
This is a dedicated article for suggestions on how to take your climate action further. This article is a part of the #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit and will be updated throughout the series as new episodes roll out.
The #Youth4ClimateLive Series brings together a diverse group of unstoppable youth at the forefront of creative climate action for virtual monthly discussions in the lead-up to next year’s Pre-COP and COP26 activities (for more on the Series or to find out what a Pre-COP is, please visit our Educational Toolkit Introduction Article). The complementary #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit aims to help students dig deeper into important climate topics covered in the Series and encourages them to learn more about Climate Ambition and taking #ClimateAction!
How Do We #TakeAction?
We are at a pivotal moment in time where the need for ambitious climate action is just as urgent as it’s ever been and yet major climate events have been postponed while people stay safe at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Youth around the world are continuing to mobilize using innovative virtual ways of connecting and organizing. By tuning in to the #Youth4ClimateLive Series every month, young people can stay up to date, broaden their horizons, and connect with the global Youth4Climate community to help drive momentum towards the landmark climate summits now scheduled for the end of 2021.
The #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit offers additional ideas on how stay engaged through watching inspiring videos and films, learning more about favorite climate solutions, keeping the mind active with games and puzzles, creating poetry and music, and diving into other #ClimateAction activities. We’re hoping that the #Youth4ClimateLive Series and Educational Toolkit will help activate and energize students and young people so that they’re excited to go beyond the parameters of these resources and keep the conversation going in their own communities as they #TakeAction from home.
The world needs to continue ratcheting up our collective climate ambition and now is the time to get involved. It’s important to take this time while “business as usual” has been put on hold to prepare for Pre-COP and COP26 so that young people can be a driving force for ambitious action and a successful outcome. Any young person looking to participate directly in the Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition event in Milan next year should submit to the #SumItUp competition and follow @Connect4Climate on social media to get the latest news on what’s being planned. Looking for additional ways to get involved? See what resonates with you below and find your place in the movement!
Banner image courtesy of Milada Vigerova, Pixabay.
Stay Up-to-Date With the Climate Calendar
Ongoing: Tune in each month to the #Youth4ClimateLive Series
Ongoing: UNEP Blue Sky has a list of online events related to air pollution
Ongoing: Innovate4Climate hosts a Webinars for Climate Innovation Series
Nov 16-20: The Sustainable Innovation Forum
Nov 9-19: Race to Zero Dialogues from the UNFCCC
Create Original Content
Climate Poetry
You can compose a Collective Poem with your friends and/or classmates - check out our example here!
Climate Videos
Produce a Climate Action Video- Add your voice to the climate conversation by finishing the following sentences and then sharing online with the hashtag #Youth4ClimateLive (we’ve offered some pointers in italics!):
Together we can ________________________ (What is your main goal by taking action? What can we achieve when we all take climate action together?)
I’m taking climate action by ______________________ (What are you doing at home or in your community? It can be small, it can be big, but the more specific the better!)
I’m taking climate action because ___________________ (What drives you to act? What motivates or inspires you?)
Document a classroom environmental project and share online with the hashtag #Youth4ClimateLive
Organize a clean-up of a beach or other impacted ecosystem
Use the Earth Day Challenge 2020 App to identify a clean-up location near you and check out this example Clean-up
Start a schoolwide or community program for recycling, composting, reuse/upcycling, gardening/agriculture, tree planting, or water saving
Record your own #SumItUp video by sharing your key takeaways of a #Youth4ClimateLive episode in 1 minute
- Add your voice to the climate conversation by finishing the following sentences and then sharing online with the hashtag #Youth4ClimateLive (we’ve offered some pointers in italics!):
Climate Graphic Design
Design your own #SumItUp infographic by representing your key takeaways of a #Youth4ClimateLive episode using a compelling visual style
Launch a schoolwide challenge for innovative sustainability hacks using one of these graphics as inspiration:
Submit to the 2021 New Blood Awards “Cheer on the Planet with Sport4Climate” brief by designing a guerilla advertising campaign to inspire sports fans to take climate action
Climate Music
Upcycle instruments from trash like Stories of Change - The Recycled Orchestra of Cateura and The Landfill Harmonic!
Write songs or record covers of environmental ballads like the Mama Initiative
Create a climate action rap like these Irish schoolkids
Climate Discussion
Plan a Youth Climate Dialogue using this guide by our partners at UN Climate Change
Post about your conversation online with the hashtag #Youth4ClimateLive
Climate Advocacy
Get involved in the Trillion Tree Campaign, an app connects users to Tree Planting Organizations all over the world, so you can plant trees in your local community while having global impact.
Wish4Climate! Create an eco-inspired Yoko Ono ‘Wish Tree’ with your friends, family or classroom.
Volunteer from home! Do you read and write in multiple languages? You can volunteer with Climate Cardinals as a translator for climate education resources to ensure all people around the world get access to culturally-responsive climate education.
Support a Youth Movement: there are lots of youth organizations out there, check our network of Connect4Climate partners to get inspired and research youth movements active in your own country!
Take an Online Course or Download an App
Get Your Feet Wet
For a fun activity you could try UNDP’s Mission 1.5, which uses mobile gaming technology to educate people about climate solutions, asking them to vote on the actions that they want to see happen
TED Ed: Our Changing Climate - this collection is a series of 53 animated lessons intended for all levels
The SDG Academy can be helpful if you’re looking for short informational videos on key climate subjects that can support specific episodes. These range from the introductory, like Nature-Based Solutions: Resilience, to in depth looks at topics like Extreme Weather Projections
Dive Deeper
UNDP’s Spark Blue Youth Dashboard is a digital engagement tool for development practitioners
Download the ActNow app to join the UN ActNow Campaign for individual action
From Climate Science to Action - take a course from the World Bank Group on Coursera
UN Climate Change’s e-Learning Platform is a great resource for self-paced online courses on a range of climate topics, from introductory courses such as Introduction to the Green Economy to advanced courses like Climate Change International Legal Regime
Connect With the #Youth4ClimateLive Community
Follow Youth Champions and Global Leaders on Social Media:
Co-Hosts
Ahmed Badr (USA, Iraq), Author, While the Earth Sleeps We Travel and Founder, Narratio
Salina Abraham (USA, Eritrea), Harvard University student, Global Landscape Forum Advisor, Former President of the International Forestry Students Association
Alok Sharma, COP26 President
Elizabeth Wathuti (Kenya), Environmentalist and Climate Activist
Marie-Claire Graf (Switzerland), Co-Focal Point of YOUNGO & Co-Founder of Sustainability Week International
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary, UN Climate Change
Selina Neirok Leem (Marshall Islands), Climate Warrior from the Marshall Islands
Sergio Costa, Minister of Environment, Land and Sea, Italy
Episode 2: Driving Sustainable Recovery
Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
Axell Sutton (Mexico), Co-Chairman, Latin American Student Energy Summit 2021
Carolina Schmidt, COP25 President and Minister of Environment, Chile
Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President, European Commission
Jhannel Tomlinson (Jamaica), Caribbean Climate Activist and Ph.D. candidate
Seble Samuel (Ethiopia), Co-Founder, Menged Le Sew
Episode 3: Driving Youth Action
Ernest Gibson (Fiji), Member, UN Secretary-General's Youth Advisory Group and Pacific Regional Youth Coordinator, CSO Partnership for Development
Heeta Lakhani (India), Director, UmeUs United Pvt. Ltd., YOUNGO Focal Point
Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth
Rachele Rizzo (Italy), Youth Section Coordinator & UNFCCC Contact Point, Italian Climate Network
Sergio Costa, Minister of Environment, Land and Sea, Italy
Episode 4: Driving Nature-Based Solutions
Archana Soreng (India), Member, UN Secretary General's Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change and Research Officer, Vasundhara Odisha
Christiana Figueres, Founding Partner, Global Optimism and Former Executive Secretary, UNFCCC
Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers (Canada), Junior Doctor and Board Member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)
David Nabarro, WHO Special Envoy for COVID-19
Lord Goldsmith, UK Minister of State for Pacific and Environment, FCDO and DEFRA
Mariangela Zappia, Ambassador and Permanent Rep. of Italy to the UN in New York
Vanessa Nakate (Uganda), Climate Activist and Founder, Rise Up Climate Movement
Episode 5: Driving Empowerment
Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations
Emanuela Del Re, Vice Minister, Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy
Fatou Jeng (Gambia), Founder of Clean Earth Gambia & Trillion Trees Campaigner for Plant-for-the-Planet
Louise Mabulo (Philippines), Chef, Farmer, Entrepreneur & Founder of The Cacao Project
Sophia Kianni (USA, Iran), Founder & Executive Director of Climate Cardinals & Member of the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change