Diary of a Gen Z Student: Young people aren't going to solve the climate crisis - we can barely cope with paper straws

The belief that all young people are terribly concerned with the climate crisis, has certainly not been my experience.

Jane Cowan is a student in Trinity College Dublin, where she is in her second year, studying English.

Being an environmental warrior is all fun and games until I have to pretend, I’m okay with the rapidly disintegrating paper straw in my iced oat milk latte cappuccino flat white, drizzled with vanilla syrup and the tears of cis white men. 

By the time I’ve taken the obligatory photo of said coffee, that paper straw is but a distant memory. The photo is the only evidence I have that my straw ever actually existed.