3 From Empathy to Action


Young people today have better access to environmental information and greater capacity to share information than older generations (Proctor and Kitchen 2015). Moreover, they can take the initiative and monitor the environment themselves as citizen scientists to better understand the changes happening around them (see Annex 2). We all have significant responsibilities for environmental protection. Today’s young people, sometimes referred to as “millennials” – those born around 1988 onward (Hertsgaard 2011) – are likely to live a long time with the deteriorating environment left by previous generations.


The same is true of future generations. While their lives will be shaped by many factors, today’s consumption patterns will play a huge role. Air pollution, decline of freshwater quality and availability, land and soil degradation and severe dust storms, marine debris, ocean acidification and loss of coral reefs, depletion of natural resources, loss of biological diversity, and worsening climate change are some of the problems we may leave them.


109


Keiko Takahashi – Empowering people through education


According to an analysis of influence patterns on Twitter, individuals can become influencers on a wide variety of topics even if they don’t have expertise in a particular area (Cha et al. 2010). Celebrities can persuade millions of fans to change their behaviours (e.g. reduce their plastic consumption) (McCarthy and Sanchez 2019).


youtube.com/watch?v=0Dw-KMosacg&feature=youtu.be


Keiko is an educator and researcher who works with local communities in Ikebukuro Tokyo, Japan. The curiosity of children and young people inspired her to start an environmental education project in 2006 when she was still a student. The project was transformed into “education for sustainable development (ESD)” over the years. Keiko believes that delivering knowledge is not enough. Learning by doing is the most important way to change behaviours. Only then is it possible to create change.


“We can’t give in to despair, we have to go out and look for the hope we need to inspire us to act, and that hope begins with a


conversation, today.” Katharine Hayhoe


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