Environment & Animal WelfareThe youth demographic is at times ignored in the conversation surrounding climate anxiety, but there are some incredible organizations that are looking to change that, through both local and national programming, as well as grassroots community engagement.
Youth Climate Lab is a youth-led and youth-serving organization that focuses on empowering youth to become leaders in the climate space through programs, resource sharing, and professional development. They work on climate policy as well, through policy briefs like their Northern Climate Manual and Art for Climate Justice programs. The organization’s staff is all under the age of 35 and their board is 50% youth, with some programs focused on high school students, but most often geared towards the 18-35 demographic.
“A big part of it is: who is bearing the brunt of the climate crisis,” says Cory Witter, executive director of Youth Climate Lab. “Being in neighbourhoods next to industrial plants that are creating pollution, as well as the disproportionate BIPOC folks that are in those frontline communities or doing this kind of work and experiencing these more negative effects, compounded with their higher levels of burnout with BIPOC youth.”
Finance Engage Sustain partnered with Youth Climate Lab for the From Root to Sky program, which included an initial virtual pilot year and has since transitioned to in-person and place-based events that focus on youth, especially Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) participants, through art, peer support, and land-based learning.
“There’s a lot of tokenization that exists, especially for indigenous folks, who are expected to be the spokesperson, and ‘do all of the things’. It’s incredibly draining,” says Witter. “But youth are more aware and more willing to talk about mental health, which is great.”
“I do think it’s affecting youth more because a big part of the anxiety is… what is the world we’re going to inherit?” says Witter. “Youth are often put in those decision-making spaces but they don’t have that authority. So the stress of what’s going to happen, without a lot of means to change what’s going to happen, is very frustrating. That’s why we’re trying to get youth in leadership, trying to get youth positions and ideas in front of [decision-makers].”
Witter blames “eco-anxiety” on the increased burnout and turnover for folks working in the climate space, which is exacerbated by a lack of accessible opportunities for youth to make a lasting difference.
“Part of why I really love Youth Climate Lab is we are very positivity-oriented, very action-oriented,” says Witter. “Instead of focusing on the stuff we can’t do, we focus on the changes we can make, the accomplishments we can achieve. Like, ‘this is what we CAN do. This is what we’re good at, and let’s do that really well.”
From Root to Sky is a program that fits a not-commonly-talked-about niche, addressing both mental health and climate action. It has been effective in increasing awareness, and in reducing negative outcomes for individuals—as well as socially and politically.
“Having that peer support and having people that are actively listening and creating those spaces is one of the most helpful things you can do to help mitigate that,” says Witter. “Our core principles are around radical collaboration and bringing unlikely actors and different ideas and energies together.”
Finance Engage Sustain is an organization that Witter and her team has been working with basically since inception, where Youth Climate Lab provides the programming and implementation, while Finance Engage Sustain provides the overall capacity and engagement.
Witter has also noticed a growth in the desire for organizations and individuals to meet in person, to gather in groups, and to work together on a common goal.
“There’s been so many more coalitions, so many more group things coming out of people saying like, ‘let’s get out there, let’s do that in-person work!’” says Witter. “Youth are [also] feeling the housing crisis, the affordability crisis, when in reality the housing crisis is directly tied to climate.”
Still, she remains hopeful.
“I’m not expecting magic, or stuff to suddenly change. I know it’s going to be a lot of work that will extend past my lifetime as well, as it gets more severe, it might need to get worse before it gets better,” says Witter. “But that doesn’t mean you stop, because none of these other people before me stopped.”
To learn more about Youth Climate Lab’s From Root to Sky program, visit youthclimatelab.org/frts.