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Mother Pelican
A Journal of Solidarity and Sustainability

Vol. 19, No. 3, March 2023
Luis T. Gutiérrez, Editor
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Generation Z Leads the Climate Movement

Gayle Kimball

M arch 2023


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Ridhima Pandey, age 12, India, photo by Dinesh Pandey.
Click the image to enlarge.


The generation of activist leaders who tried to sound the alarm about the climate crisis, called the Sixth Mass Extinction, included these adults:

While attending a climate march in San Francisco, I asked McKibben to comment about the current climate movement, as seen on my YouTube channel along with my other interviews with activists. He replied, “Youth, in general, are behind a lot of what’s going on in the climate movement, the most important part. Because this is such a timed crisis, it’s very apparent they’re the ones who will pay most of the price.” [1] He observed that social movements are shifting away from leader-led to broad spread-out movements. He said that climate activists have succeeded in divesting $11 trillion from fossil fuel companies globally[2] and stopped pipelines, but he believes we need 100% renewable energy.

In contrast to pioneers like McKibben, the current climate movement leaders are young Generation Z, and the most prominent are girls like Greta Thunberg. I interviewed young women from 30 countries to find out their motivations, tactics, and goals, reported on in Climate Girls Saving Our Environment: 54 Activists SpeakOut. An exemplary example of a teen climate activist with a carefully thought-out plan is provided in Young Global Activists for a Feminist Future.

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Book Cover of Climate Girls,
by Helen Jackson, Scotland.
Click the image to enlarge.
These Climate Girls emphasize climate justice, referring to the harm the climate crisis does to disadvantaged people—including women. They use the word “intersectional” to point out that issues are interlaced, a reaction to the focus on the single issue of technology in the earlier environmental movement and stand-alone sexism in the Second Wave of the women’s movement. They advocate system change, starting with government Green New Deals. However, Thunberg points out discussion of these green plans is dangerous if it implies the necessary change can occur in the existing system.

Recent youth activism reflects Generation Z’s values: belief in gender and ethnic equality, righteous anger about the destruction of our environment, impatience with adults, and outspoken criticism of them. When I asked over 4,000 youth from 88 countries what question they’d ask the wisest person on the planet—reported on in three books, they replied: Meaning of life 22%; About the wise person 21%; Personal success 18.5%; Science and social science 11%; and Death 6%. They are generally comfortable with diversity, value helping others, and are less religious than previous generations. Used to instant posting and access to information on the internet, they expect quick results.

Our activists frame their activism in terms of climate justice and some from the Global South reported they are treated like token representatives or left out of coverage by the media. Our activists emphasize that the crisis is real now, not a future problem and that the current economic system can’t allow the kinds of changes necessary to save our world. Hence, a revolution is required. They refer to scientists as the authorities and feel Gen Z are powerful changemakers, the only ones who can save us from the failures of older generations. As Youth for Climate Argentina activist Eyal Weintraub said, “The most extraordinary aspect of this movement is realizing the unlimited potential of our generation,” including “the art of making the impossible possible.”

The activists value flat or horizontal organizing, where everyone is valued and has a voice, rather than hierarchical structures. Hence, they form coalitions like Polluters Out and work with older groups like Greenpeace or Amnesty International. An East Indian activist explained, “I don't think it's completely possible to have a flat structure when one person is spending say five hours a day compared to someone who's spending an hour a day on a particular topic. So that is hierarchy but at least it's democratic in that it's voted upon. Effective organizations develop transparent communication channels and a self-organizing structure so that everyone can get involved.”

Intersectionality is a frequent theme: Jamie Margolin, founder of Zero Hour, identifies as a young, Jewish, Latina, gay woman. She faults the older environmental movement for lacking a national space for young women and POC leaders; therefore, Zero Hour is mostly led by young women--typical of youth climate organizations such as the Sunrise Movement. “Green Girl” Leah Thomas criticized racism in the older mostly white environment movement and popularized the concept of “intersectional environmentalism” to “dismantle systems of oppression in the environmental movement.”[3] She also points out the importance of rest and joy in self-care as a powerful part of activism.

Another concern is interpersonal relations among activists, referred to as “drama.” Jealousy may arise when some leaders get more media attention or when jockeying for decision-making power takes place. Our activists mentioned having to give up activities they loved, like playing music, and missing school and sleep to do organizing.

Why is Generation Z Leading?

Experts differ on Gen Z birth dates, ranging from 1996 to 2018. At almost a third of the world’s population, they are the world’s largest generation and proud of their identity and strength. Our activists point to two main reasons for their power: access to information on the internet, which means they think about global issues like the climate crisis, and their fear about their futures and anger at adults who jeopardize it. Access to information plus strong emotion and communication skills empowers Gen Y.

They use the word “power” often to describe their generation because of their access to social media. They grew up with role models of heroes, both fictional and real, like Hermione Granger and Malala Yousafzai. They may feel morally superior to adults, which gives them the courage to criticize. Also, their parents didn't tell them to be seen and not heard. When I asked a 10-year-old girl and boy (my grandson) if adults or kids are smarter, they said that kids are smarter because they are more empathetic. On the other hand, they describe themselves as an anxious generation, brave but afraid. Another dichotomy is Gen Z is accused of being apathetic and self-absorbed but seem to be the most effective young changemakers ever.

A defining characteristic of the Gen Z activists featured in Young Global Changemakers is insistence on self-definition. Over half of them didn’t have brothers, which may have influenced their leadership, while two-thirds of the Climate Girls are first born or the only child in their families. As Maria said in Uruguay, “We are constantly constructing and deconstructing ourselves.” They resist traditional socializing forces including religion, family, and social norms. None of them emphasize their religion as a powerful motivation, although Rochana is influenced by the Buddhist belief in karma--cause and effect. Most of the activists’ references to religion were to its oppressive patriarchal practices. These activists were encouraged by their parents to get an education, but resist their control, as when some mothers asked their daughters not to claim the feminist label and they refused. Widespread cultural norms like work long hours, make a lot of money, get married and have babies don’t resonate with them. Over half of them didn’t have brothers, which may have influenced their leadership.

The ground is moving for the first time for progressive Generations Y and Z in opposition to the Baby Boomers in power, observes Harvard pollster John Della Volpe.[4] He calls them the Values Generation. Della Volpe thinks the Parkland school shooting and the Trump presidency are the most powerful events that shaped Gen Z political views in the US. They’re the most progressive and least partisan generation in terms of political party affiliation. They resist labels including identifying as Democrat or Republican. In Sweden, Thunberg credits the Parkland students for inspiring her to use the tactic of school strikes. Parkland student Loren Hogg, age 15, observed,

I think one of the things that makes our generation so special is our knowledge of the world around us. Because of social media and because of TV, we’ve grown up in a world where we’re constantly fed information. We see people that aren’t like us, and we hear stories about things that happen to people that don’t necessarily happen to us. . . .I think that and our loving and inclusive nature for most of is one of the reasons why we’re different from other generations.[5]

In their book about Never Again, siblings David and Lauren Hogg refer to “Generation Stress” and teens who think it’s cool to be “depressed and cynical and witty.” They credit technology that, “gives us the confidence to assume that we can do things and figure out the world in ways that it hasn’t been figured out before. No permission necessary.”[6] Many adults around the world rely on youth as their tech teachers. The Hoggs also credit the excellent high schools available to middle-class white kids like them where they studied “real problems in the world today,” including school shootings and the influence of lobby groups on governments. They gained many tools in their classes, TV production, drama, and debates--including debates on gun control and mental health.

In addition to Never Again’s Emma (now called X) Gonzales and Jaclyn Corin, other female students are key players around the world like those featured in Young Global Changemakers and Agnes Chow in Hong Kong, Alaa Salah in Sudan, and Benjamaporn Nivas, 15, a leader of the Thai rebellion against military control of education. T-shirts proclaim, “Girl Power,” “Who runs the world? Girls.” A T-shirt with “Who saves the world? Girls,” was worn by a girl in a photo of a feminist demonstration in Paris in 2020. A poster held by a girl in the “Women in White” Belarus demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko read “#Fight Like a Belarusian Girl.” Young Egyptian, Iranian, and Afghan women are using social media to protest violence against women, inspired by the global #MeToo movement.[7] They use a new symbol of protest against censorship first used in China—holding up a blank white paper in demonstrations. Previous young women leaders of uprisings are described in the two volumes of Brave: Young Women’s Global Revolution.

Dr. Tim Elmore, founder of Growing Leaders, has worked with thousands of school students and teachers in 66 countries to train “emerging leaders.”[8] He observes in his book Generation Z Unfiltered that Zs are more different and innovative than previous generations because of rapid changes in technology, artificial intelligence, the internet, virtual reality, 3D printing, and so on. Gen Z is more private, more anxious, more impatient, even more tech-savvy than Gen Y, more entrepreneurial, and more protected by their snowplow and lawnmower parents. Being over-protected leaves them “cognitively advanced yet emotionally behind” and immature, according to Elmore.[9] (More about youth mental health in Calm Parents and Children.) Above all, they’re more accepting of diversity and desirous of equality--what he calls being redemptive.

Gen Z believes they can change the world because it's changing so fast and they think adults have failed. Youth in general tend to be more progressive so the system will change because of young voters--especially young women--adopting feminist, egalitarian values in support of protecting the planetary body as well as women’s bodies.

Notes

[1] Bill McKibben at the Rise for Climate march in SF, 9-8-18.

[2] A new fossil free milestone: $11 trillion has been committed to divest from fossil fuels.

[3] Intersectional Environmentalist; @greengirlleah; @intersectionalenvironmentalist; Green Girl Leah.

[4] Max Haskell, Pollster Discusses Millennial, Gen Z Voter Trends Ahead of 2020 Elections, Daily Trojan, October 11, 2019.

[5] Adrienne Westenfeld, David and Lauren Hogg Turned Their Pain Into Progress, Esquire, June 21, 2018.

[6] David Hogg and Lauren Hogg, p. 20.

[7] Mona El-Naggar, Egyptian Teen Seeks Justice in Rape Case, and a Battle Erupts Over Women’s Rights, New York Times, October 30, 2020.

[8] Growing Leaders.

[9] Generation Z Unfiltered. p. 31.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gayle Kimball is Professor of Sociology (Women's Studies, Religious Studies), emeritus, California State University, Chico. She is the author of 22 books on social and ecological issues from a feminist perspective. For more information about this author and her body of work, click here.


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