education systems. In order to fully support the role of youth engagement in climate action, proper delivery of environmental knowledge in the education system is vital to allow youth to make informed decisions regarding their environmental behaviour. By providing youth with increased access to adequate environmental education, they are simultaneously encouraged to explore actionable steps in resilience and adaptability while facing the effects of climate change.
The Current State of BC’s Climate Change Curriculum
Delivery of school curriculum in Canada is determined at the provincial level, with each province incorporating environmental education into their curriculum to varying extents.65 An analysis of climate change curriculum in Canada indicated that there are six core topics each province covers at differing degrees.66 These topics are:
- Physical climate mechanism
- Observed increase in temperatures
- Anthropogenic causes
- Scientific consensus
- Negative associations with warming
- Possibility for avoiding worse effects65
Climate curriculum in BC narrowly focuses on half of the above topics, integrating only topics one, three, and five into the curriculum.65 In order to provide youth with a profound knowledge base regarding climate change, it is suggested that the curriculum be delivered with greater emphasis on full coverage.
In moving beyond climate and environmental awareness, social learning, and place-based pedagogies have been found to be critical aspects in supporting delivery of climate change education.67 Research suggests that to improve delivery of climate education, social, and emotional elements of successful learning should be taken into consideration and centred upon cognitive, socio-emotional, action-orientated, and justice-forward education strategies.67 Implementation of these strategies in classrooms will improve student engagement by bolstering the agency and empowerment of youth.68 Thus, it is important to acknowledge that the delivery of climate change education is just as important as the curriculum.68
Ensure access to comprehensive climate change and ecosystem disruption curriculum, with a focus on positive solutions for the future, for children and youth
Recommendations for Education Improvement
Specific recommendations for improving climate change education in school systems include:
- The mandatory implementation of climate change education across all areas in elementary and secondary education institutions in BC.
- Supply more comprehensive resources to teachers that can provide students with greater opportunities for access to environmental and climate change resources, programs, workshops, and professional development opportunities.69
- Implement educational approaches that encourage critical media literacy, teaching students to discern fact from fiction in media.70
- Encourage leadership development in education systems to empower youth and encourage higher levels of confidence in their beliefs.
- Consider the social and emotional elements in successful delivery of climate change education.
Kate Feldman discusses her ideas to improve climate change education, including having youth become more engaged in their communities (1:35)
Youth-Led Initiatives
Climate Education Reform BC (CERBC) is a team of 20+ secondary students leading the “Reform to Transform” campaign, advocating for climate change education in BC’s educational system after noticing the lack of attention climate change has received. CERBC offers toolkits built for youth that include involvement strategies and other resources, as well as the opportunity to join their team.
Schools for Climate Action provide a student council resolution toolkit and examples of school board emails and resolutions. Their mission is to empower schools to speak up for climate action and advocate for youth to have active roles in climate policy decisions.
Relationship Building and Mentorship
Putting an Emphasis on Collaborative Processes
Collaboration between rural and urban areas allows for the opportunity to develop trusting relationships and increase the understanding of vulnerabilities that rural areas face. Strengthening these relationships will elevate the ability for these communities to work together and more effectively address the disparities rural areas face in the wake of climate change.
Rural communities are well known for emphasizing values of interconnectedness and social cohesion, which may be their greatest strength in resilience efforts.71 Encouraging youth to collaborate with their peers will not only reinforce these pre-existing values, but also work to increase their ability to make meaningful environmental impacts. Schools may be the most instrumental force in promoting resilience among rural youth. Literature emphasizes the importance of school connectedness, which involves creating a community within school systems that represents a safe, supportive, and caring environment for youth. Isolation experienced by youth living in rural areas is an issue of proximity, and contributes to a disconnect in social and cultural areas.72 Thus, building connections between rural and urban youth becomes an important facet of increasing youth resilience and strengthening self-efficacy. Sustained involvement in youth engagement activities is also elevated when adults have a greater ability to develop authentic relationships with youth. Therefore, it is important to provide rural youth with intentional mentorship opportunities to increase successes in resilience efforts.73
Recommendations for Building Relationships
- Facilitating youth-led discussions between rural and urban areas could take place by encouraging travel between rural and urban schools.
- Conduct collaborative, qualitative research to grant youth the opportunity to participate and voice their perspectives in areas that will affect their futures.
- Increasing access to rural youth mentorship, which has been found to be an effective method of supporting sense of belonging and self-efficacy in youth.74
Rural Youth Mentoring Programs in BC
Rural eMentoring BC offers the opportunity for rural, remote, and Indigenous high school students to connect with mentors in post-secondary institutions, free of charge. This program provides the opportunity for these students to obtain support and advice from mentors who can relate to similar life challenges that are experienced by rural youth.
Fostering Youth Resilience Through Participation in Governance
Increasing Access for Youth in Decision Making Processes
In order to give youth access to decision-making processes and allow for greater engagement in climate change action, the current role of youth in governance must be considered. Strategies and initiatives that aim to develop inclusivity will support the role of youth in policy-making participation. Active and engaged youth provide sources of innovation in the overall development of communities. Rural community members are especially important in conversations regarding government initiatives and recognizing that youth are active agents and possess their own voices will encourage participation of youth in the production of knowledge and policy development.75
Dr. Alan Ruddiman discusses his perspectives on ways to engage with youth about climate change and systems-level improvements to encourage this participation (4:12)
Facilitate youth involvement in our political and democratic systems at every level to support climate change mitigation and adaptation
Recommendations for Inclusivity
- Developing youth councils that allow youth the opportunity to voice their unique perspectives.
- Encouraging digital participation with online tools and platforms to allow more access for rural and remote youth. This can take place in the form of government platforms that are specifically designed to gather citizen inputs into policy processes, such as e-Petitioning and e-Consultation.76
- Reducing the voting age to 16 to allow for youth participation in governance.
Argument for Reducing the Voting Age
Reducing the voting age to 16 will increase political engagement and allow youth to have active participation in influencing policy making. Most importantly, a lower voting age will give youth a voice in decisions that will affect their futures.
Case Study: Voting Age in Scotland
Since 2016, Scotland has allowed youth from the age of 16 to vote in Scottish Parliament and Scottish local council elections.77 Research exploring the experience of youth in Scottish elections found that approximately 75% of registered voters aged 16-17 years participated in voting on the day of the referendum, which was higher than voters in the 18-25 cohort, who had an overall turnout of around 54%.77 This study also provided evidence for increased political efficacy among young voters, with one participant quoted saying:
“I think there’s this sort of strength that’s come with the voting age being lowered in the Scottish referendum. ‘Cause like before it was kind of like constant ‘young people don’t care about anything.’ (…) and then they lowered the voting age and then suddenly there was this feeling of ‘our voices do matter and we can be engaged.’”77
Findings from this study detail the impact made by youth, as well as the frustration they feel when unable to make decisions regarding their futures, which overall indicates the importance of allowing youth participation in governance.
Thea de Paoli discusses her ideas for how youth can be greater advocates, including lowering the voting age to encourage early engagement (1:13)
Community-Based Programming and Youth Empowerment
Youth play a critical role in combating climate change as they will one day inherit the full responsibility of building resilience, creating adaptation strategies, and solving complex scientific issues regarding environmental changes.78 Initiatives designed to educate and empower youth to take action against climate change constitute a long-term investment towards increasing adaptive capacity and informed leadership for future generations facing ecosystem disruption. Educating youth allows them to inform their peers, share information, campaign, advocate, protest, lead movements and participate in system change by participating in policy development and decision making.79
Youth who learn about nature and environmental issues from a young age are more equipped to create solutions for the future.80 Thus, community-based programs with an environmental focus must be available and easily accessible to young people in both urban and rural settings to enable them to learn about the natural world and the unique challenges it faces due to climate change.
Youth Climate Action Summits
Youth Climate Action Summits are platforms that bring together young climate action and society leaders, providing an opportunity for youth to meaningfully engage with decision-makers on issues regarding climate change.81
In recent years, Youth Climate Summits have become increasingly common as young people are becoming more worried about the future of their natural environment and how it will continue to be affected by climate change. These Summits allow young people to come together, engage in discourse about ecosystem disruption, share solutions, and send a collective message to global leaders.
The largest recurring youth conference is the Conference of Youth (COY) which traditionally takes place in parallel with the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) and serves as the formal meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change parties. It acts as a platform for youth concerned about climate change to learn about policy development and change implementation through international organizations. A policy proposal drafted by the Conference of Youth attendees is then presented at the subsequent COP conference. Regional COYs are also organized as a space for youth to discuss climate action on a more local level.26
Environmental Youth Programming
Nature Kids is a group that organizes nature clubs across BC. They facilitate activities and outings for 5-12 year-olds and their families to interact and explore their natural environment, such as exploring wetlands and learning about pollinators. These experiences allow young people to build a relationship with nature which will teach them the importance of taking action to protect and restore it.
The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm is a research and learning centre, as well as a small-scale organic farm that seeks to support the development of solutions to food security and climate change issues with the teaching of agro-ecological farming practices. The farm hosts and employs students, holds community workshops, and organizes a summer youth camp that allows children to interact with nature and understand the importance of a healthy ecosystem for growing the food they eat through activities like gardening and apple picking.
Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA) provides land-based educational programming for BIPOC youth on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The educational programming includes native plant gardening, pollinator care, habitat restoration, and Indigenous plant use. The EYA seeks to educate young people, particularly those from marginalized communities, about environmental issues in nature and within their communities and empower them to recognize their own change-making abilities.
Youth Climate Corps (YCC) is an organization in BC that builds youth climate leaders by offering training, as well as paid work on climate action projects. This allows Canada’s youth to gain knowledge and skills while simultaneously being a part of the movement to protect and restore our environment. Through collaboration and communication, YYC completes jobs in communities by reducing emissions and building resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of a changing climate.
Kate Feldman discusses why she thinks it’s important to engage youth in local food production (1:55)
