Over the last decade and a half, children and young people around the world have emerged as critical leaders on global environmental and climate challenges. The perspectives and efforts of youth encourage us to rethink climate and sustainability education. They also push us to reconsider the role of culture in shaping climate solutions. When we think about climate solutions, generally what comes to mind are things like large-scale technological, scientific, or policy interventions. But equally important, and often left out of climate and sustainability conversations, are dimensions of culture, identity, and experience. Challenges like climate change and environmental sustainability require us to expand our ethical, political, and cultural imaginations. The perspectives and everyday actions of young people encourage us to do just that.
One of the powerful things about children and young peoples’ leadership on sustainability in general, and their leadership on climate in particular, is the centrality of imagination and creativity. Children and youth have turned to the arts, music, and other creative methods to make climate change resonate with their peers. These tools also help express the urgency of climate action to adults and institutions. Ultimately, they foster more expansive thinking about the future—both if we act and if we don't.
Recognizing this reality, a project funded by the College of Earth and Mineral Science’s Sustainability Funds set out to understand youth perceptions and motivations for sustainable action within the college. Through interviews and a survey, both undergraduate and graduate students answered questions on the definition of sustainability, motivations for taking action on campus, and significant memories shaping students’ perceptions of sustainability.
The findings of our study reveal that young people’s understanding of sustainability is tied to everyday actions, popular and digital cultures, and emotional connections. For example, students talk about what's "cool" as a potential motivator for sustainable choices and an incentive to embrace actions that feel innovative, stylish, and socially responsible, and prioritize environmental objectives. On the other hand, several of our interviews indicate that negative peer pressure, such as assumptions that sustainable behaviors, such as recycling, are not cool, can act as barriers to students making individual sustainable choices and getting involved in collective efforts that promote environmental goals on campus or in the community.
Memories and feelings about past experiences also shape student understanding of sustainability and drive their desire to create a better future. For instance, students referred to early childhood memories, popular media, or meaningful places. These served as reference points for how they constructed the meaning of sustainability. These recollections aren’t just informative but also highlight students’ conceptual, emotional, and experiential understandings of sustainability.
In our study, we found that students often link present actions to future outcomes. They are motivated by a sense of care—a desire to “repair” the world and build a more sustainable future. One student defined “sustainability [as] forming healthy societal norms that help secure our future” while another described it as “being responsible with your actions with the environment.” Across responses, a recurring theme was responsibility, both individual and collective, to think ethically about the future of human-environment relationships. This resonates with scholarship on care ethics as a central feature of sustainable action and points to the potential of centering the topics that youth and students care about in education and outreach.
Moving forward, sustainability education can be shaped by youth culture and oriented explicitly around the concerns and interests our students are already engaging with in everyday life. Notably, students ranked social media platforms as their top source for absorbing information about sustainability, followed by classroom instruction. This observation shifts our attention to student interests and media literacy. How might social and digital media be incorporated into sustainability pedagogy, especially as a key requirement for informed participation in today’s society? There are a growing number of examples of children and young people leading in creating curricula around climate and sustainability and elevating the role of culture and entertainment as climate solutions, including successful student-led climate courses at major universities, youth creating artistic learning tools for adults that teach about climate change, and efforts to engage culture and entertainment in the international climate policy conversation.
At Penn State, we are already witnessing creative efforts to spark conversations on sustainable living led by and for students. The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Sustainability Council’s “We Are the Hope for a Sustainable Future” museum series is just one example of how youth imagination, culture, and care are reshaping sustainability.
As we look ahead, the challenge is not only to teach sustainability but to listen to the stories, emotions, and visions that young people bring to the table. These aren’t just tools for engagement; they are essential ingredients for building a future that’s not only livable, but worth living in.
Harman Singh is a graduate student who is interested in conducting research on natural hazards, climate science, and sustainable policy, with a focus on Asian or African countries.
Mark Ortiz is an IEE faculty member and a geographer with research interests spanning youth politics, social movement studies, storytelling methods, and environmental/climate justice.
