3.2 Individual activists’ stories

Around the world, passionate and committed individuals of all ages are making a difference through climate-related activism. Whatever the educational sector, sharing the experiences and stories of such activists can be a powerful way of achieving empathetic understanding of the impact of climate change and an awareness of the ways in which individuals can address it. Activists’ stories can help educators gain an understanding of how their own students could be supported in conducting climate-related activism and advocacy.

Stories relating to young activists are particularly relevant when supporting young people in addressing the climate crisis. Most young activists do not get to vote or buy electric cars today, but they will be the ones bearing the consequences of the climate crisis tomorrow.

Young activists’ motivations vary widely, as do the messages they convey. Some focus on the science of climate change, some on the actions of fossil fuel companies, some on the human impact of the climate crisis and others on the impact on animals. Some focus on issues very local to them, others focus on more globally relevant matters. Harriet Thew, an environmental social scientist at the University of Leeds, UK, suggests that ‘more and more, they are talking about the problems for people and really recognizing that human–environment connection’ (Thew, cited in Marris, 2019).

For those young people who choose an activist (sometimes disruptive) approach to fighting the climate crisis, how do their educational systems react? And how could they react?

In October 2018, the IPCC released a special report calling for ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’ to keep the Earth’s average surface temperature within 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels (IPCC, 2018). This report, among others, has triggered an unprecedented level of young activism around the world, including the Fridays for Future movement.

Following Greta Thunberg, who started the Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for climate) movement by protesting outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, millions of students across the globe chose to skip school on Fridays to protest. The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison reacted to students’ protests in his country by stating:

This raises many questions. Is it okay to skip school to attend climate protests? Can conventional political means be used to achieve the same goal? Would you support your learners in skipping school to attend a climate protest? How can educational systems support or hinder the work of young activists? Pause and reflect on these questions for a few moments before continuing to the next section, which offers a case study about one young activist, Vanessa Nakate.