This theme relates to how young people try to define their personal and collective place, role, and purpose, in a world marked by climate change. From just growing up to finding one’s voice, to becoming active agents of change, the projects cover a wide spectrum of ideas and issues.
Place – finding one’s individual and collective roles in a constrained world
Young people imagine their roles in the future as negotiators, artists of the future, co-researchers, and systems thinkers, seeking not just inclusion, but shared authority. Themes that arise are articulated in relation to climate breakdown, economic insecurity (work of the future), conflict (wars), and social disconnection, also revealing strong constraints, limited resources, lack of political access, emotional silencing (non-recognition), that prevent them to fully take the place they wish to take, today.
This difficulty is not new, but it is intensified by a sense that the world is no longer expanding with opportunities. Nevertheless, in most projects rather than imagining themselves as passive heirs of a damaged future, youths value their strength such as imagination. “Youths have more imagination than adults, they’re smarter, they have more dreams” (Générations F). They see themselves as active shapers of politics, climate action, education, and community life (Youth Futures Under Construction). They envision high-level jobs for themselves such as head of banks (Banking on Youth), or acting as heroes saving the planet (Kidding the Future), leaders of needed revolutions (Générations F), or having new important skills to adapt to the world they also wish to see.
“I’m in a tribe called the Mogonis. It’s 2123 and we’re making things that we stick on our faces so we can talk in Morse code with plants.”
Générations F
While structural barriers such as lack of access to resources, and non-consideration by elders, might hinder their full involvement (Feeling Futures Through the Stuff We Wear), calls for “collective courage”, pep-talk and manifest of qualities needed to navigate the world of tomorrow, are also expressed:
“We don’t have much time, the planet doesn’t have much time. The struggle is necessary and we need to unite and build rather than divide and dismiss…The climate emergency needs strong and courageous people- strong and courageous to listen, empathize, mediate, unite, negotiate. Only then will we be able to move forward…”
JustFutures
The purpose imagined by the participants are generally active within the diverse landscape of necessary climate and social change and within the political system in place. Whether in their speculative stories or by suggesting actual concrete ways in which they could be more involved, what comes out from these projects is the desire to be part of important decisions and to play a part in what will shape their future.
Importance of relations, community and intergenerational dialogue
Dialogue is seen as a critical part of how young people start building purpose within their communities in the future.
In several narratives, youths place strong emphasis on relationships, both with people and with their environment, as the foundation for action. In a certain way, distinguishing the role they play not as individuals acting alone, but as finding their purpose within an ecosystem of human and non-human actors. In the Générations F theater project, young participants embody “children and teenagers from different possible futures, each displaying signs of their new way of life in relation to the environment in which they live.” This project represents “tribes” with distinct visions, values, and agency, where children have a part to play within the community.
The Centre for Reworlding emphasizes the importance of an intergenerational cross-cultural model where “children and seniors [are] active participants” and where “inclusive, culturally-affirmative spaces are grounded in Indigenous knowledge and community”. These places should exist to “build depth” and continue longstanding struggles for justice and sustainability, while taking the time to listen to what young people have to say.
Finding voice through storytelling and emotional expressions
Within the political arena, young people also share the need to find their voice. Storytelling can help them understand their place and their contribution to society, especially in matters of climate change.
While young respondents from Youth Talks’ global consultation articulate profound concerns about “wars and conflicts, alongside economic inequalities and depletion of resources”, they also synthesize themes of youth identity, struggle, and hope, revealing a “paradox between aspirations of peace and social justice and the realities of a world troubled by tensions and disparities.” and where youths are “in the process of finding their place in a world that may not seem as full of opportunities… or seems more threatening than the one their elders grew in.” Within these narratives, emotional expressions and stories emerge as political tools that can help translate complex ideas into collective action.
Several young participants in Net Zero and You(th) depict how personal narratives draw others into climate conversations, through storytelling and personal tales. “Climate action begins with a story and every young person already has one to tell”, says one participant. Through storytelling and other practices based on dialogue, youths link personal experience with wider transformations, connect to others, and work towards having a political impact.
Active agents
“Youths are not passive victims but active agents of change.”
This is also how youths from Youth Futures Under Construction view themselves: participating in co-research, artistic resistance, documenting lived realities, leading local transformative projects, etc. Yet, the project also demonstrated that “efforts must be supported by broader structural change” and that “young people cannot be left without allies,” underscoring once again the limits of youth agency without systemic transformation. How can we “learn or relearn personal values and virtues that allow people to ‘live together’ in harmony,” such as “respect, kindness, solidarity, tolerance, openmindedness, empathy, acceptance, responsibility, friendship, love”? (Youth Talks) Far from being a soft skill, adopting those qualities become “core attitudes and values needed to ‘make society’” ,
For many youths, in order to be an active agent and to work collectively in taking that place in society, these qualities need to be not only considered but individually and collectively worked on: “it’s not a matter of priority, rather of sequence. You need healthy, secure individuals to deal with the climate crises.”
Young people imagine both their individual and collective place as being vital, imaginative, emotional actors who are pursuing strategic, emotionally smart and meaningful work, while being deeply connected to values of care, community and justice. In these projects, they articulate how dialogue and storytelling can open doors, enabling them to claim space and influence in shaping the future.