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Climate change the new Vietnam War? Generation Z poised to change US politics with activism

Students hold a banner during a "Fridays for Future" demonstration against climate change in Berlin, Germany, on March 29, 2019. Students across the world are taking part in a strike movement called #FridayForFuture, which takes place every Friday. The movement was sparked by Greta Thunberg of Sweden, who is 16 years old.

Politicians take note: The current crop of young climate change activists could signal the emergence of a generation of politically involved youth not seen since the 1960s. And research shows the younger people become civically engaged, the more likely they are to stay engaged in activism and politics for their entire lives, potentially creating a generation of change, an article that appeared Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change suggests.

Generation Z, mostly still under 18, is not only demographically large but increasingly worried about the threat climate change poses to its future. The group has spawned a host of climate change activists and protests globally, including the Sunrise Movement, Zero Hour, Youth for Climate and #FridaysForFuture demonstrations. 

“What we’re seeing is a movement, if it continues to expand, that has the potential to substantially change the political landscape, as well as its focus,” said Dana Fisher, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland who studies climate change activism. She authored the piece in the journal.

Young people also bring their parents along with them. Research shows that when children become concerned about global warming, their parents start to care more too. 

Data on people under 18 is difficult to get because it requires parental permission, which dramatically decreases response rates on surveys. But research shows that young people are increasingly engaged in electoral politics and activism, Fisher said. 

Not only is there a global youth climate movement, it’s growing.

“We know these events are cascading, that’s evidence that they continue to grow,” said Fisher.

The response, for example, to 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who started the School Strike for Climate, has been massive. Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, she helped create a worldwide network of protests in which thousands of students have refused to attend school on Fridays to demand action on climate change.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg addresses the "Fridays for Future" demonstration for a better climate policy in front of Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate on March 29, 2019.

And in Washington, D.C., the Sunrise Movement’s occupation of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office and push for stronger climate change action has sparked tremendous interest among Democrats. It also helped propel Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York into the limelight when she joined the young demonstrators. 

Generation Z, made up of people born from 1997 onward, according to the Pew Research Center, is still very young. While the oldest of them just turned 22, most are still in middle and high school. Different groups give different start points but Gen Z is a large demographic cohort so what it ends up doing matters.

Of course, not all of them are now or will become activists. But it only takes a small minority to make change, notes Anthony Leiserowitz, a professor of environmental studies at Yale University in Connecticut. 

To sociologists, it’s known as “an issue public,” a group of people who are passionate about a topic and demand action. Generally, if between 5% and 7% of a population become active about something, “that’s when policy change becomes much more likely,” Leiserowitz said. 

While climate change is an issue for all ages, he notes that “young people are speaking more loudly and more clearly than they have before. As the stakes become ever higher and the time remaining to forestall the worst impacts gets ever shorter, you’re going to see much more of this.”

Supporters of then-Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's proposed select committee on a "Green New Deal" rally outside the office of Democratic Congressman from Maryland and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2018.

It’s always difficult to predict which generations will be especially active. The last really big one was the 1960s, said Doug McAdam, a sociology professor at Stanford University in California who has long studied social activism and engagement.

“In the '60s, it was civil rights and then the Vietnam War. Climate change absolutely has that kind of emotional resonance for people, particularly for young people, because they’re going to have to deal with it,” he said. 

Last October, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that mankind has 12 years to act to avoid “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” 

Whether this activism will be maintained as this generation grows older is still very much in question because of the broader trends in U.S. politics, McAdam said. In the 1960s, things were moving in a progressive direction, which helped pushed young people at the time to embrace activism. But if activism doesn’t have any effect, young people can become fatalistic about the possibility of making change and give up, he said.

“If people protest and demonstrate and it doesn't appear to be having any impact, they can demobilize quickly,” said McAdam. 

Aji Piper, a plaintiff in the Juliana v. United States climate lawsuit speaks at the first hearing of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, on Capitol Hill April 4, 2019 in Washington, DC. The Committee heard from young leaders who are urging lawmakers to take action and address the climate crisis.

Mary Wood, a law professor at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, acts as an adviser for a group of high school environmental activists. She said she believes the movement will continue to grow.

“The younger generation is fighting for their lives. We’re seeing an exponentially growing cohort that’s turning into a generational force,” she said.

The group she advises, Earth Guardians at South Eugene High School, started four years ago with three members. It now has over 50 who attend regular meetings

“They decided they weren’t going to clean up the beach or argue for solar panels at school. Their sole mission was to advocate for political change,” she said.

The students make speeches, meet with legislators and have played a significant role in galvanizing support for the Juliana case, a constitutional climate lawsuit filed in Oregon in 2015 by 21 youth charging that the federal government has pursued energy policies that caused climate change, despite knowing for more than 50 years that carbon emissions would destabilize the climate. 

“There was this amazing moment when they organized a march on the courthouse the day the trial was supposed to being,” she said. 

“Over 1,000 students, high school students and middle school students, marched down the street in total silence,” she added. "It was stunning and moving beyond word. Their silence conveyed a gravity that hangs over their future like a storm cloud about to burst."

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