Hector's Story and Call to Action
Hello, my name is Héctor Castañeda and I'm a rising junior at UC Santa Cruz. As a young adult in 21st century America, I always felt like the world around me needed what I had to offer. I was fortunate enough to have people in my life that encouraged me to take initiative and follow my passions in civic and community engagement. However, no matter how much encouragement or recognition you get from adults around you, there is a place for people like you in making a difference in your community. Many areas of interest can be applied towards environmental change, even if it's not necessarily your job. We need artists to make issues heard and valued, translators to break down language barriers, medical assistants for humanitarian aid, journalists and photo/videographers to report on issues and progress, educators to teach environmental issues, gardeners to teach self-sufficiency, everyday people to make posters, collect data, mentor their peers, and much more.
More than ever before in history, we need youth from all kinds of backgrounds and specialties to get involved within the environmental movement. According to The Guardian, 12% of bird species, 25% of mammals, and over 30% of all amphibians are threatened with extinction within the next century. NASA indicates that since the 19th century, the planet's average temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit, reversing a nearly 50-million year planet-wide cooling trend. The APA recognizes that the increase of climate change-induced natural disasters cause anxiety and other severe chronic mental health disorders. Women, refugees, children, elders, homeless folk, and chronically ill/impaired people are most at risk. The U.S. alone consumes 30% of the world's resources and makes 30% of the world's waste despite being 5% of the world's population.
As youth surrounded by news of the ice caps melting, the collapse of coral reefs, oceans warming and acidifying from carbon emissions, pollinators dying, hundreds of species going extinct, and the nearing climate tipping points, we know this is just the tip of the iceberg. We've become so angry, confused, and scared that many of us have either simply hoped for the best or given up hope entirely because we're currently facing climate change impacts from decades ago. It seems like everywhere we look, the Earth is being murdered in cold blood. And this is true. It is all the more reason for us to take action. It is with great resilience and sorrow that we must let go of what is too late to save and hold on desperately to the things that climate cannot change. At a minimum, it will require us en masse to become civically engaged, exercising our rights as young adults by voting, lobbying, and pushing for people and policies that actively defend Earth. And in order for that to be effectively carried out, we must tackle the ways marginalized folks (especially low-income people of color) are systematically disempowered from having a seat at the table. In order for that, we must approach this from all angles. Anything from cutting down on meat, composting, or getting involved with environmental organizations or movements, or creating our own.
In addition, though everyone who is assimilated into industrialized society contributes to climate change in one way or another, mere personal change is not enough. We must unlearn the anthropocentric ideologies taught to us by industrial society and relearn the intrinsic value of flora and fauna. There are obvious situations we'd save a human over, say, a goldfish, but don't hundreds of species collectively contributing to Earth's well-being deserve to live as well? The world's richest 10% account for half of global carbon emissions while the poorest half produce 10% of emissions.
When it comes to causing climate chaos and injustice, corporations are the ones most at fault. Their copious amounts of money and power can seem very intimidating. But they do not have our power in numbers; youth all around the world are urging global leaders to take immediate action on the environmental catastrophes happening as we speak. Swedish 16-year old climate activist Greta Thunberg helped spark this global movement by sitting outside parliament in Stockholm for days on end. She is just one of many young people fighting for a more sustainable and environmentally sound present and future. Time and time again, people in power have failed us. Climate chaos is a “wicked problem”; there is no one solution that will work for every country, city, family, or person. Every solution presents its own new issues. Young people’s newfound visions for change are essential to creating change.
And youth have been and will be the ones dealing with environmental issues the most in the future, and we must enact systemic change in order to do so. We must do it now, or endure worse consequences than the ones we’re already fated to face.
"Adults keep saying we owe it to young people, to give them hope, but I don't want your hope. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day… I want you to act as you would in a crisis". - Greta Thunberg
“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.” -Cree Indian Prophecy