A teenager guide

A Teenager Guide for Climate Change talk

Why a Guide on Climate Change Talk?

Most projects on climate change communication directed at young people do not take into account their cultural references, their language or the way they prefer to communicate around sensitive topics. In this project, we start by interviewing a group of twelve to sixteen years olds (at different stages of involvement with climate action) regarding their feelings and beliefs around climate change, as well as ways of approaching climate change around different contexts (e.g. school, family, friends).

Following from interview analysis, we will organize a co-creation workshop where teenagers can brainstorm together around contents and preferred ways of communicating about climate change. The end results are a video and a written guide on climate change communication produced by teenagers themselves (English and Portuguese versions).

Our Rational and Goals

Climate change requires collective action. The social silence around climate change in people’s everyday relations is one of the greatest obstacles to collective action. In addition, research in the social sciences has been showing that the best way to gain mental health resilience towards the effects of climate change is through civic engagement and social activism. This project is designed to mirror the connection between activism, citizen participation and mental health being.

Our objectives are:

1. Encouraging twelve to sixteen year olds in developing forms of communication and action which help to break the social silence around climate change, particularly, across the contexts where the teenager moves in (e.g. school, family, friends);
2. Encouraging twelve to sixteen year olds to engage with climate-aware actions, groups and organizations;
3. Sharing and creating strategies for psychological well-being towards climate distress, amongst twelve to sixteen year olds;

Who we are