By Dylan Kelly Imagine for a moment being 16 years old and reading the latest climate change article shared around social media . How would you feel? What thoughts would you have about your future, society, and your place in it? Would you feel anxiety? Would you be motivated to take action? Climate change and its impacts are a major concern for young people. A recent survey of students at one Maine high school found that 58% think about climate change daily and 48% want to engage in organized environmental action around the issue. Youth are thinking about what climate change means for their future and they want to be change agents. So what is our role as youth workers in supporting their goals? Environmental action: How change happens Environmental action involves deliberating, planning, implementing and reflecting on a project or action to achieve a defined environmental outcome. The focus is not on youth changing individual behaviors (e.g. turning the lights off when leaving a room
Our youth development educators bridge research and practice. In this blog, they offer their views on what's happening in the field of youth development, with an eye to evidence-based research written by themselves and others in our field. We welcome your comments.