Climate change and the next generation

Amanda: This is The Forefront, a Toronto Metropolitan University podcast that explores ideas for cities. I’m Amanda Cupido. So here’s the problem: climate change is currently one of the biggest global challenges. A recent poll by Abacus Data found that 81% of young Canadians are concerned about the threat of the climate crisis. 

Meshall: There’s like this fear that really gets created around like, what is going to be happening to the world around us.

Amanda: This is Meshall Awan. She’s 22 years old and living in Toronto.

Meshall: Every year, it seems like there’s a new record being brought up of like, it’s the hottest day ever in history. And each year, we managed to break that record. And that’s always been very concerning to me, because I know that that’s not going to change unless there is some like impacts being made, not just on like a political level, but as well as with us as day to day people.

Amanda: Meshall recently graduated from TMU with a Bachelor of Social Work and says she’s dedicated to making the world a better place.

Meshall I’ve always been passionate about the climate crisis, especially because I know that it’s going to impact my generation directly. It’s our futures that are at stake. Because what we’re really talking about is, is this world going to be livable for us to create futures for ourselves, and where we can, you know, carry on going to school, find jobs and build lives for ourselves?

[TRANSITION MUSIC]

Amanda: Enter Generation Climate, an initiative by TMU’s Leadership Lab to start conversations on university campuses about the climate crisis. They have a goal to engage 270,000 young Canadians about the topic. Meshall canvassed for Generation Climate last year. 

Meshall: Canvassing really allows us to hear stories from young Ontarians who are from different backgrounds, as well as walks of life. So we know that young people are receptive to face to face conversations. And that’s obviously what canvassing is. But these learnings that are coming from their peers are more important and more impactful for them, they’re more likely to take action on things and they’re more likely to listen if it’s coming from a source they trust, as opposed to politicians, ads, or solely from social media. 

Amanda: She was surprised to find that even when people’s beliefs didn’t necessarily line up with hers, they usually stopped to listen.

Meshall: So the great thing about this generation, I think, is our willingness to hear others out. In my experience, we would go up to just about anyone on campus and whether or not they agreed, they at least engaged with us. And I think that’s a step forward, as opposed to someone just walking past and not really willing to make that conversation or here’s how as to why we’re even on campus on a random Wednesday, having these conversations with people. At the end of the day, you can’t force someone to believe in something, all you can really do is educate them and give them the resources that they need and engage them in conversation. More often than not, they would leave that conversation feeling a bit differently, or at least being more open to the idea as opposed to being shut off as they were when they first entered into that conversation. I think that’s very powerful.

Amanda: One day last fall, Meshall was working at a university campus when it started to hail. She took it as an opportunity to illustrate her message.

Meshall: It made for such an interesting point of conversation, because when we came up to people, and they didn’t necessarily believe in climate change, or that it wouldn’t impact them, I think what was really important is we’re just like, hey, look at the weather right now, do you think this is normal, and they would just come to that conclusion on their own

Amanda: Meshall says she started learning about climate change about 7 years ago… but climate activism isn’t new.

Sabrina: Well, I’ve been working on climate change myself for about 15 years, in various capacities. And, you know, the news has not gotten better.

Amanda: This is Sabrina Bowman. She’s the Climate Change Lead at TMU’s Leadership Lab, which supports Generation Climate.

Sabrina: But the cool thing is that the public awareness of climate changes is massive. And the fact is, the conversations we were having 15 years ago, were about whether or not climate change was real. Now the conversation is about what are the solutions, we need to address climate change?

Amanda: She has also seen the power of activism...

Sabrina: In my years working on this issue, I have had great privilege of working with a lot of younger folks who got activated on climate change and who have, you know, done things like school strikes, they have turned around their parents opinion on climate change, they have pushed their institutions on climate change, like there is incredible leadership coming out of young climate activists. And they’re, and they’re really, I think, in a lot of ways, they’re helping to drive the agenda on climate. And so it’s really exciting for me to be able to help support them in that work.

Amanda: For activists like Meshall and Sabrina, it can be really frustrating when people don’t understand the urgency of this problem.

Sabrina: You know, it’s like, if you are standing in a field, and there’s, you know, there’s an elephant charging towards you.you normally jump out of the way, right, you’re like, oh, this elephants coming, I better go. But climate change is kind of like the elephant that is charging, and then everyone’s just kind of standing around. Like, like, sort of being like, oh, it’s far away, oh, it’s getting a bit closer. Maybe I’ll like step to the side a little bit… somebody is like, I’m too afraid, I’m not going to do anything. Some people are like, the elephant’s going to stomp on us anyway. So it doesn’t matter. And why is it that so many people are in one of those categories, rather than the one person who’s like, hey, we need to immediately get out of the way of this elephant that’s coming towards us. 

Amanda: But Sabrina found it useful to compare people’s attitudes about climate change to their attitudes about the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Sabrina: The pandemic happened, there was like immediate action. Right? You know, people were like, this is an immediate threat. And I think, and part of the reason is, is that the threat was immediate, and it was personal. Climate change doesn’t feel immediate or personal to most people, even though it is. If you live in BC, and you were in, in the area of BC, last year, where there were massive forest fires that killed people and destroyed your town, for you. It’s immediate and personal. But for most of us living in the city of Toronto, we’re like, oh, it’s really weird that there’s all these intense storms all the time. And it’s strange that the weather is so all over the place, and what’s going on with that? But we don’t see it right away. And so that’s one of the reasons why climate change doesn’t feel as urgent. 

Amanda: That’s really tough to overcome! But Sabrina thinks the key is to meet people where they’re at.

Sabrina: You know, when you see the elephant charging towards you, it’s very natural, just to be like, everybody get out of the way of this elephant, right? Like, that’s the first thing you think you do. But the thing is, if they don’t really see the elephant, or they don’t think that it’s really charging, or they’re kinda like, it’s probably just gonna go in a different direction. It’s not relevant for them. So how do we make sure that people understand that, that, you know, this is relevant? And again, you know, tied back to this idea of the benefits, you know, how can this be beneficial in their lives? You know, I know climate change is important to me, I wake up and I think about it, like, I like brush my teeth, and I have my breakfast, put my pants on, and I think about climate change. This is like everyday, everyday for me, right? But I know that I’m not the norm. I know, this is not the same for everybody else. Some people are, you know, having their breakfast, brushing their teeth, putting on their pants and thinking about how they’re going to, you know, pay rent or, or COVID, or the economic crisis or inflation rates like that. And those things are also important, right? So there’s going to be a lot of priorities for people. That’s why I think that this is really important to understand, in the context of all the things that people are dealing with. How do we also help them think about this?

Amanda: On a more hopeful note — Meshall says that canvassing showed her that there are lots of young people who do feel the immediacy of the climate crisis.

Meshall: So many young people that I have conversations with, weren’t just thinking, they didn’t just have tunnel vision that, hey, this is what’s happening in Ontario, or this is what’s happening in Canada, they were more concerned about people in developing countries, or whether they have families back home. And they were talking about how the impacts we see here in Canada, or that we see here in Ontario, have increased tenfold in developing countries. So whatever impacts we’re being faced with, they’re having even worse, which is why we need to talk about the climate crisis right now. And we need people taking action on it. Yes, it starts with the everyday person, but it needs to be making its way up on every single level. So we’re talking about as young people, as a population as a whole, corporations, as well as our politicians. Everyone used to be making an effort for us to combat it together. 

Amanda: That’s the most important thing for Meshall: making sure people know that fighting climate change is about everyone playing their part – but not just with little one-off trendy things... 

Meshall: I think it’s no secret that we like we are not alone going to single handedly combat the climate crisis by opting to use metal straws, right? Or we use we use like really cute and quirky tote bags. But I think it’s a start, we all have a role to play in fighting the climate crisis. 

Amanda: I mean, I do feel proud to have my reusable ziplock bags — but I get what she’s saying. Packing my snacks in those bags isn’t going to stop this "elephant" so to say from running at me. Meshall says — when she’s canvassing — she likes to ask people to make a pledge. 

Meshall: And for a lot of people, they’re like, I don’t know what to pledge, right, it’s really hard to come up with something concrete as to what you can do single handedly to combat the climate crisis. But the first thing we tell them is combating misinformation is the most important because just like this conversation we’re having with you and we’re having this conversation about everything that’s going on in the world and how we’re going to be impacted. There might be someone in your life who doesn’t necessarily have that information. So I think that’s why it’s so strong to and important to combat the spread of misinformation. Because if you stop it before it begins, you help so so much more than like if no one knows what’s going on.

Amanda: Before we go, here’s one final note from Sabrina on why TMU is the perfect headquarters for Generation Climate.

Sabrina: Because TMU is such a diverse place, you know, huge diversity at the school. I think a lot of people here have have lived experience or families with lived experience with the impacts of climate change. And that makes it real and personal for them. So I think in a lot of ways, this is such a great place to do this work, because we have so many people who understand what the real consequences are of not acting on climate change, because they’ve seen it either themselves or they’ve seen it with their families, you know, and, and that is really powerful. t that’s that’s something that shouldn’t be ignored, because it’s, it’s it’s such a valuable knowledge and experience.

Amanda: This podcast was created for alumni and friends by University Advancement at Toronto Metropolitan University. Special thanks to our guests on today’s episode: Sabrina Bowman and Meshall Awan. This podcast was produced by me, Amanda Cupido and Emily Morantz. Katia Galati was the editor for the show. All of us are proud grads of TMU! To learn more about Generation Climate, and for more episodes of this podcast and others, visit torontomu.ca/alumni/podcasts.