Youth-led radio station “Radio Platfform” sparks critical discussions and activism for environmental protection at Wales Millennium Centre towards young generation in the run-up to the COP28 Climate Talks
Young people in Cardiff have been debating ways to improve the environment thanks to an innovative project run by a local radio station.
Radio Plattform in Cardiff collaborating with community radio stations across UK held a panel discussion to exploring the accessibility of environmental issues for young people and initiatives to engage them in environmental activism.
“A lot of young people can’t really resonate with the fact that it’s not an issue of the future, it’s an issue today, so if we can communicate with young people and engage them, navigate them with the issues affecting us now, hopefully we can start seeing a lot more youth activism.” said Sajsri Saikrishnan, the Youth Climate Ambassador For Wales.
As the climate issue become very topical, many environmental groups are joining forces to mobilize young people to take actions for environmental protection in the context of the growing climate crisis. “By including they into environment projects, young people can realize they are not alone on the issue. From climate strikes to innovative sustainability projects, younger generation are proving to be a driving force for positive change.” One of the panelists said.
“Getting the youth voice highlighted on a global scale is something we really need to encourage because young people are going to inherit the world from us and they are the ones who are going to really see the effects of the nature of biodiversity crisis, so more people engaging from across Wales, it’s all better.” Said a youth member of Stand For Nature Wales during the discussion.
The local groups in Cardiff are really passionate about the river pollution because some figures in news showed how poor state of rivers across the UK.” Said Sajsri. “To highlight the issue in Cardiff, we are now launching the Save Our Taff campaign, which is come out of the voices of our young people.”
The panel discussion also identified some challenges when tackle climate and ecological crisis and proposed suggestions for everybody.
One of the issue is that young people are not able to see that it is an issue that we facing currently. Another obstacle is called climate anxiety, which means they know it is an issue, but they think it is so intimidating for them that they choose not to deal with it.
The good thing is that many climate groups managed to create platforms where young people can learn about the environment in a much more accessible and approachable manner.
Social Media as the powerful platform for young people as mentioned by the discussion, is playing a vital role in engaging them to environmental protection. In which they can participation in discussions, amplify their voices and mobilize other communities. Hashtags like #YouthForClimate created a virtual spaces for sharing ideas and raising awareness.
Even though environmental groups to some extend succeed in getting young people engaged in nature protection, they are still searching new ways of tacking the big issue in order to engage with audiences who may or may not be aware of the issue.