Colman Noctor: Young and old need to work together to protect the planet  

Climate activist Greta Thunberg being interviewed at the London's Natural History Museum for her appearance on the BBC1's current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show.

One of the most green-conscious members of my family is my 11-year-old son. A stereotypical oldest child, he is conscientious, hard-working and, depending on your view, is blessed, or cursed with a high moral compass. He has learned in school how we need to protect the planet and will often remind other family members of practices that are contrary to this goal. 

He is the one child that realises that an apple core goes in the brown compost bin and not the recycling one, he will also point out waste when it comes to our energy usage, and he reminds me regularly that my diesel pickup truck has to go. 

His motivation around these matters seems driven by a sense of purpose and a desire to do things correctly. But his interest in sustainability has been influenced by school as opposed to home.

In first class, his teacher facilitated his nomination to the ‘Fair Trade Council’, which sounds like a job that would require him to take a number of flights to Brussels per year, but it was a group who were charged with promoting more sustainable practices in the school. Like most things, he took the responsibility far more seriously than I would have done at his age. The new role seemed to be the catalyst for his sense of environmental responsibility, and he has continued these practices long after his commitment to the Fair Trade Council concluded.

One step at a time

To be successful, I believe sustainability needs to be sustainable. A gradual move toward something with small manageable steps is far more likely to succeed than a giant leap into a new way of being. Like a fad diet with promised short-term results, it is unlikely to be maintained long enough to lead to long-term change. We need to sell sustainability in small steps.

I've two clear memories of being environmentally engaged as a child. One involved collecting glass milk bottles and getting a couple of pence from the milkman for them, the main incentive for the effort. The second was a little more unusual. We lived near a clay pigeon shooting range, and we would go to the range and search for unbroken clay targets which we collected and sold back to the marksmen the following Sunday. Again, the financial incentive was undoubtedly the motivator. 

I wonder if the green agenda could find a way of instilling this sense of environmental entrepreneurialism in our children, while at the same time incentivising them to do something worthwhile for the planet.

Maybe we need to consider using the ‘organically grown carrot’ rather than the ‘stick from the replanted forest’ to change human behaviour. By rewarding children’s efforts to be more sustainable, we could create the initial attraction to the action, which over time could become part of their everyday lives.

Children are our future

To achieve long-term change, it’s vital we involve young people in the battle against climate change. You may agree with Whitney Huston when she sings ‘children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way’. But we need to understand the psyche of the young person if this approach is to be successful.

Currently, the green agenda is attracting teenagers in search of a ‘cause’. The existence of outspoken adolescent activists is not new, although a different anarchy to the punk era of the ‘80s. Teenagers are perfect candidates for a revolution, as many already feel disenfranchised and will take any opportunity to ‘stick it to the man’.

Greta Thunberg received rapturous applause when she arrived in Glasgow on Sunday, joining thousands of activists for Cop26 climate summit. 
 Her ‘revolution’ has done a lot to increase our awareness about climate change. But does her approach bring the older generation on board?

We are living in a ‘prefigurative society’, where the young teach the old. This is the case in terms of our rapid technological advances and changes in our sustainability habits.

However, young people need to understand the true meaning of leadership,  something that may be missing from their plight to make the older generation more conscious about sustainability.

To lead, one must lead by example. This involves taking on the responsibilities as opposed to just demanding one’s rights. There is no value in marching through Dublin city centre with ‘Save the Planet’ placards only to litter the streets with fast food packaging and empty cans in the process.

The irony of this behaviour is not lost on the older generation, and the preachy narratives can easily be dismissed as ‘white noise’. It is an interesting dynamic when you consider the role reversal that has evolved. Traditionally it was the older generation who were finger-wagging, telling young people to behave more sensibly, which was often met with an eye-rolling or ‘what would you know?’ response. Now we are witnessing something similar but in reverse.

Rewards, not shame

To bridge the generation gap, we need to embrace a coming together of agendas, instead of shaming, accusations, and insults, which serves little purpose in creating meaningful change. At a government level, our leaders would do well to borrow from the psychology of parenting which argues that encouragement, incentive, and support lead to meaningful engagement, not sanction and punishment.

Though the 20th century saw great advances in the understanding of human psychology, we continue to rely on sanctions as a means of enforcement. If we want cross-generational change to occur and to last, we need to collaborate, co-create and co-operate with each other. We need to make the green agenda more attractive instead of making the non-green agenda less attractive.

My son’s involvement in the Fair Trade Council gave him a voice, a responsibility and a role. Creative schemes such as this will influence families more effectively because the change happens within rather than imposed from the outside.

Creating culture takes time, and incentives are about a starting point. Entice people into more sustainable ways of living that are more about reward than shame and I believe we might make an important shift in this country. A shift future generations will thank us for.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB