This November, the world has its eyes focused on the climate crisis, promoting international cooperation to complete the initiatives formerly set at the Paris Agreement. COP26 stands to be the most important climate conference since 2015, listing four main agendas: reduce emissions, employ mitigation strategies, provide capital, and work together to achieve these ends.
To ensure these objectives get completed, the youth population has become directly involved, tirelessly rallying for climate action through marches, strikes, and protests. Most recently, tens of thousands protested around the world in September, rallying behind youth figureheads such as Greta Thunberg.
At COP26, youth delegates from organisations such as Youth4Climate will once again take a stand, presenting findings and making their arguments on a world stage. At the British International Education Association, which has based its 2021 STEM competition on finding alternative food packaging alternatives, students from across the globe have submitted personalised videos addressing climate change. Working in partnership with the Scottish Youth Film Foundation SYFF, artworks from poems to skits to songs, these personal interpretations of climate change will be played aloud for the world leaders at COP26.
One student of the BIEA, Catherine James, poignantly writes in her poem, “global climate change, our disaster in slow motion”. These visceral representations of how the climate crisis affects children of all ages and locations are a stark reminder to these politicians of the importance of acting now– it is the children whose futures depend on daring policy initiatives and reducing carbon emissions.
As we know, there is one thing that all politicians can agree upon: saving the world for our children and grandchildren to see it.