Is there someone in particular that has taught you about responsible living? Do you have a role model?
[Sally, Meru Herbs – Kenya]: Yes, Andrew Botta, the founder of Meru Herbs Kenya. He had a vision to empower women, produce and process organically and to alleviate poverty in the area where Meru Herbs project is located. His vision was focused on sustainability.
[Anna, Green Net – Thailand]: I learned about responsible living more from my environmental classes during university and the time I did volunteering at organic and permaculture farms in Japan. My role model is “Rob Greenfield”, an American environmental advocate. I got a lot of inspiration from him regarding how to live simpler, kinder, and more sustainable.
[Eleonora, participant – Italy]: I don’t think I have only one role model. As I grew up I started to pay more attention to it, both thanks to social media pages and influencers and thanks to the people I met in real life during my Civil Service year in a Fair Trade Cooperative.
[Claudia, Norandino – Perù]: I do not have a model, but I think that thanks to the fact that my career is closely related to natural resources (Forestry Engineering) Thanks to volunteering I have been able to convey this same message to children who came to the ecological park Voices for the Climate, located in Lima, Peru.
Talking about the youth in your country, do they consider the theme of sustainability and responsible living (production and consumption) an important issue that needs to be tackled?
[Sally, Meru Herbs – Kenya]: Although a very recent concept in Kenya – encouraging the youth to drive Future Sustainability is taking momentum in Kenya. It is an important issue in the country.
[Anna, Green Net – Thailand]: I can see young people in Thailand becoming more and more interested in the theme of sustainability and responsible living over the past few years. However, the people who really take action are still a minority and mostly have high education and international background.
[Eleonora, participant – Italy]: I think they do. Over the last years, more and more people, especially young people in high school and university, became aware of how important this issue is. I see also among my close friends how we all actively changed our daily habits to try to be more sustainable.
[Claudia, Norandino – Perù]: It is an issue that must be addressed from school, children and youth are people who learn very easily, if they are educated from an early age great changes in society can be achieved. For us in Peru this is really important.
Can you tell us an example of young people that are socially active in your country? Are there common practices or contexts in which they are involved?
[Sally, Meru Herbs – Kenya]:
- YPSE YOUTH IN KENYA – FAIR TRADE AND SUSTAINABILITY
- ST AUSTINS SCHOOL – FAIR TRADE AND CLIMATE JUSTICE
- ST CHRISTOPHERS – FAIR TRADE AND CLIMATE JUSTICE
- STRATHMORE SCHOOL – FAIR TRADE
[Anna, Green Net – Thailand]: ‘Ong Kamonnart’ founder of Fashion Revolution Thailand
‘Ploy Thira’ founder of Deliconscious
‘Lily Larin’ – a 15 years old environmental activist.
Even though their activism approaches are different, they all apply sustainability in their daily life and they all try to tackle and talk about Climate Change issues.
[Eleonora, participant- Italy]: I think the most famous example is the Friday for Future Movement. It’s true, this is not an Italian movement, but it was inspiring to see that all around the country, groups of young people and students of all ages gathered together to make their voices be heard.
[Claudia, Norandino – Perù]: There is a lot of environmental activism or volunteerism, in Peru environmental promoters are trained who instill in society a responsible view of nature and the environment where they live.
