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The Power of Youth

Updated: Aug 30, 2021

Author: Caroline Fang






The catalyst for many changes today are youth. Recently, youth-led movements and organizations have influenced - and continue to influence - changes, whether directly or indirectly on a variety of crucial issues, including climate change, gun violence, gender inequality, etc. A few notable examples of these movements and organizations are the climate change movement inspired by Greta Thumberg, school walkouts, Team ENOUGH, and ONE Youth Ambassadors.


Climate change is an important issue that has been talked about enough, but not enough has been done about it. Despite experts repeatedly warning governments and corporations about the dangers of increasing carbon dioxide emissions and that significant actions must be taken quickly, governments and corporations continue to squabble among each other about who is responsible. The most significant climate change agreement among countries is the Paris Agreement. It was put into force in November 2016 and aims to help countries reduce their carbon emissions. However, this agreement has numerous disastrous flaws, including lack of ambition, incentives, and punishments. Greta Thumberg is a notable climate change activist, who has taken matters into her own hands. In August 2018, when she was 15 years old, Thumberg started protesting outside the Swedish parliament, holding up a sign saying, “School Strike for Climate”. Soon, after a few weeks, this started to gain the media’s attention as well as the attention of other youths until, in February 2019, an astonishing number of more than 10,000 children/teens across the UK went on strike. Since that time, Thumberg has made speeches to significant audiences, such as the United Nations. Though Thumberg has not directly signed off or passed any binding policies, her solo protest gone global has contributed to creating an environment which may force governments to take significant actions towards slowing climate change soon.


I think we’ve all heard of the Parkland shooting, a tragic high school shooting that killed 17 people. It’s an event that has caused sadness and anger in many people and has sparked the debate on gun control. It’s an event that has caused a cascade of school walkouts, such as in Green Hope High School in Cary, North Carolina. In February 2018, approximately 2,000 students, about ⅔ of the student body, walked out of class as part of a nationwide protest against violence in schools. However, these walkouts are mostly one-time events for each school. More permanent actions carried out by youth-led organizations have also risen out of the shooting. One example is Team ENOUGH. This organization has organized multiple gatherings to garner support and lobby legislators. In addition, Team ENOUGH hosts webinars to train students how to lobby legislators. Led by a very diverse and passionate Execute Board, this organization is slowly making strides towards their mission to educate more youth and stop gun violence. You can join Team ENOUGH today at https://www.teamenough.org/join-us.



In America, Africa has often been depicted as the poorest continent with the worst living conditions. This is not entirely incorrect. Sure, there are some fairly wealthy countries in Africa where, as my 8th grade English teacher exaggeratedly said, the citizens live like kings and queens, but there are many more where the citizens have limited or no access to clean water, enough food, or education. Governments of developed countries have tried to stabilize these countries for decades. However, an organization called ONE, which includes an important group called ONE Youth Ambassadors, believed the government could help in a better way. Thus, ONE proposed the BUILD Act in 2018. After being backed by 78,000 petition signatures and 54 lobby meetings, the act was finally signed into law in October 2018. This act allowed American entrepreneurs and investors to invest in Africa, promoting economic development. As important as this act was, many other of ONE’s initiatives did not call for legal actions in developed countries. One example is the Poverty is Sexist campaign, which focuses on gender inequality. Started in 2015, the campaign aims to highlight the extremity of gender inequality throughout the world. Many famous people such as Oprah Winfrey, Melinda Gates, and Muhammad Ali joined their call for gender equality in 2016. Additionally, over 45 activists from Africa co-signed an open letter for gender equality with ONE in 2019. The organization has raised billions of dollars for the fight against HIV/AIDS and girls’ education, as well as successfully calling for sexual assault laws in Senegal to improve drastically, enhancing protection for girls and women against gender-based violence. You can join ONE today at: https://www.one.org/us/take-action/join/. Previous campaigns can be found in “Our Victories'' under the “Take Action” tab.


You can start to make an impact on issues important to you right now too. Develop your idea and share that idea with others around you. You can read articles on how to do this on Phenomewomen’s blog. Start small and soon it’ll go big if you keep at it. I promise.




Written by: Caroline Fang

 
 
 

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