Using your voice to make change: A how-to guide for youth

 

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By Hartley Prosser

Taking action on climate change can take many forms. Here at The Gaia Project, we aim to enhance student knowledge on climate change topics, which empowers individuals to think critically about climate change. With the knowledge of climate change in their minds, students have a solid platform from which they can express their values, concerns, and opinions.

Society is built by the people who are brave enough to speak their truth. Today, we find active citizens across the globe raising their voices to the tune of change. A change that is asking all of society to slow down, think, and discuss our future prosperity. Our society is shaped by these voices of change and without them, we could continue down a path with an unknown and potentially undesirable future. For us at The Gaia Project, using our voice is our key skill in communicating and we promote the exact same action in our audience.

Using your voice for change

Using your voice for change can be simple or complex. From telling your closest friends how you may be shifting your lifestyle to one of a lower carbon footprint all the way to initiating a petition that embodies the opinion and support of a thousand voices; all of these actions are voice-based. We have developed a quick list of ways to use your voice to make a positive ripple in society:

1)    Share stories and new facts that you learn about climate change with close friends and classmates.
2)    Comment on a friend’s story relating to climate change and engage in a discussion. After all, we learn together through going back-and-forth in dialogue.
3)    Engage in community gatherings, town hall meetings, and other community-based events to engage in active conversation with fellow community members and be the one who brings climate change issues to the table in a constructive way!
4)    Write to your local municipality and/or member of legislative authority and give them your opinion on why you feel it is important for your community to be active in regard to climate change.
5)    Create climate change-related content for bulletin boards, school-announcements and television displays in your school.
6)    Start a climate change discussion group!
7)    Center your next class project and presentation around a climate change topic.
8)    Start a petition that will seek a positive change on climate change and share it with the best of your abilities.
9)    Sing/share a song that shows value and appreciation for protecting the earth.

At the end of the day, our words impact those we have spoken too. If we choose words of kindness and positiveness, we will impact our world in positive ways. Also, if we take time to consider the environment and the bigger picture of climate change in our conversations, we will impact our world positively through constructive conversations!

Go out and use your voice through any medium you can, whether it be spoken, written, and/or shared digitally. This is one of the easiest ways to make positive change.

About the author:

Hartley has been with The Gaia Project since October 2018. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Sciences and expertise in self-heating passive solar greenhouses, aquaponic growing systems and green living-roof systems.

Click here to learn more about Hartley.