Global Day of Action
About three weeks ago, OY4C (Our Youth for The Climate) held its annual Global Day of Action, a day to bring about change internationally. This was hosted by OY4CCommunities, in-presence groups that represent and implement OY4C’s principles on a local scale. The goal of this initiative is to promote a local change that enacted across all the participating Communities can create a global change. GDoA promotes the idea of systemic change through individual efforts. Most importantly however, the GDoA is about coming into direct contact with the members and places of your community to build together a sense of unanimity aimed at preserving the well-being of the community itself.
This year, one of the Communities that participated in the GDoA was the OY4C Milano Community. Milano is a metropolis in the northern part of Italy, and as of 2021 is the second most populated city in Italy. Over the recent years, Milano has developed a reputation for being a city where those who are looking for new opportunities and the latest innovations come to settle. This includes a vast amount of young people, the majority university students.
As a youth-led movement, the involvement of younger generations in climate activism is essential to Our Youth for the Climate. These are the generations that are going to be the most impacted from the effects of climate change, which, if emissions continue with current rates, will reach a peak in their lifetimes. For this reason, it is crucial for young people to be aware of the problem, as well as the solutions they can contribute to. To get a better understanding of how we can help our community, we also need to assess the level of awareness on topics due to climate change. We chose emissions, a baseline climate issue and this year’s GDoA theme.
As briefly mentioned, emissions are an extremely important part of the problem. Because of this, it’s essential to correctly estimate how much the general public truly knows about this topic. For the Day of Action, OY4C Milano decided to partake in a “cookie for thought” activity. This consists of going around with a box of free cookies and giving them out in exchange for a brief interview, or a “thought”, from the person who is interested in eating them. We focused on surveying young people’s knowledge on the term “emissions” and what they think of when they hear it.
To guarantee surveying a diverse enough crowd, we handed out cookies in Milano’s main city square, a space located right in front of the well-known Duomo Cathedral. Here, all kinds of crowds hang out, from influencers and families visiting, to kids who go to school close-by. After asking questions to different groups, all part of lower age groups and all residents of Milano, we found fairly varied results. Many had heard the term “emissions” before, but those who had mostly associated it with air pollution and driving less vehicles. Some knew about how industrial processes emit harmful gasses, and some also connected the topic to food production and fast fashion. However, almost no one mentioned the role that big corporations or fossil fuel extractions play in contributing to the issue. In contrast, a few people had never even heard the term, and many refused to comment because of their self-proclaimed ignorance on the subject.
From this sort-of experiment, we can conclude that although nowaday climate education can be easily accessible, it does not necessarily mean that younger generations are properly educated on the topic. The answers of the people interviewed demonstrated a lack of deep understanding, where there was understanding, at all, of the topic. While these results can seem unpromising, they can actually contribute to helping us determine what areas we need to be focusing on to engage as many young people as possible in the climate movement. Based on these results, it is clear that factual and stimulating climate education is still needed and that, at least in Milano, it seems to be an obstacle that stops people from joining the movement or pursuing possible actions. More specifically, our results imply that it’s particularly important to focus on how company/government facilities or actions contribute to emitting harmful gasses and what we can do to demand legislative and large-scale action. On the upside, people’s lack of education gives us hope. If we can keep providing accurate information on topics regarding the climate crisis, we can mobilitate public opinion to lean towards a positive collective change.
Written by: Beatrice Bos
Edited by: Sophia Hernandez