Editor's Note: With this post we welcome Richard Graves to the writing team. Richard is editor of It's Getting Hot in Here, and will be contributing posts on sustainability topics, community projects and youth activism. Welcome Richard!
Why Does the Youth Voice Matter? There are a few facts not in dispute that tell a troubling story, that the next 50 years will be off-the-charts. Talk to a climate scientist, an economist, petroleum geologist, or a technologist and you notice a trend. The scale of change over the next 50 years is simply unforeseen. Greenhouse gas emissions, peak oil, population, economic growth, spread of the internet and mobile phones, things are changing at unprecedented and fantastic rates. Yet the key decisions about the response to these dynamics are being made now, locking us into different pathways - of building a sustainable society or one that plunges headlong into an ecological crisis - of tackling extreme poverty and social justice or a stratified society of a jet-set elite and grinding poverty - a society laboring under crushing debt from military expenditures or building green jobs and a vibrant global economy. The ones who will live with these decisions and face the a white-knuckle roller coaster ride of social, economic, and environmental change are the youth of today.
Youth have a critical and essential but under-represented voice in building the world they must live in. Young people will live through the consequences of the earth-shaking decisions that are being made now, but are under-represented in traditional decision-making, media, and advocacy institutions. The decisions made 'for our own good' are done by world leaders of governments, corporations, international institutions, and NGOs. Seniority-based and typically conservative, within these institutions youth are usually making coffee or copies when their lives are the ones at stake. Globally, youth under 25 make up almost half of the population, but are often exposed to conflict, disease, environmental degradation, or political exclusion. How can Youth build a voice strong enough to be heard? Few institutions are as open to youth engagement or as familiar to youth participants as the digital realm of New Media. With an audience of billions with email, hundreds of millions of blogs, and 49 million on Facebook alone, digital media is a marketplace of ideas with low barriers to entry and rapid responsiveness to creative efforts. Youth New Media allows for the development of the youth voice, independent from traditional, seniority-based institutions. Opportunity knocks but also necessity beckons, as youth audiences are increasingly fragmented and difficult to reach with traditional media campaigns. Simply, youth New Media has revolutionary potential to elevate the youth voice and engage institutions with decision-making power. How to leverage New Media to build youth power. Revolutionary potential is there, but is inadequate without leverage. The power triangle is one method of building power through online engagement, one that has lessons for youth engagement. A power triangle of Online Communities, Traditional Media, and Institutional Champions can create a force far greater than the sum of its parts. (See Triangle Theory) However, the lessons learned are that access is key, requiring the 'sanction' of youth NGOs or media institutions, while there, rock the boat, ask the questions everybody wants to ask, but won't, and finally be the story. Show up with something interesting and get their attention or raise hell till you have it. Has this worked? In 2005 at Montreal, youth activists took to the conference halls, streets, and the internet simultaneously - surprising the hell out of a UN climate negotiation where players had been mapped out and positions choreographed over years. With innovative tactics, pure passion, and strategic use of the internet and media, youth captured the spotlight and emphasized the calls to action by scientists and world leaders that participated in the negotiations. Putting their bodies on the line, with some activists arrested or expelled for their actions, they shone sunlight on the proceedings with their blog, www.itsgettinghotinhere.org, and their outreach to the community. What Next? Can this be repeated? Well, in the United States there is an upwelling of youth activism threatening to break through the painfully slow political processes in the United States. A massive conference, Power Shift 2007, will launch this effort with a complementary conference occurring in Australia - Switched On, and the UN climate Negotiations in Bali. Other efforts, like TakingITGlobal are build capacity for a global youth movement unprecedented in human history. So, watch out and put an ear to the ground, because this is going to be off-the-charts! This post is the exclusive online version of a mostly improvised speech delivered at the World Bank's Youth-2-Youth UN week Conference in Oct. 2007. See the Google Presentation, here.
