The growth of youth activism: why we should listen to young people

Within the last few years, research into youth climate activism has increased following the ‘uprising’ of the youth voice and mass mobilisations like the #FridaysforFuture strikes for climate. As the Covid-19 pandemic spread and societies began to lockdown, concerns were raised that the climate agenda had been forgotten (Cockburn, 2020; Poidevin, 2020). However, while many adults have felt despair during these uncertain times, young people have risen to the challenge, mobilising online and continuing to push the climate agenda forward. This act of resilience has created new opportunities for young people to engage with the climate movement and in many cases the pandemic has highlighted what change is possible, giving the youth movement a greater momentum to become the change-makers of today, not just tomorrow.