WWF Bridging the Gap Between Climate Change and the Youth

Back in September 2018, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) joined in the first ever Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco to bring businesses, state and local government, civil society and citizens together in an effort to fight the growing predicament of climate change.

We were privileged to have a role in the conference by providing video coverage of the entire event. This included interviews of several leaders in the movement such as Carter Roberts, CEO and President of WWF, as well as Janet Napolitano, President of the University of California.

The purpose of the summit was to engage all of these parties to collaborate and remind the world that the threat of climate change is more real than ever. By bringing together leaders and communities from around the world, they can all be a part of the conversation and demonstrate the consequences that climate change has had on their communities, while also sharing the successful strategies they’ve implemented.

Bringing the Youth into the conversation

WWF’s intention was to include the youth in the conversation as they are the future of the movement. During the first day of the conference, we did a livestream where WWF hosted a panel of youths for a segment titled, Starting Soon: Climate Change In My Lifetime, where four young speakers from across the country discussed the climate change impacts they’ve experienced.

By giving these Youth Ambassadors a stage to share their stories of how their lives were changed by natural disasters, including hurricanes and forest fires, WWF provided a platform for their voice to be heard and become leaders in the movement.

For these individuals, the damage is already done. But the hope is that the work they’re doing to raise awareness about these natural disasters will affect the outcome of children who experience them in the future.

Rise for Climate March

It culminated in the Rise for Climate march led by the Youth Ambassadors on September 8th, 2018, where over 30,000 protesters led by the young participants joined hundreds of thousands worldwide to march in unity and push for urgent action from local leaders.

With the march, these activists showed that they weren’t waiting for governments to act and would instead lead by example, urging elected officials and corporate executives to push for equitable, community-led solutions instead of profit-driven decisions.