Youth Activism, Climate Grief, and Policy Stagnation at COP25

By Bethany Tietjen

One of the most impactful events I attended in Madrid actually came the day before my first day at COP25. I arrived in Madrid early in the morning of December 8th and went to an event at the Development and Climate Days. The event was titled “From Darkness to Illumination: Climate Grief & Resilience in a Sea of Warnings” and was facilitated by Pablo Suarez of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. Pablo had us watch Greta Thunberg’s famous speech at the UN Climate Action Summit in September but asked us to pay attention to her facial expressions and not her words. “Look at her emotions, her anger,” he said. “Why do the rest of us rush around the COP venues with smiles on our faces trying to find Side Event Room 2, when in reality many of us feel her same despair? Why do we not show this?”

In the days since that event, I have thought about this a lot. I heard former U.S. Vice President Al Gore speak about the “moral clarity of youth” and I found this language useful in describing the intensity of emotions coming from youth climate activists at this year’s COP. As a student of environmental policy, I am aware of the bureaucracy of climate negotiations and understand that this bureaucracy can be incredibly effective at dulling any feelings of passion and activism. This has been one of the greatest contrasts I have seen at the COP: activated youth and tired bureaucrats.

Panel of youth activists and environmental ministers, moderated by former President of Ireland Mary Robinson.

As I listened to a panel discussion on “Children and Youth vs. Climate Change” where 5 youth activists shared the stage with 5 ministers of environment, this contrast could not have been starker. But I also thought: these policymakers were likely once environmental activists themselves. Perhaps in their youth they also protested and fought for causes they cared about. They likely believed that the best way to make a difference was to shape government policy. Most of them have probably made significant differences and progress in their home countries, but the message of the youth is still clear: the progress made is not enough. The changes and policies need to be more radical.

At 26, I still feel tied to the youth movement, but also feel aware of my place at the edge of it. As a climate policy student, I also feel affinity to the policymakers who are trying to shape their country’s environmental legislation. Both roles are important, but the resounding message of this COP is that business as usual is not working. Children and youth are demanding change. Adults are in positions of power that can make that change happen.

This intergenerational bridge seems to be forming, I saw this when youth activists Greta Thunberg and Luisa Neubauer used their platforms to organize a panel of scientists, including Fletcher School Professor Emeritus Bill Moomaw. The panelists gathered to discuss the need to unite behind the science of the climate emergency. Professor Moomaw spoke about the fact that he began working on environmental policy research and teaching in the 1960s and 70s. He told Greta and Luisa that he hopes that they won’t have to still be fighting for these issues when they are his age. The panel was a perfect example of the potential for intergenerational collaboration.

Scientists and youth activists discussing the need to #unitebehindthescience.

Thinking back to the climate grief event, it makes sense that many of us find it too difficult to walk around fully expressing our worry and outrage over the state of the planet. But one of the biggest lessons that I have learned at COP25 is that lack of passion can often lead to lack of progress. As I was sitting in the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion, co-hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, I watched a moving performance by two musicians from the South Pacific region. They sang about their grief surrounding the destruction of the planet and their homeland. The lead singer was moved to tears as he sang. This expression of climate grief and emotion was so powerful to me, and it reminded me (once again) that acting on the climate crisis is extremely urgent for so many people. Greta Thunberg and other youth climate activists have this same effect on people. As the window for action gets smaller and smaller, we need to have more of this passion and anger in the room so that policymakers can feel this sense of urgency and translate it into more significant progress on climate action. 

Bethany Tietjen was a Tufts delegate to COP25 made possible by the Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) and financially supported by the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP). Should you be affiliated with Tufts University and interested in being a Tufts delegate to COP in future years, please visit: https://environment.tufts.edu/initiatives/events/unfccc-cop/. For more information on CIERP, please visit https://sites.tufts.edu/cierp/.