There are countless subjects that are up for debate in society – yet, so many go unanswered by the general public. For instance, most households don’t have opinions on how a giraffe would wear a necktie, or whether a hotdog is a sandwich or not. However, once prompted with these mysteries, I’m sure you’re already forming a solution in your head.
A giraffe’s neck tie and a sandwich-hotdog are manageable, easy subjects. Strong emotions do not typically arise when they are mentioned. Climate change is a different matter.
When unaddressed, climate change seems indecipherable. It looks like a looming, massive blob of misinformation and a fearful future. It’s easy to avoid having a plan or a solution for climate change resistance. But the right thing to do is face it head-on.
That’s why we think it’s so important to directly ask our youth crew how they will respond to climate change.
In one of our recent workshops (a weekly lesson covering topics such as agricultural, outreach, peer leadership, and DEIJ), the youth confronted the overarching topic of climate change resistance at LEAF. That subject can seem scary. So, we made it fun!
In the workshop, we split youth into separate groups. Each group was tasked with a special mission: to develop a proposal of adaptations that we should install on the farm. After their plans were drafted, the youth came together to cross-examine one another. They reflected on the advantages of certain features, poked holes in the disadvantages of others, and grew inspired by the imaginations of their peers.
The information compiled during this workshop was so valuable that words cannot describe it.
Confronting these hard topics doesn’t have to be dreadful. It can be fun. It can be as simple as debating with coworkers that feel like friends. It can be as complicated as a month-long series of intensive meetings. One thing that confrontation sometimes is? Necessary.
From facing this problem head-on and together, we’ve been able to move forward. We’ve been able to structure a plan for instilling climate resilience within our small operation here at LEAF. The best advice we can give is to have the courage to face those larger-than-life problems. Think of us, bring together your community to face it, and suddenly solutions might not seem so far away.