Climate and digital natives

Climate natives^def:1 are of course also Digital natives^def:2. Digital tools and services play a significant, sometimes central role in their lives, notably through social media. They may love it and/or hate it, in varying proportions, but it’s part of their outlook on the future. According to research, and to young persons themselves, social media contributes strongly to the mental health crisis among youths: the young Slovaks participating in Future Is Now connect it to “addiction, solitude, alienation of real life and natural environments”, polarization; and, looking further in the future, to people feeling “socially useless due to the replacement of their work by automation.”

Techno futures are also some of the most basic tropes of science fiction and popular forms of futuring, where technological innovation often determines the direction of social change. No wonder there are so many flying cars, robots, virtual reality, brain chips, as well as surveillance technologies, in the images of the future produced by young participants all over the world (Kidding the Future, Museum of the Not‑Yet‑Possible).

That being said, how do this experience and these (somewhat pre-formatted) imaginaries of technology inform young people’s views of a future marked by climate change?

To begin with, there is very little mention of the role of technological innovation in creating climate change, by way of creating needs, increasing consumption, facilitating the circulation of goods and materials, accelerating cycles, rebound effects, etc. Contrary to another science fiction trope, the projects we have surveyed, also do not describe technological dystopias where technology becomes the main instrument of (soft and hard) oppression – with one exception (Citadins, Citadines 2050).

Optimism and wariness

Overall, many projects either do not mention technology, or express a certain level of trust in it. Some just express trust that science and technology will bring “solutions”: clean energy generation and use (like in transportation), carbon capture and storage, cleanup of pollutants, sustainable materials, etc. This optimism seems particularly present in East Asia.

Interestingly, we have found no significant mention of “extreme” technological futures such as the singularity^def:3 or transhumanism^def:4.

However, some projects express a certain level of skepticism or wariness that tempers, or at times contradicts, the optimism. Along with the negative effects of social media, surveillance (authoritarianism and/or soft control) and automation (making human work irrelevant) are the two factors mentioned in several stories.

→ The tension between optimism and distrust towards technology is further explored in the “Tensions” section: Technology on the side of the problem / Technology on the side of the solution.

Active tech

There are also hints of an alternative technology agenda, which relates as much, or perhaps more, to climate adaptation^def:5 than mitigation^def:6: decentralized, off-grid, renewable power generation (see Energy and Ressources) powering, for example, local agroecology (Climate futures in Mali); pedal-powered machines; passive cooling; aquaponics as the cornerstone of a circular and sustainable food system in South Africa (Eduponics).

The innovation here is organizational, not just technical. In some cases, advanced technology powers these alternative arrangements: decentralized energy grids organized with blockchains (Emerging Horizons), massive climate transhumance powered by “AI and digital twins” (Butterfly 2050)… Instead of calling this agenda “low tech^def:7”, we will therefore call it “active tech”, because the technologies in question, be they high or low, do not solve problems for people, they enable them to solve their own problems as well as choose their own priorities.

In this sense, the vision of technology expressed by the young participants also connects to their quest for a role in society that they can, at least in part, define for themselves.

1. A Climate Native is a person who has grown up in a world marked by the prospect, and increasingly the reality, of anthropogenic climate change and its consequences.

2.  The term, coined by Marc Prensky in 2001, referred to generations born after 1900, in a world where digital technologies and networks were part of daily lives since the earliest ages.

3. “A hypothetical point in time at which technological growth becomes completely alien to humans, uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable consequences for human civilization” – Wikipedia.

4. Human enhancement and/or transformation via technology.

5. Adaptation to climate change comprises adjustments in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate impacts, in particular by reducing vulnerability and damage.

6. Mitigation of climate change refers to actions to address the causes of climate change in order to limit its magnitude, by reducing or preventing the emission of greenhouse gases, as well as enhancing or restoring sinks that absorb them.

7. 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.