
Will this youth-led movement be a tipping point in the climate crisis? (Jake Meyers/University of Arizona).
Will this youth-led movement be a tipping point in the climate crisis? (Jake Meyers/University of Arizona).
âWe need to prepare the next generation to take care of the planet and themselves,â says Janet Rothers, mother of two and co-founder of the Navigators Tucson Chapter.
Rothers, like millions of others across the globe, attended last monthâs climate strike along with her children and members of her all gender, secular family scouting organization. The Navigators typically organize camping trips and engage in community service work, however, they decided it was important to participate in this yearâs climate march in Tucson, Arizona.
âI thought it was important enough to let my kids know [climate change] is going on in the worldâ explained Rothers.
Parents like Rothers are starting to realize that trash pick-ups and recycling are not enough. While the previous generation was told that they can help protect the environment by picking up after yourself, todayâs youth were born into a planet in crisis that is seemingly overwhelming to manage.
âI donât want my children to be terrified of their future. I want them to be aware,â Rothers said
Thatâs why Rothers decided to bring her two children, Veronica and Oliver, to the Climate March in Tucson.
Youth like Janetâs eight-year-old daughter Veronica believe it is important to participate in events like the climate march. Veronica believes protecting the planet is important because âkids in the future can have a happy life where they donât have to worry about the worldâs climate changing.â
Oliver, Veronicaâs 10-year-old brother, believes âwe have a perfectly good planet and we should protect it at all costs.â
Janet Rothers first had the idea of bringing her children and the Navigators to the strike after watching a Ted talk by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thurnberg, where she encouraged youth around the world to attend the climate strikes and demand climate action.
She asked Oliver and Veronica if they thought it would be appropriate to invite the Navigators club to join, to which Oliver said, âYes! Navigators and all of (our school) should go!â
âI would rather have a chance of doing something to help than to not do anythingâ Oliver explained.
âMany parents thanked us for doing this,â Rothers said.
Positive word of mouth spread and classmates of Oliver and Veronica joined the crowd where they watched older youth armed with megaphones make demands to their cityâs leaders for climate action.
To Rothers, it was important to teach her kids that âthey do not have to be a passive observerâ in the face of this climate crisis.
The event left a lasting impression on her children.
Oliver said he learned that, âWe are stronger together.â
âI might be able to help even though I am just one person,â Veronica said.
Rothers finds it frustrating that climate change doesnât dominate the headlines every day.
âIâd like to see a tipping point,â she said. âIâm hoping for that tipping point to happen sooner rather than later.â
According to The Guardian, youth from an estimated 185 countries made a unified and urgent demand for global action against change; time will tell whether or not this moment in history will serve as a tipping point for climate action.
Despite the challenges and pessimism, young people like Veronica and Oliver are starting to realize they have the power to take action against climate change if they do so together.
âRight now we are the ones who are making a difference. If no one else will take action, then we will,â said Greta Thunberg during the strike in New York. âWe demand a safe future. Is that really too much to ask?â