Is Our Generation Really Fit to Solve the World’s Most Urgent Problem?

by Sophie Reeve-Foster

“Your generation is going to have to fix our generation’s mistake” adults comment when talking about global warming, sighing and taking another sip of their tea knowingly, as we imagine someone of our own age – not ourselves, of course – fixing it all. 

As we are becoming young adults, there is a pressure (becoming more pressing by the day) to save the planet, which seems frankly impossible at the moment. But here are a few reasons not to give up just yet.

Firstly, customers will always have the power of choosing who to give our money to; who we’ll allow to make profit from us. It might not seem convincing, but we forget that businesses will always fundamentally rely on us, and that money does add up. If you’re struggling with this idea, perhaps it would help to remind you of the dread that comes when you think of all the money you’ve probably spent on school cookies over the years.

This is the same reason lots of companies have been getting away with making relatively insignificant changes while still churning out huge carbon emissions daily. If McDonalds cared at all about the environment, it would have responded to the requests to get rid of plastic straws far before the idea became more mainstream and gained press. And, depressingly, however devastating plastic pollution is to the biodiversity of the planet, it is trivial in the grand scheme of global warming. Convincing us they’re being ethical is a way to get us on their side, when more often than not there’s much more to uncover. Scientists first had suspicions about humans affecting climate during the 1960s and the idea of global warming gained momentum during the 1970s; becoming an accepted theory with more and more evidence since the 1990s. In other words, we’ve known that this was coming for a long time, and the reason nothing changed was because not enough people demanded an immediate alternative.

So, in an attempt to be positive, here are some reasons why our generation and those that follow are the fittest ever to tackle these issues. Studies have shown Generation Z to describe themselves as more stressed than previous generations, and most preoccupied about the future. We are also more distrustful in both the government and business corporations. 

This is a great start, and we have every right to be angry, but what we need to learn now is how to channel the anger into a useful passion rather than a destructive and futile loop. In her prominent show Nanette, Hannah Gadsby said “Anger […] can connect a room full of strangers, […but] it is a toxic infectious tension, and it knows no other purpose than to spread blind hatred”. This has stayed with me and I find it to be very true and important to remember.

The internet has forced us to filter out fake news and mistrustful sources, and (in the best cases) has enabled us to see more vividly the varied groups and views in society. So, we can be more aware and critical of the world around us. Maybe having a perspective outside of our bubbles would allow us to be more organised in building up numbers which will be a fundamental cause for change. Having grown up with ever-changing technology, we’re also used to having to be quick learners. These new traits could be so incredibly useful if we just recognise them and work with them, gathering as many people as we can together.