"Young people can be the most effective leaders in the children and nature movement."- Richard Louv
In his latest post, Young Leaders Rising, Richard Louv (Field Notes from the Future) writes about young people becoming leaders in the children and nature movement. I have written before about the challenges of finding new environmental leaders (Who are going to be our environmental leaders of tomorrow?), especially in an era where young people are preoccupied with cellphones, screens and mp3 players. But there are PICC teens out there (Teenagers who rock!). Although not in droves just yet, they are on the increase.
The upcoming generation of teens and young adults is often called "entitled" and "self-centered," but not particularly self-directed, loyal or ethical. However, on the other hand, they are, tech-savvy, nimble, enthusiastic and achievement-oriented. Young people are energetic and talented. They are ambitious, bright and eager to learn. And with the right attitudes they could just be the people our Earth needs. Adept at social networking, they bring innovative communication styles and potential new tools to the cause. Tools they can use to network with each other, across borders, and to support and encourage other young people to become leaders in the children and nature movement.
Louv, in his post, discusses the need for a career focus related to connecting peope to nature. While you can learn certain traits, connecting comes from within the person and personal experiences are essential. We, as parents and teachers, play a crucial role here by giving our children the opportunity to free and unstructured experiences in natural settings. Plant the seed when they are young, and engage them when they are teens.
Children & Nature Network, with founding support from the Sierra Club: Building Bridges to the Outdoors and corporate support from The North Face has launched the Natural Leaders Network, to engage a new generation of "Natural leaders" - teenagers, college students and other young people. In New Zealand the Enviroschools Foundation aims to nurture a generation of innovative and motivated young people, who instinctively think and act sustainably.
Around the globe, the Earth needs our young people.
- Anja
photo source: © AMWGLN
The millenial generation are not loyal, in particular to work/business, mainly as a result of having seen their parents give everything to a company but still at risk of redundancy. Of course growing up being led to believe the world revolves around them would strongly influence that also. However, this generation has shown itself to be extremely civic minded, to an extent not seen since the veteran generation. They have a strong perception that baby boomers & gen X have messed up the world, & they need to be the ones to fix it. Fortunately, their strong self confidence enables them to feel this is a realistic goal for them. They may have a significantly different work ethic to what has been previously acceptable, but as they are adept at multi-tasking, they are capable of succeeding in this way & a number of organisations made up from millenial workers (google as a prime example) have demonstrated this success. One of their most difficult problems is conflict with baby boomer & gen X colleagues and employers, however, this balance will shift with the ratios of the different balance of generations in the workforce. It will certainly be interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn his latest book "Outliers", Malcolm Gladwell describes some interesting casestudies and writes about "practical intelligence" and the "sense of entitlement" in young children, attitudes, he writes, "perfectly suited to succeeding in the modern world". But then, of course, you can argue what "succeeding" is. It will indeed be interesting to see what attitudes the millenial generation will display in the years ahead.
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