A Focus On Nature, A Vision For Nature
AFON
Vision for Nature : Climate Change
I was privileged to spend five years working at the heart of the growing youth climate movement in the UK from 2008-2013. This movement in the UK was emerging into existence at the same time as the international youth climate movement was as well.
I was swept up into the setting up and development of the UK Youth Climate Coalition. Through this organisation (which still exists today) I spent five years watching young people put their hearts, souls and bodies on the line to campaign for action on climate change for the sake of young people and future generations. Their actions were one of my biggest ever sources of inspiration.
They spent their savings, worked late nights, skyped at 2am and danced, very often not just (or even primarily) to tackle climate change in the UK or to change Westminster energy policy. Very often they stood (literally) shoulder to shoulder with young people from developing countries where climate change was already having far worse impacts. They can take a large amount of credit for the progress that has been seen at the UN climate talks in the past few months (even if that’s a subject for debate itself).
And the whole time they tried their best to understand and to tackle the intersection of other kinds of oppression (racism, discrimination against those with disabilities or different sexualities, sexism) interlinked with climate change and held us all back from reaching a better and just world.
As a white, double Oxbridge-educated male I learned a lot and I still am. Most importantly of all, I made some of the best friends I’ve ever made and who will, I hope, stand by me one day when I get married, who will be godparents to any children I have and who teach me so much every single day. Together, we built a strong community of friends who helped and cared for each other while working in a voluntary, self-organised, youth-led way.
And this work on climate change gave me a new perspective on my love of wildlife (even if many of them found it a bit odd). Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing young people and future generations. And so is the loss of wildlife. Sometimes wildlife can feel gratuitous or indulgent. Who cares if I get to see rare birds or not? What does a red-flanked bluetail or large yellow underwing moth have to do with the greatest challenges facing our generation? The answer is, everything.
That is in part why A Focus on Nature is so special. It not only brings together a new community of passionate young nature lovers, but it also says that any future that is not more rich in wildlife than today is not acceptable. Through this similarly youth-led, self-organised voluntary network, I’ve also made friends for life whom I love dearly.
The loss of wildlife is also one of the greatest threats to young people and future generations. First, our food and water rely on our natural world. Second, natural systems are one of the best protections we have against climate change, whether it’s forests that buffer the storms that will come and batter against our homes and front doors like big bad wolves. Or whether it’s our peatlands that take deep, centuries-long breaths in and hold down carbon that would otherwise force temperatures up.
And climate change is also one of the biggest threats to wildlife around the world. If we fail to act, one in six species could be come extinct worldwide by the end of this century. Sure, this matters because it will impact our way of life. But it also matters because there is beauty and goodness inherent in those creatures. That may sound indulgent, and perhaps it is. But the creatures and landscapes the Earth has nurtured and brought forth over millennia are irreplaceable. Once gone, they cannot be brought back. Not even humans can do that.
So tackling climate change is crucial, as is understanding that nature can help us to tackle it. That’s why our Vision for Nature report envisages a future where we’ve left most of our fossil fuels deep beneath the paws, claws and feet of people and animals, buried in the soil. Instead, thriving and rich natural landscapes, like peatlands and forests, are soaking up carbon, and our homes and businesses are powered by renewable energy built in places that don’t harm nature.
Any Vision for Nature also has to be a vision for the climate. And the best way of making this vision a reality? Well, I take my lessons from the youth climate movement. Young people’s hopes for a safe and stable future find their truest and most effective embodiment in communities of friends who aren’t afraid to speak truth to power, to march, to campaign, to get together for a drink (alcoholic or otherwise) to comfort each other and to build international alliances. And I believe passionately that nature needs the same thing.
I was asked to write this blog just about climate change, but, having been so closely involved in pulling together the wider Vision for Nature report, I can’t help but write about that as well. The Vision for Nature report is not the end of the work, it’s the beginning, it’s the conversation starter, the ice breaker. Now, let’s build new alliances with other youth groups in the UK and beyond, whether they work on climate or on nature. Let’s show our natural allies, climate activists who think nature enthusiasts are a bit odd about, the beauty and thrill of chasing a rare butterfly across a meadow or ringing a bird.
Let’s work with CoalitionWild, Action For Conservation, Bristol and Sheffield Nature Networks, Bioneers and many others to build an international alliance of young people calling for a flourishing natural world that we can bequeath to our children and grandchildren.
I am passionate, and I am privileged. But I’m not special, and if these challenges feel daunting, then please, please know that I would never have believed I could play even the small role I have in both these organisations.
In my early twenties I suffered from a severe lack of confidence due to some parts of my childhood and upbringing. My parents’ divorce in my late teens was also the trigger for deep and recurrent episodes of depression throughout my twenties. Working with the young people I’ve written about gave me a newfound confidence that I too could achieve important and meaningful things. It also gave me a newfound purpose that, while not a cure for depression, certainly helped enormously.
Why am I getting so personal? Well I believe that if we’re going to build a movement that saves nature we need to be open, honest and confident, and support each other through the most difficult things we face. Our passion very often comes from our personal motivations and stories, but we’re also often held back by our deepest fears, insecurities and traumas. I’ve been lucky enough to have the chance to tackle them and work on them. I hope my story provides you with as much inspiration as the Vision for Nature report does itself.
Every single one of us can play a crucial role in tackling the decline in wildlife and the wrecking of our climate, the two biggest problems facing our generation, the planet and wildlife.
