Teenagers to the Rescue Teenagers to the Rescue
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Leah Hetteberg / Unsplash
Experiences

Teenagers to the Rescue

A New Generation of Ecological Innovators
Joanna Nikodemska
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time 9 minutes

Ah, kids these days. They want to fix everything, to clean everything up.

Today’s youth waste no time trying to change the world (with varying levels of success). They start early, because they know that soon there might be nothing left to change.

A child cannot think ‘like an adult’, but they can, in their own childlike way, consider serious issues that grown-ups are occupied with. Their lack of knowledge and experience forces the children to think differently.

Janusz Korczak

Greta’s gang on the barricades

“My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change. This is deeply felt by young people. No wonder they are angry,” said secretary general to the United Nations, António Guterres, in support of the school climate strikes, initiated by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden. Her determination has inspired young people around the globe to take an interest in environmental issues and to rebel against the indifference of politicians responsible for the climate. As a way of protesting, she launched mass school truancy action.

Instead of attending school on 15th March 2019, 1.5 million young people from around 125 countries went to demonstrations to fight for their future. In Poland, thousands of youth walked in the rain on the streets of Warsaw, Poznań, Opole, Kraków, Katowice, Zielona Góra, Szczecin, Gdańsk, Ełk, Lublin, Świdnica, Białystok, Toruń, and

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The Girls with Pigtails The Girls with Pigtails
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Poplar trees (January 1940) by Eric Lee Johnson (public domain)
Dreams and Visions

The Girls with Pigtails

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One can turn the whole world upside down by sitting motionlessly. It was already done once by a frail old man, wrapped in cotton. Let’s hope that delicate teenage girls can do it, too.

Yet another dry, hot day. I wake up tired, not at all refreshed by the cold night’s air. Mainly because it didn’t get any cooler. I go for an early walk with my dog. Instead of wading in the dewy grass and collecting cold water drops on his snout, he has to force his way through the stiff, yellowed stalks. The dust scratches his throat. He sneezes and goes looking for some relief in the city fountain. The animal stands in the greenish water, panting heavily, right next to a faded sign: Do not enter the water.

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