Young People as Agents of Change: The Youth

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Young People as Agents of Change The Youth
Sustainable Consumption Project

• Prof John Fien, RMIT University
• Matthew Bentley, RMIT University
• Cameron Neil, IYPF

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The Project

• Key Project objectives
• An exploration of youth culture and sustainable
  consumption
• An analysis of influences on young peoples
  consumption
• The education of agents of change for sustainable
  consumption
• The documentation of good practice
• The promotion of policies for sustainable
  consumption

• Griffith University and IYPF, funded by the
  National Youth Affairs Research Scheme
• Aug 2003 Sept 2004
• Report published February 2005
• Literature review, discussion of SC tools and
  strategies, 14 case studies, policy issues
• Todays focus
• 1. Young Australians SC research context, the
  report, results, learning
• 2. A National Program

Answer 2 Questions What do Australian young
people think about consumption? What do they
think should be done about it?
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Young Australians SC?

• Not a focus area in youth journals or by youth
  associations
• Youth concern for the environment well documented
  social issues and youth participation also
• Issues arising from over-consumption central to
  youth matters, e.g. mental and physical health
• Wide variation in capacity to deal with these
  complex issues

• Key emergent issues
• Young people are concerned about environmental
  issues (see paper for studies)
• Many in Generation Y (over 25) involved in some
  sort of community volunteering
• Education ABOUT enviro issues, particularly
  through schools
• Lack of clarity about HOW to make change happen,
  links to personal behaviour

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Report National SC Survey

• 224 young people surveyed nationally
• Target 12-28 year olds
• Distribution by E-mail and Post
• 16 Questions
• Examining young peoples consumption, and how
  they can make changes in their own consumption
  and be catalysts for change on SC
• Here are a few findings

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Young Peoples Consumption (1)

• Nine out of ten young people agreed peers consume
  too much

• But 44 said they had little or no influence over
  their consumption choices

How Much Influence Do You Have Over Your
Consumption Behaviour?
Young People Buy Too Much Stuff
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Young Peoples Consumption (2)

1 There was a 5.4 non-response rate on the
first ranked selection. Hence, percentages do not
total 100.
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The Disconnect between Social Concern and
Personal Action (1)
Concern for social issues
Level of Concern For The Environment
The Size Of My Shopping Impact on the Environment
and Wellbeing of Others
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The Disconnect between Social Concern and
Personal Action (2)
Lack of personal action

• About half only sometimes or never consider
  product impact when buying
• This disconnection is highlighted in a 2000
  UNESCO study
• Can be partly explained by feelings of ambivalence

I Consider A Products Impact Before Buying It
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Ambivalence

• Ambivalence is a condition in which people feel
  mixed emotions or sense mixed evaluations
• One part of the social reality pulls one way
  (towards sustainability) while another part pulls
  the opposite way (towards consumption)
• Feelings of frustration resulting from lack of
  proactive change in society may undermine agency
  for sustainable consumption

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Towards a National Framework for Change

• Address ambivalence, lack of clarity about how to
  make positive change
• Create processes for overcoming barriers to more
  sustainable consumption
• Put young Australians in a position of leadership
  in their communities

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Taking Responsibility

• Many examples of how young people are taking
  action on SC
• Majority agree that changes in consumption will
  benefit environment and others wellbeing
• But important factors restrict young people from
  consuming more sustainably

By Changing My Behaviour I Could Bring About
Positive Change
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Barriers and Enablers Identified
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More Examples of Barriers to Action and Possible
Solutions to Overcome
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Some Enablers

• Being heard
• Investing in ideas and action
• Political support for more sustainable living
• Education and awareness raising
• Local opportunities
• Involving the Media
• Training action competence approach
• Learning and skill development, not only formal
  education on SC

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Action Competence The Missing Link

• De Young (1996) most significant factors in
  changing consumption behaviour
• Intrinsic motivation
• Awareness of appropriate consumption actions
• Skill in practising such actions
• Education FOR Sustainable Development
• Need to connect learning and skill development
  with SC content area (active citizenship / youth
  development)

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Capacity Building for Sustainable Consumption
Change Agents in Australia Program

• Pilot Program implemented in the research,
  consisted of 2 major components
• Train-the-Trainer workshops
• Youth Workshops (see next slide)
• Identify and support host organisations
• Sustainable Consumption Workbook
• Workshop evaluations (incl. post workshop)
• 5 locations Sydney (Pilot), Adelaide, Bendigo,
  Brisbane, Mornington Peninsula (Vic)
• Approx. 15-20 participants in each workshop

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Youth Workshop Topics

• Ecological Footprint survey
• Ecological Footprint group exercise (barriers and
  solutions)
• A discussion of the UNESCO YouthXchange project
• A presentation on Local Sustainability Guides
• A discussion of the Sustainable Living Project
• Media exercise (Adbusters material)
• Action Planning exercises
• Sustainable Consumption Resources Table

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Feedback Success

• Many participants successfully undertook
  individual action when they got home
• However, community/group action was constrained
  by several factors (e.g. time, resources,
  confidence)
• 90 of TTT participants found the sessions useful
  for incorporating SC into their own work plans
• 87 of SC workshop participants found the session
  quite useful or very useful

• I think it was really good. I learnt a lot of
  things that I didnt know and it involved
  everyone (male, 16, Mornington)
• I came here not knowing what this was about and
  left knowing a lot and also knowing how to
  improve to become more sustainable in consuming
  (female, 17, Bendigo)

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Design Improvements

• Several program improvements some tools/aspects
  considered less helpful than others
• Providing workshop participants with kits to take
  away after the workshops
• Sending out summaries of the workshop discussions
  to all participants
• Including planning in the workshops for follow up
  meetings and educating and talking with others
• More active follow-up activities
• Convening the train-the-trainer workshop a few
  weeks to a month prior to the youth workshop, and
  then facilitating a follow up TTT session after
  the youth workshop

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A National Youth and SC Program

• Appointing a secretariat / committee of young
  people
• An Australian version of the UNEP-UNESCO
  YouthXchange training guide and website on
  sustainable consumption
• Large scale Youth SC capacity building program
  in each State and Territory
• Developing small grants and national awards
  programs
• Establishing links with national and global
  programs

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New Community Capacity Building Program Model

• Community Planning Session(s)
• Link program to local activities, embed in
  program planning, fund / resource follow up
• Local ownership and commitment
• Train-the-Trainer(s)
• Youth Workshop(s)
• Follow up mentoring, resourcing, networking,
  funding awards

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• Helping young Australians to discover for
  themselves the changes which are most meaningful
  for them and helping them to develop the action
  skills or competence to actually change their
  consumption patterns and that of their community

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Moving Forward

• An Australian working group of youth, young
  professionals, academics,practitioners
  collaborating to make the national SC program a
  reality!
• Nation-wide implementation of the SC capacity
  building program
• Heading to community planning phase in regional
  Victoria and ACT fro 2006
• Promotion of the NYARS report an national program
  concept via various networks, publications
• Further SC-related research
• Continue to build partnerships in Australia and
  internationally

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More Information

• Prof John Fien _at_ RMIT
• ? john.fien_at_rmit.edu.au
• Cameron Neil
• ? 61 (0) 402 072 452
• ? cameronneil_at_iypf.org
• Working Group
• http//www.iypf.org/IYPF-projects.htmYouthSC