Skolstrek for Klimatet
A phrase you might all recognize as the famous catalyst for the great many climate strikes of 2019. A banding together of young people all across the world who skipped school for one purpose; raising awareness about the climate crisis. With even a movement in Sri Lanka towards this, the year 2019 has had climate change as an extremely hot topic (No pun intended)
However, when speaking of climate change, it isn’t sensible to protest and accuse on behalf of the environment without giving a single viable solution or remedy “Complaining is another way of saying to others, you solve the problem” and some would say, the majority of those who took to the streets to protest, were simply complaining. They still demanded their own vehicles to travel in, they would still rather have air conditioning than open a window and still turn on 7 lights in their classrooms without drawing the curtains. At the same time, some would say regardless of the lifestyle of each individual spreading awareness, the message given, and awareness created is all that matters.
‘Awareness culture’:- a culture which promotes raising awareness about certain topics or events along with promoting certain ideals, but not necessarily investing research into the topic or following up with it
If like mentioned before, we look at this issue with a simple dual view, it would look something like this;
Firstly, an idea that has gained much popularity over the last year and those leading up to it, is the thought that the issue is with society. The collective idea that for change to happen all areas of society must be mobilized to make this change and follow a certain ideology. So awareness, activism and public displays are crucial to impact the masses and demand change on a societal and political level.
Second, is the idea that climate change and any other problem really, are to be dealt with at an individual level. The current state of affairs could be improved by improving yourself, so that your life adheres to and reflects good values. By improving yourself you become more competent, and the competence which you gain from this, enables you to go into leadership positions with those values and carry that positive message onward, which in turn, maintains an essentially good society. (In this case an environmentally friendly society)
Looking at these two ideas you can guess exactly where Climate strikes lie, on the side of activism and social justice, which want fundamental change at the societal level, however, the question posed is, is that the best way?
We have seen what the collective view (Activism) does, in terms of the climate strikes and the influx of social media posts regarding the climate crisis. You would be hard-pressed to find a young person today, who hasn’t once shared a post regarding environmental care or climate change to their social media. Also, you could Google the numbers of people that showed up for climate strikes all around the world as a clear example of the masses subscribing to this idea. This is a growing trend for us in Sri Lanka with so many people promoting sustainable alternatives for the plastics they use daily along with supermarket brands and franchises taking initiatives to use less plastic, but what are some changes made on the opposite side? At the individual level?
Since we talked about the height of activism, we’ll start with the height of individually driven change.
Lawyers and politicians working for the environment
These are individuals who have educated themselves and climbed up the ranks to make policy and laws regarding sustainable solutions for the preservation of the environment. The reason regulations exist for Carbon emissions or Deforestation, sustainable energy etc. are because Right thinking leaders such as them, make changes from the very top of a countries management.
Leaders advocating for environmental care
These are the community leaders who advocate to those who work with them about the importance of caring for the environment. These could vary from Religious leaders to society heads or teachers of young children. Basically anyone who has time leading small groups of people to impact them to be more responsible for and caring toward our environment.
Individuals who take ownership
These are every day, you and I type folk. They’ve got their small group of friends whom they discuss these things with. Though they don’t actively advocate for it, they make the little changes they can. This could be by not eating meat or by carrying a little metal straw and cutlery set with them when going out, to avoid single-use plastics. They are the people you will see bringing their own bags to keells and taking the bus to work.
Each level has its own level of contribution to environmental care, but are distinctly different from raising awareness and campaigning. The distinction between the collective vs. Individual view, as well as which is more useful/practical, is something we want to leave up to you! Let us know on Instagram @paankade or Facebook @paankadee
Start the conversation, we would love to hear your thoughts!
