Inviting GenC into the Climate conversation

E34: Taking a message of possibility and action to the younger members of our race

This past weekend I got a great shot of enthusiasm from the younger members of Team Human. And they reaffirmed my faith in the future.

It’s a busy weekend for many with Mother’s Day. So edition 34 is designed as a quick read:

• Making a climate difference from a young age. Inviting Generation C to join the Carbon Almanac for kids.

• The positive energy and inspiration from being in the company of motivated high school students

• A Mother’s Day poem “Mothers come in all shapes and forms” celebrating mothers and Mother Earth

I’d also like to welcome the seven new members of our Tilt community who join us. We are all looking for ways to create agency and action as we make decisions.

Karena

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Inviting Generation C into the Climate solution

How many of us immediately recognize this beautiful passage from The Lorax? Either from reading it to our children. Or from sitting in the lap of a favourite adult and listening to this powerful call to do our little bit for Mother Earth? It planted the seeds for hope, action and possibility. These memories planted early in life grow in ambition through our lifetime.

This week, I wanted to introduce you to another beautiful book to share with those around you. It has a twist. It is designed for our younger generation to read TO US adults!

It is a very colourful and visual, free e-book Generation Carbon: It’s time to start. It’s available at Generation Carbon: A Carbon Almanac for Kids. https://thecarbonalmanac.org/kids/

The Carbon Almanac is a coalition of humans in the Seth Godin Akimbo universe who are trying our best to make the difference we can, with what we have, as fast as we can. There is more adult content coming soon (sign up for the newsletter to stay in the loop). The focus is on information and resources rather than opinion.

Climate change is a marketing problem.

Marketing guru Seth Godin repeated this truism in 2019. Making behavioural change comes down to changing choices - one person at a time. And now, along with an army of others, he is spearheading an inter-generational attack on this problem.

Teach your parents well

One prong is to give our youngest advocates the tools they need via books, social and messaging such as these. It is no secret that children have tremendous power to change the behaviour of adults - such as the movement that increased seatbelt usage which gathered momentum when the safety message came home with every skirt-tugging seven-year-old in Elementary School. This book gives a young person the tools and language to effect change.

And teach your parents well
Their children's hell will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by

Teach Your Children Well, Crosby, Stills & Nash

And by virtue of creating a conversation between a child and trusted adult, it also gives permission for young people to have agency in a problem that might seem overwhelming. They learn they can break the problem into bite-sized portions (a life-skill).

Recycling. Adding more plant-based into our diet. Considering our energy sources. Fast fashion. Keeping the problem set to kid-sized problems. And inviting solutions seen through fresh eyes.

This is consistent with my belief that the best solution can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Who is Generation C?

C is for Covid, C is for Carbon, C is for Climate.

Seth Godin, Marketing guru

To read more, go to Generation C - https://seths.blog/2022/04/generation-c/ where Seth talks about Climate, Carbon being some of the problem Cs, but also community, connection and cohort as the Cs of possibility.

I think GenC is set to make tremendous Change, as I noted in last week’s essay Hunting for Hope where we talked about BTS advocating active engagement in the 17 UN Sustainability Goals.

Please join the Carbon Almanac organization, and discover how you can participate in the solution. While you are there, download the free copy of the kid’s book for your favourite little person. Or just as a beautiful treat of what is possible for yourself.

This is how we

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A new generation filled with hope

This past weekend I got a great shot of enthusiasm from the younger members of Team Human. As the host for the Prepskills Expo, I spoke to hundreds of high school students. They reaffirmed my faith in the future.

These young minds are full of possibility, so energetic and committed to fixing problems. This live event also gave me the opportunity to have a ‘longer than a five-minute breakout room conversation’ with parents, school guidance counsellors and American college admissions officers. It was a great place to discuss the future of Education and the Future of Work.

I had the privilege of introducing RBC Emerging Artist, Meagan De Lima. She was awarded Canada’s Top Artist for Social Change for her song “You Can” which focuses on mental health awareness. I’ve included it in this week’s playlist below, as well as her song “Queen” which she wrote as a Mother’s Day gift to her mother.

Speaking of which … celebrating Mothers … regardless of when you mark the day

MOTHERS … COME IN ALL SHAPES AND FORMS

There are those mothers
Who are up at two in the morning
Covered in goop and poop
And ice to bring down the fever.

And those that sit still, patiently
While surrounded by crazy toddlers
Twirling and whirling like dervishes
Dressed up in neon braids and crazy nails
Drinking tea out of tiny china teacups.

AND THOSE WHO NEVER GAVE BIRTH

But are the loudest advocates
For their nephews and nieces
Cheering loudly at ballet recitals and soccer matches

Who hate the sight of blood
But will sit patiently for 4 hours in ER
Holding the hands of their young relatives
Who are busy collecting scars and casts.

GRANDMOTHERS

And grandmothers who watch out for a new generation
Those who look after their grown babies
While they are busy looking after their own new babies.

GAIA

And those who never have the family they planned
But open their big hearts and big arms to the planet
And look after other humans – relatives or not – and plants and animals and Spirit …

So on Mother’s day
We give thanks for all ‘Mothers’
And for Mother Earth.

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In this week’s playlist E34, enjoy Teach Your Children Well and two beautiful songs by @Meagan De Lima. Queen is a Mother’s Day celebration for her mother. And her very empowering You Can.

Visual credit where credit is due. Learn more about them and their work:

• @Michi.Mathias contributed her wonderful artistry to the cover of the A Carbon Almanac for Children

• Thanks to Toronto based photographer Tim Fraser @timfraserphoto for capturing me in the right light

• The Mother’s day photographs were Valencia street art painted by @VictoriaCanoPerez