Over time, climate change is contributing to issues around the world like hunger from failed crops and displaced families from flooding. Cutting emissions and preserving resources while we can is the only way to stall these problems. While we need major companies in energy and mining to make changes to reduce the amount of carbon we put out, there are also changes individuals can make to live greener, healthier lives. Consider these simple suggestions!

Photo by Bibhukalyan Acharya from Pexels

Watch Your Water

Parts of the United States and many other regions of the world are now facing extreme droughts and concerns of unsustainable water rationing. Even if you live somewhere that's not experiencing shortages, reducing water waste today can help prepare your family for drought response actions tomorrow and will free up water for others who might have urgent need of it. Conserving this precious resource also helps curb the climate change that's contributing to these droughts: the less water you waste, the less energy needs to be burned on water treatment, cutting down on carbon emissions.

A great way to reduce water waste is through rainwater collection. Saving rainwater provides you with extra stores you can use to water plants, refill fountains, wash cars, do laundry, or use for whatever other irrigation needs you have. Saving rainwater can reduce a home’s water requirements by as much as 70 percent. If hot water systems are supplied with rainwater, that reduction can increase to as much as 85 percent.

If rainwater collection isn’t an option, or if you’d just like to focus on your tap water use for now, Prestige Plumbing points out that low-flow faucets and toilets can be a boon. They save water, energy and money, and ultimately can help save our planet.

Photo by Vivint Solar from Pexels

Install Solar Panels

If paying your electricity bill eats a huge chunk out of your monthly budget, it may be time to consider alternatives for powering your home. Solar panels are becoming increasingly accessible in the United States. Solar energy is (in effect) endless in supply, and taking advantage of it has no adverse effects on the climate.

As the technology improves, the efficiency of solar panels increases. Today, homeowners can find panels that boast 20 to 23 percent efficiency ratings. As solar panels become cheaper and more efficient, the costs of traditionally sourced power continue to increase. Today homeowners in the U.S. are achieving their break-even point with solar in as short as three years.

Photo by Waldemar Brandt from Pexels

Check Your Windows

According to Energy Saver, heat loss and gain through windows is responsible for 25-30 percent of residential energy use. Testing for air leaks may be as simple as feeling for airflow along cracks, but there are other ways to know, such as when you can rattle a window (meaning a seal or frame is compromised) or when you can see daylight seeping in around a frame. 

While you can update your windows for better efficiency by addressing leaky frames with caulk or weatherstripping, it may be time to replace them outright. When searching for residential window repair near you, Angi recommends making sure the professional is insured and licensed (if required in your state). Also check their customer referrals, whether online or by calling the customers cited by the company.

And remember, even if your windows are in perfect condition, you're wasting valuable energy if you leave them open or cracked while simultaneously heating or cooling your unit artificially.

Photo by Singkham from Pexels

Change Your Light Bulbs

One of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint is to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs. Just transitioning to LEDs can save tremendously; they last 12 times longer than conventional bulbs, use less electricity, and even if you run them 12 hours a day you can expect them to last as long as 11 years.

Photo by Vincent M.A. Janssen from Pexels

Broaden Your Efforts

Adjusting your homelife is a big challenge, but you can effect even bigger changes by engaging your community. Look to cities that have successfully addressed their carbon footprint and what qualities they offer — like sustainable energy sources, walkability and bikeability — and think about how you can bring about change in your own hometown. Whether it’s starting your own green business or encouraging your local government to promote change, being more actively climate-positive is sure to make a real impact that will ripple out to others.

Amanda Henderson enjoys raising awareness of a variety of important issues and sharing handy lifehacks through writing. On her Safe Children blog, she provides thoughts and resources on parenting and child safety. Article banner image by David McBee from Pexels.

This article is one of several on the #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit and will be updated as new episodes of the Youth4Climate Live Series are released.

After watching a great episode of #Youth4ClimateLive, do you get the urge to hop on social media and spread positive climate ambition vibes? Maybe you get those urges all the time! Whatever the occasion, we’ve got just the ticket: fun and easy-to-use #Connect4Climate Action Templates.

These versatile templates are conducive to use in both personal Instagram Stories and in-person or virtual classroom settings. Download the PNG version to use directly on your Instagram, or use the handy printable PDF for an afternoon art project! If you’re meeting virtually, you can use a visual collaboration tool such as Jamboards to create a virtual collage. Take a look below for starter ideas on how to use these templates to spread your climate ambition. You can download your action templates here—we can’t wait to see all of the amazing work that you do!

How to use on Instagram: 

• Download the PNG file and save it to your mobile device

• Create an IG Story and upload the template

• Fill in the blanks using the text function. Be creative and use multiple colours, GIFs and emojis

• Tag @Connect4Climate with the hashtag #Youth4ClimateLive and share with your friends!

How to use in the in-person classroom:

• Download the PDF file and save it to your computer

• Print and distribute to students

• Fill in the blanks

• Post and enjoy!

How to use in the virtual classroom: 

• Download the PNG file or download the PDF file and save it to your computer

• Have students either: follow the steps for Instagram Stories and take a screenshot of their work, or print the PDF, complete and take a photo.

• Have students upload their work to a visual collaboration tool such as: 

  • JamBoard 

  • Miro for Education

  • Kami

Banner image courtesy of Anastasia Gepp, Pixabay.

This is a dedicated article on the topic of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Adjoining resources emphasize innovation and entrepreneurship as drivers of adaptation and resilience. This article is a part of the #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit.

Tackling the climate crisis and creating a sustainable future depend on groundbreaking innovation across all sectors: clean energy, financial tools, business models, policy ideas, low-carbon technologies, and more. Together, we can accelerate the transition to a green economy in a way that leaves no one behind.

The climate challenge presents the next generation with an incredible opportunity to focus their knowledge on innovation and becoming ‘green’ entrepreneurs. Many are already doing just that and finding the response to presenting new approaches for these problems that are both open minded and fully supportive. The thirst for creative ideas is never quenched and there are multiple chances to share original concepts and innovations with a variety of competitions, hackathons, forums and pitch hubs all over the world.

Urging institutions, corporations and entrepreneurs to lead the change with new climate-positive business models is a job for everyone. Young people are particularly positioned to accelerate this transition as they are more open to out-of-the-box thinking and will reap the benefits of a green economy for years to come. Whether it’s through founding their own start-ups, demanding sustainable products from their favorite brands, inventing new technologies, or calling on their leaders to implement policies that incentivise carbon neutral business models, young people have an important role to play.

Innovation powers economic competitiveness, creates jobs, and helps ensure that technology and manufacturing enterprises continue to contribute social and economic value to the global economy. To learn more about transformative and innovative action on climate change, you can plan to get involved in the 2021 Innovate4Climate summit, or get inspired by last year’s conference in Singapore here. Innovate4Climate, hosted by the World Bank Group, brings together business, finance, policy and technology leaders to accelerate action on financing climate-smart development.

Rapid application of new low impact technology together with support for education and training is crucial for vulnerable regions and communities around the world to enable them to take advantage of the latest innovations and advance sustainable development. It’s important that the next generation will have the skills needed to make maximum use of a low-carbon economy. Take a look around your own region - how are people in your community thinking outside the box when it comes to tackling climate change? Tell us about green innovation and entrepreneurship that you discover in your own area on Twitter and Instagram. If you’re interested in learning more about the different ways that people around the world are innovating for climate action, check out some of the resources below.

Banner image courtesy of StartupStockPhotos, Pixabay.

Podcasts provide listeners from all over the world with content that is educational, entertaining, and easily accessible at any time and place. As it’s still a relatively new medium (although borrowing from the long traditions of radio), podcasters are continuing to play with style, format, and genre depending on the topic they’re exploring.  With the urgency of the climate crisis weighing on the shoulders of global youth, it’s no wonder that many podcasters are harnessing the power of audio storytelling to help people understand what climate change is and what we can do about it.

Offering diverse perspectives and homing in on diverse facets of the #ClimateCrisis, here are some freely accessible podcasts to broaden your climate knowledge base on the go!

Get Your Feet Wet

• How to Save a Planet: a podcast hosted by journalist Alex Blumberg and scientist / policy nerd Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson that asks the big questions: what do we need to do to solve the climate crisis and how do we get it done? 

• Outrage and Optimism: a weekly podcast hosted by #Youth4ClimateLive alum Christiana Figueres that bridges both the outrage we see on the streets as well as the deep conviction that we CAN address climate change

• Costing the Earth: BBC podcast bringing you fresh ideas from the sharpest minds working toward a cleaner, greener planet

• Forest 404: a narrative podcast in the style of an eco-thriller starring Pearl Mackie

• The Biggest Story in the World: this is an older podcast (from 2015) but still gives  listeners a strong introduction to the basics of climate change and what solutions we need by going behind the scenes of the Guardian’s mission to tell a compelling and effective climate story 

• YALE Climate Connections: this is a series of bite-sized audio stories on different climate topics hosted by Dr Anthony Leiserowitz of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

• You’ve Been Warmed: start off this podcast with an episode featuring #Youth4ClimateLive Launch guest Elizabeth Wathuti

• Climate Talk: a youth-led and primarily youth-focused podcast for people all over the world to take practical and guided steps towards addressing Climate Change, hosted by #Youth4ClimateLive alum Seyifunmi Adebote

• Just Transitions: An Introduction: a podcast from our colleagues at the Climate Investment Funds on how policy and investment can be leveraged to bring about a just transition to a sustainable future

• 1,5 Grad: a German-language podcast helmed by #Fridays4Future leader Luisa Neubauer in which she dicusses climate action strategies with experts from various sectors

Dive Deeper

• Climate Biz: produced by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), this podcast looks at the news, highlights and opportunities in international climate business

• MIT Climate Conversations: a weekly podcast from MIT Climate, an online community connecting questions to answers, research to solutions, and knowledge to action

• TILClimate: this MIT podcast breaks down the science, technologies, and policies behind climate change, how it’s impacting us, and what we can do about it

• Climate Rising: business and policy leaders join Harvard Business School faculty to discuss what businesses are doing, can do, and should do to confront climate change

• Climate Change: this podcast from the National Parks Service asks the questions: how is climate change affecting plants and animals? How is climate change affecting national parks?

• The Energy Gang: a weekly digest on energy, cleantech and the environment

• Climate History Podcast: co-hosted by a Georgetown professor and a PhD student, this podcast features interviews and discussions about the history of climate change that consider what the past can tell us about our present and future

This article provides an overview of the #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit. Scroll to the bottom for links to the specific constituent parts you're interested in, or download the kit in full here.

Young people all over the world see climate change as the defining crisis of our time and want to take action. This is about their future—both short-term and long-term—and youth voices, ideas, and stories need to be included at the highest levels of decision-making. Many young people are experiencing climate impacts first-hand and others are learning about climate change in schools and universities, but what can they do about it? That’s where the #Youth4ClimateLive Series and complementary Educational Toolkit come in!

<<DOWNLOAD THE TOOLKIT TODAY>>

What is #Youth4ClimateLive?

The #Youth4ClimateLive Series, which concluded in February 2021, brought together a diverse group of unstoppable youth at the forefront of creative climate action for virtual intergenerational and interactive conversations with policymakers and experts on a variety of climate topics. The goal of #Youth4ClimateLive was to engage, educate, and excite a worldwide cohort of young people, empowering them to collaborate with their peers, lead their communities, and influence policymakers to enact meaningful climate action at the local and global levels. The Series offered your people a unique chance to:

• Find an accessible and exciting entry-point to exploring the world of climate impacts, solutions and policies through inspirational youth-led conversations. 

• Learn from the leaders of their generation who are implementing climate solutions within their own communities and be introduced to movers and shakers from the global climate policy landscape.

• Connect with other young climate advocates from around the world

• Increase their climate literacy on key topics such as: Sustainable Recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, Nature-Based Solutions, and Adaptation & Resilience. 

Students that tuned in to the Series also had the opportunity to enter the #SumItUp Competition for a chance to win a spot at the September 2021 Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition event just before Pre-COP26 in Milan. Submissions to the contest closed at the end of March; the winner will be chosen from a pool of finalists by popular vote in the months ahead.

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What is Pre-COP26? 

To explain what a Pre-COP is, we should first introduce what a COP is!  Every year, the United Nations hosts a high-level climate summit called the Conference of the Parties (COP), where representatives from 197 countries (aka “parties”) convene to take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  The main aim of the Convention is to prevent “dangerous” human interference with the climate system.  Each COP is hosted by a different country, with the first summit being held in Berlin in 1995.  You may have heard of the landmark Paris Agreement, which was adopted in 2015 under the French COP21 Presidency.  The most recent COP was the 25th, held in Madrid at the end of 2019, where a partnership between the UK and Italy for the presidency of COP26 was decided in response to the UN's call for even more ambitious targets in efforts to implement the Paris Agreement.

The UK will host COP26 in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November 2021, with Italy hosting a number of key preparatory events in Milan such as the youth event "Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition", from 28 to 30 September 2021, and the Pre-COP Summit, from 30 September to 2 October 2021. Pre-COP26 will be attended by around 40 countries, representatives of the UNFCCC Secretariat, the chairs of the Subsidiary Bodies of the Convention and a number of stakeholders who play a key role in the fight against climate change.

The Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition event plans to bring together almost 400 young people aged between 18 and 29 from all over the world for a landmark youth conference in Milan. The first two days will be dedicated to working groups, where the young delegates will have the chance to develop concrete proposals on topics relevant to the COP negotiations, while the final day will host intergenerational discussions between Youth4Climate participants and the Ministers attending Pre-COP26.

If you’re a young person reading this wondering how you can participate, consider getting involved with YOUNGO, the official Youth Constituency of the UNFCCC, and its upcoming Conference of Youth, COY16. You can use the resources in the #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit to make a difference too. By learning the basics of climate policy and engaging with the #Youth4ClimateLive community, you can share your knowledge and passion with your friends, teachers and community! We all have a role to play, and yours is unique to who you are and the skills, talents, and passions you possess.

What is the #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit?

The #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit is an interactive document that links to learning resources and activities to complement the virtual series. This toolkit is constructed in a flexible way so that anyone—educators, students, and/or parents—can use its resources in conjunction with the archived #Youth4ClimateLive episodes to plan exciting lessons & creative activities, dig deeper into important climate topics and engage directly with the global climate community.

The Toolkit is divided into three sections: LEARN, ACT, and GET INSPIRED. Click on the topic in each section to find a web-based interactive collection of resources. In LEARN, resources are labeled to indicate an intermediary or advanced level. “Get Your Feet Wet” resources are accessible to most learning levels while “Dive Deeper” resources are more technical and scholarly, linking to detailed studies and papers. To go beyond learning about the topics, ACT offers an array of activities that can be completed alone or in collaboration with others as classroom exercises - in both virtual and in-person settings. Finally, GET INSPIRED recommends creative ways to engage with climate action through poetry, music, films, games, puzzles, and apps. Everyone has a part to play in creating a resilient and sustainable future and we hope that this toolkit will provide students and youth with new ways of harnessing their creativity, interests, and skills to engage more meaningfully with climate action.

You can also navigate directly to our web-based Toolkit resources using the links below:

Adaptation & Resilience: Collective Efforts for a Sustainable Future

Sustainable Recovery: Building a Better Future Together

Nature-Based Solutions: Working in Harmony With Our Planet

Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Harnessing Creative Climate Solutions

Youth-Led Climate Action: The Rise of a Global Movement

Inclusive Engagement: Amplifying Marginalized Voices

Thumbnail image courtesy of Sasin Tipchai, Pixabay.

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.

This is a dedicated article on the topic of Youth-Led Climate Action. This article is a part of the #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit.

For years, young people have been crucial in focusing global attention on the urgent need to act on climate. Global youth climate movements have been a wake-up call for leaders, proving that young people can no longer be dismissed when it comes to paving the way forward. The way we engage young people today will determine the prospects for sustainable development and peace. Young people, who represent a majority of the population in most developing countries, are today visibly contributing as political actors, innovators, entrepreneurs and peace-builders. At the same time, youth face disproportionate social, economic and political barriers, which prevent them from unleashing their full potential. Utilizing young people’s potential as agents of change requires involving and empowering them in the development of policy and supporting their participation at all levels.

This is a dedicated article on inclusive engagement of intersectional youth voices in climate ambition. This article is a part of the #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit.

Across the globe, existing inequalities are being exacerbated by climate change and this can leave certain age groups, regions, professions and genders particularly vulnerable to its effects. According to the World Bank Group’s report on Poverty and Shared Prosperity, four out of five people below the poverty line live in rural areas, half of the world’s poor are children, and women represent a majority of the poor in most regions. The report estimates that between 68 and 132 million more people could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to climate impacts.

People from Vulnerable Communities and with marginalized identities—those who have been disadvantaged socioeconomically by gender, racial, or ethnic inequities, and those in vocations and geographic locations that are directly linked to the health of ecosystems—have a heightened sensitivity and greater risk to the effects of climate change. It’s our collective responsibility to amplify the voices of those who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and work proactively with them to reverse the harmful trends we’re seeing around the world.

Gender

According to evaluations from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women account for about seventy percent of the world’s farmers, meaning they will face the lion’s share of the challenges despite being early adopters of many new agricultural techniques, first responders in crises, entrepreneurs of green energy and decision-makers at home. Building a sustainable future will entail empowering women and young girls, as enshrined in SDG 5, by harnessing the knowledge, skills and leadership of women, including on climate action.

In Episode 5 of #Youth4ClimateLive, “Driving Empowerment: Protecting the Most Vulnerable”, we heard from youth leaders from vulnerable areas about how they are empowering and protecting their communities. All of the speakers were women, and Fatou Jeng’s work with women farmers in The Gambia demonstrates what climate education, conservation, and tree planting can do to help women and young girls harness their leadership and support their communities.

Geography 

Climate change further exacerbates the situation of people living in fragile settings, countries affected by conflict and those living in refugee camps, informal settlements, internally displaced and migrants. For young people who belong to these groups, the situation poses additional layers of challenges because of lack of access to basic services. Given the profound effects that security and climate change have on the present and future well-being of young people—and the tendency of climate change to amplify security concerns—the interlinkages between these issues must be recognized and addressed. Agricultural workers, including those who are young people and women, are also extremely vulnerable to climate change. Changes in environmental conditions due to rising temperatures are already resulting in severe droughts and heat waves, water scarcity and major soil damage, with increased desertification risks in many areas of the world while island communities are vulnerable to increased storm risk and rising sea levels.

In the #Youth4ClimateLive Episode 1 Series Launch, youth leader Selina Leem joined us to explain how her community in the Marshall Islands experiences climate change. Selina has been a vocal advocate for climate ambition since the age of 18 when she spoke at COP21. In Episode 3: Driving Youth Action, Ernest Gibson from Fiji highlighted the importance of meaningful youth engagement at all levels of decision making. Louise Mabulo from Episode 5 is a chef, farmer and entrepreneur working to revolutionize food systems in the Philippines by building back better, through agroforests and sustainable farming. She spoke to the value of the culturally-responsive engagement of farmers, removing the stigma and elevating this important role in society.

"When the youth are involved deliberately and meaningfully, the conversation changes entirely, recognizing the nexus between generations."

--Ernest Gibson, Member of the UN Secretary-General's Youth Advisory Group

Inclusivity

It’s important to discuss how policymakers can work to better include marginalized communities throughout the decision-making process, particularly young people from different vulnerable groups around the world, and through that process foster climate education, training and awareness to build more sustainable and resilient communities.

During Episode 3: Driving Youth Action, Jayathma Wickramanayake discussed the importance of having youth participation institutionally mandated in order to engage young people for their expertise and in the decision-making process. She also stressed the importance of accountability and meaningfully engaging young people rather than simply adding them to a one-off event. This entails real follow-up, circling back with youth who have been included in decision-making to let them know how and why their ideas are or are not being incorporated and integrated into future policies.

Equitable inclusivity also necessitates adequate capacity building. In Episode 5, we learned about how Sophia Kianni, founder and executive director of Climate Cardinals, is creating a more inclusive climate movement through culturally responsive climate education. Her organization brings together youth volunteers to translate important climate education materials into over 100 languages, increasing access to information that is key to fostering climate literacy.

Banner image courtesy of Sasin Tipchai, Pixabay.