Chief Editor’s Note: These Kids Are the Future
Climate change demonstrations. Youth activism. Greta Thunberg. Fridays for Future. The March For Our Lives. Gen Z. I have wanted to address my admiration for the younger generation for a long time. I myself am a 28-year-old millenial and I am extremely proud of the Gen Z’s activism. This generation has had to grow up with issues such as eco-anxiety and the American youth with endless mass shootings. They are rightfully angry and frustrated. The politicians’ inactivity in taking care of these problems is unbearable and the Gen Z are not letting it slide. They organize rallies and demonstrations. They demand a change. They refuse to be silenced.
The face of the climate change protests is of course the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. She’s now a role model for other young people and also a target for the older generations. The criticism she faces ranges from childish attempts to ridicule her to somewhat constructive criticism of her rhetoric. Her speeches are rather populist and there is some truth in saying that just blaming the older generations is not the most constructive way to go about change. But honestly? She’s 16. It’ll be a couple of years before she can take official political actions such as voting. She has every right to demand action from the older generations.
Demanding action from politicians and big corporations in general is one of the most important ways for any of us to make a change in the world right now. We can all contribute by making ethical choices in our everyday life, but the most crucial decisions are made by those in power. It has been counted that to slow down the climate change enough to buy us more time to develop more permanent solutions would take about 300 billion US dollars . The combined net worth of the 20 richest people in the world is over 1 trillion dollars. Eat the rich.
Greta Thunberg and the other underage Gen Z members are entitled to urge others into action – even by guilt tripping them. They are literal children. It’s up to us adults to vote, to make constructive suggestions for action, to come up with innovations for a better future. It’s not just a right to vote, it’s a responsibility. Be it an election for the president or parliament, we need to be active. I know that voting is made unnecessarily difficult in America for example, but nothing will change if we do nothing.
I have been quite happy to see a big improvement in climate politics this year. At least here in Finland, you do see more news about it and you see more action taken. And yet it is not enough. The 2019 Finnish parliamentary elections were supposed to be about the climate change, but it was turned into a question of immigration at the last minute. The recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid turned out to be a disappointment, too. More needs to be done.
It should not be only up to Gen Z to participate in activism. We millennials and other older generations need to take more action as well. The quiet support and approval of the Gen Z – such as mine – is simply too little. We need to join them. And once the younger members of the Gen Z become adults they will join us in turn. Let’s do this together. That’s the only way we can make the changes we need in this world. And I do believe we can do it. We just all need to contribute.
Moving onto this new BTSB issue, we have a lot of articles and creative writing for you to enjoy over the holidays. Henna gives survival tips for those who are not huge fans of Christmas and shares her thoughts about her first term at the university. Vesper writes about a trip to Bali while Danielle publishes an interesting think piece. Annika advices how to deal with Christmas stress and shares a cheesecake recipe. Leo has a new, thought-provoking poem to show you and an article on education. You can also simply take it easy with short stories by Aleksi, Anthony and yours truly.
Happy holidays!
