Green teens

Young people around the world are very concerned about climate change.

As a teenager during the tumultuous 60's, I regard this as a an encouraging sign. Being concerned is the first step toward taking action. And mobilizing young people around this most pressing issue is just what we need right now.

Now the challenge is to find ways of constructively channeling this potential energy by finding more effective ways of communicating to these concerned teens about the solutions that are at hand. GW)

Climate Change Tops List of Teenage Worries

But many don't know what to do about it

Emily Beament
The Daily Green
December 5, 2007

Teenagers in developed countries around the world are more concerned about climate change than issues such as drugs, violence or war, according to a survey released today.

A poll of nearly 50,000 youngsters from countries ranging from the UK to Russia and Singapore found almost three-quarters (74%) believed global warming was a serious problem.

Two-thirds of the 12 to 17-year-olds questioned in the online survey thought climate change was going to have a negative impact on their lives, although 64% believed it was still possible to stop the warming of the planet.

But 78% thought their governments were more concerned with terrorism and international conflict than climate change and almost a fifth (18%) thought their national leaders were not concerned at the scale of the climate problem.

While two-fifths (39%) of the youngsters around the world blamed North America for being responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, a quarter of teenagers on the continent remained unsure if global warming was a problem.

Europe was blamed by 24% of those questioned in the poll by virtual world Habbo and Greenpeace International, while 19% pointed the finger at Asia.

Despite their concerns about the issue, nearly two-fifths did not know what caused climate change or how to prevent it.

Some 49,243 teenagers were questioned on Habbo websites in the US, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Finland, Netherlands, Portugal/Brazil, Norway, Australia, Switzerland/Austria, Denmark, Singapore, Japan and Russia.

Announcing the results as negotiators gather in Bali to begin discussions on a new international deal on climate change, Greenpeace International executive director Gerd Leipold said: "Today's teenagers are tomorrow's decision makers.

"They are 'Generation C' - the generation that has to beat climate change.

"It will be up to them to create a revolution in non-polluting, renewable energy to prevent global warming from affecting the lives of billions of people and threatening the survival of countless species of animals and plants.''