In 2024, Reasons to Be Hopeful and other associations (Teach the Future, School of International Futures, Future Friends) launched a call asking 5-18 year-olds throughout the world to answer one question: "Imagine you are in charge - What is ONE thing you would do right now to create a better future for people and planet?"
How it was done
The answers could take almost any form: a short statement, a long text, a drawing, a video, a poem, etc.
The call generated answers from 9 different countries (India, Nepal, Nigeria, Lebanon, Thailand, Turkey, UK, USA, Uzbekistan), with respondents ranging from 11 to 19 years old.
What they imagined
The answers highlighted four dominant themes:
- Renewable energy, from calls to a global energy transition down to small, community based projects where local energy could enable better access to water and a more sustainable agriculture.
- Community-based projects and finance, empowering local communities and grassroot organizations.
- Education, from preparing for future "green jobs" to providing the skills to make sustainable choices in everyday life.
- Leadership, and the need to be able to confront powerful interests as well as entrenched habits.
What's next
The initiator of Reasons to be Hopeful, Jane Taylor Rahman, defines herself as "a psychotherapist and a parent", and it is "through this dual lens that she understands how the climate crisis uniquely affects wellbeing, particularly in young people."
Building up on this project, as well as several surveys showing the prevalence of various forms of negative "eco-emotions" with young people, she intends to develop the awareness of concrete projects working on solutions to climate change. According to her, such awareness is a first step towards overcoming debilitating climate anxiety.