16 out of the 54 projects  addressed the subject of resources in depth. The most frequent types of resources described are energy and food. We sometimes encountered some mentions of water but barely anything on other materials (except in Urbanités Numériques en jeu).

Several factors may contribute to explaining their place in the young people’s narratives:

• Energy and food are sectors with which we are in contact. They are resources we consume as citizens and which consumption we can influence at our scale. Thus, they are parts of the ecological transitions we can better grasp (compared to other domains like finance or law which are black boxes for many people).
• Energy and food are also widespread topics of discussion in the media and in politics. They form, to a certain extent, a common ground in the fight against climate change.
• Resources are topics of the fight against climate change we can talk about on technical terms. Compared to other subjects (such as individual behaviours, politics), they are easier to quantify and objectivize.
• But they are also interconnected with many other domains and can consequently spark change at a systemic level. For example, if we find a way to produce massive and clean energy, we can power machines to decontaminate the air, we can keep on traveling far, and so on; on the other hand, an energy-constraint future begs the question of who and what will be prioritized or sacrificed.

Finally, they can work as symbols. They bear within themselves a representation of our ways of living and functioning as a society. They condense all the issues, although only partially, but summarize them well.

Focus #1 : Energy

Energy as the source of youth engagement

The “Energy transition” is the core work of Enter Nusantara, an initiative promoting renewable energy implementation, campaigning for a coal ban and also developing storytelling and other creative awareness formats. This initiative was created by young people who wanted to take into their own hands this urgent and concrete matter to fight against pollution and climate change.

The material and concrete dimension in energetic issues encouraged these young people to take action and influence themselves how their communities or families are supplying and consuming.

Energy as an enabler of other changes

In other projects, the mention of energy seemed like a byproduct of its significant presence in the media and in political discourse. It is the case for the Museum of the Not-Yet-Possible, where some narratives seem to fantasize energy solutions for the sole purpose of making all other promised technological developments possible.

“Now how does a self-powered generator that emits cleaner air and produces enough energy to power buildings, homes, business, communities? Coming into power the world, we introduce INFINITE. A power source that’s able to power itself and regulate how much energy is being poured out, and can also convert external sources of energy such as solar, wind, hydro, and thermal.” 
Excerpt from the students’ project “INFINITE”

Energy as the example of a systemic transformation

In Butterfly 2050, the concern for energy is the starting point of multiple processes of optimization, efficiency of use and sobriety. While some narratives give AI the role to calculate every consumption in order to avoid any possible waste, others rely on low-techs¹. The world of Eclipse (one of the narratives of the project) functions entirely with low techs: solar deflection to communicate locally, solar ovens, pedal-operated washing machines, passive coolers to mitigate heat, redirected skylights to avoid electric lighting, and so on…

Nowadays, low tech propositions are not the most discussed publicly but these stories seem to  demonstrate that some young participants want to reflect more deeply and innovate in these technical domains. Decentralized energy systems empowering the communities and models of circular economy are some examples that emerged from Youth Climate Lab’ discussions. These two propositions actually shift the responsibility for energy and resources issues from national management to local organizations.

Energy as a “gateway” competence, a condition to participate in climate discussions

The youths involved in very institutional contexts also integrate their point of view on energy and resources as a way to have their say in the current negotiations. These issues are almost mandatory points to consider when putting together comprehensive proposals for decision-makers (Le Théâtre des Négociations, Emerging Breakthroughs on Climate Change).

The pupils involved in Urbanités numériques en jeu were specifically trained in the technical aspects of their architectural projects to help them gain agency in the urban planning or renovation projects they were included in. It enabled them to express their desire for sustainable development by proposing to reuse material, integrate solar panels in the structures and even rainwater harvesting solutions.

Focus #2: Food

What and how food is produced, processed, distributed and consumed is a good summary of how a society is organized and evolves. It says much about economics, logistics, culture, and of course the relationship between human and nonhuman forms of life. Food appears as a significant, sometimes central component of many of the images of the future formulated by young people in the projects surveyed by WTFutures.

Future Images of Youth on Food systems, a Finnish research project that analyzed 123 essays on “food and eating in Finland in 2050” written by high school students, found six archetypal “images of the future”:

• “BAU+” (Business as usual): evolutionary changes driven by convenience, innovation, economics, and some policy.
• “Conscious consumer”: dietary changes driven by young consumers, leading to major reduction in meat consumption, attention to health and ethical production.
• “Back to the roots”: focus on local (even urban and home-grown) production and consumption, organic food, culinary tradition and convivial meals, support to farmers.
• “Strict regulation”: regulation dictates who produces and eats what, meat is reserved for the wealthy.
• “Technology solves”: individualized diets and meals based on high-tech food-production industries (cloning, cellular agriculture, robotic farms), innovation replaces traditional agriculture.
• “Dystopia: food for survival”: food shortages mean highly regulated daily intakes in order to feed the majority. Only a privileged few retain access to quality food.

Aubervilliers 2154 imagines a radical reorganization of this suburban city’s space, with one third of its surface dedicated to growing food, as well as submitting transportation and logistics to the needs of equitably feeding the population. There are other, social, democratic and cultural aspects to the transformations imagined by a group of students, but the “new urban metabolism” is clearly the driving factor.

Four ideas seem to be shared in the stories and images of the future created in the aforementioned, as other projects:

• Local food production, distribution and consumption, including in cities, connected with social justice concerns;
• The reduction, sometimes the near-disappearance of meat consumption (Citadins, Citadines 2050);
• Agroecology and other sustainable forms of agriculture (Pedagogías del Mañana);
• The cultural value of food (cuisine, meals as collective moments, rituals…)

1. Low tech refers to simple, accessible, and often low-cost technologies that rely on minimal resources, are easy to maintain, and prioritize sustainability over complexity or high performance.