Amongst the many different concepts like greenwashing, pinkwashing, whitewashing, etc. is a relatively newer one becoming more and more common - youthwashing.
It’s no secret that the younger generation across the globe is becoming more vocal to oppose climate change. GenZ is also more inclined towards making more conscious lifestyle choices as compared to older generations. More importantly, GenZ is also set to be most affected by climate change in the coming years. These factors make the youth one of the most important voices and stakeholders in opposing climate change, simply put, their word matters on the subject. However, instead of giving the youth proper participation and listening to their opinions, companies are using their presence in related forums for a false veil of youth participation. This practice is known as ‘youthwashing’.
While such practices were also pointed out during the 25th edition of the United Nations Climate Change conference popularly known as COP 25, it’s at COP 26, which took place in November this year, that these practices became more prominent. 16-year-old American climate activist Alexandria Villaseñor took to Twitter to point out one such COP 26 incident saying, “Today Pres. Obama is at Cop26, and apparently, he has a message for youth. But youth won’t be in the room. There’s no tix for most of us. Tix were limited to 2 per delegation or NGO, and the adults took them. There’s no video link either. Guess we’ll watch it later on YouTube.”
As challenging the reality of climate change becomes out of the question, more and more young climate activists are often asked to participate in discussions and panels by companies that work with fossil fuels. However, according to many youth activists, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are listened to. “Young people are being invited to panels, being invited to give speeches, being applauded and praised and kind of upheld and brought up to the spotlight,” climate justice activist Dominika Lasota told Euronews Green at the COP26 conference.
Want to know more about Green, Pink, Blue, Social Washing and how to spot it? Click here
Image used for representational purposes only.