TO celebrate the Year of Young People, every week in 2018 The National is giving a platform to young Scots. This week, 24-year-old Kate Whitaker.
I GOT involved in activism four years ago as I became aware of the urgency of the climate crisis and the power that people have when they organise and come together. Now I work for Young Friends of the Earth Europe, a network of young activists and campaigners working for solutions based on equity and justice.
The young people I interact with every day give me hope. I co-ordinate Young Friends of the Earth Scotland (YFoES), which has active volunteers in Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dumfries. Our groups work on local campaigns such as divesting public funds from fossil fuels or building their own solutions such as redistributing surplus food.
Despite this growing movement and the power it has, being a young climate campaigner in 2018 is frustrating. While young people across the country are fighting for their future, our efforts are being undermined by our decision-makers.
Our council pension funds are investing £1.8 billion in fossil fuel companies, contributing to the destruction of our environment and communities around the world. Our oceans are filling up with plastics, often manufactured in Grangemouth using ethane from fracked gas imported from the USA. Our chances of limiting global warming are being burnt in the engines powered by North Sea oil.
2018 is Scotland’s Year of Young People. It is also the year Scotland will publish its new Climate Change Bill, laying out emissions targets for the next 30 years.
The Government’s current plans fail to meet the ambition of the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rise below 1.5C. A recent UN report shows that the current pledges will result in temperature rises of more than 3C.
The resource scarcity, political instability and ecosystem collapse that this would cause is unthinkable and terrifying. Scotland has a significant historical responsibility for the mess, so the least we can do is be at the forefront of cleaning it up.
The labelling of climate change as a “future problem” is misleading. Already, at just 1C of warming, people around the world are losing their lives, their livelihoods and being forced to leave their homes and communities.
However, without urgent action this will get considerably worse. Delaying now will push the burden, and the cost, of even more radical responses on to today’s youth and prevent opportunities to adapt to a destabilised climate.
As climate campaigner Bill McKibben remarked recently: “If we don’t win quickly, we will never win.” The vast majority of emissions must be phased out within the next decade, or it will be too late.
I can’t take the Year of Young People seriously until decision-makers take into account the real impact of their actions on our future. The best way the Scottish Government could honour the Year of Young People would be to publish a Climate Bill that allows us to feel hopeful about that future.
Kate Whitaker (24) is network development officer for Young Friends of the Earth Europe, which supports local youth campaigning for environmental and social justice. If you are interested in getting involved follow them on social media: Facebook @yfoescotland, Twitter and Instagram @YFoES.
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