Today's guest blog is from RSPB Youth Council member Lisa, who brings an enthusiasm for standing up for nature and a personal interest in tackling the climate crisis. With plans to study Geography and Politics at university, she has gained a diverse array of experience from involvement in a number of youth councils and boards across the environmental sector.
“We are all politicians”. I happened to glimpse this phrase on a passer-by's t-shirt while making my way through a crowded city centre; it has stayed with me since… Reflecting on the slogan, the notion that we all have the power to influence politics resonated with me as hopeful and quite empowering. People have power whether that be through marches, voting or signing petitions, to name a few. However, I began to question the t-shirt’s message after learning that only one half of adults in the UK actually voted in the 2024 UK General Election. When effective governance is needed more than ever, how have we become so disillusioned with politics?
From the places where we live to the energy we use, from what we study at school to how we travel; politics influences everything in our daily lives, and democracy is how we run our society. Therefore, receiving the lowest turnout since 2001 at perhaps the most significant event for democracy in the last 5 years is certainly a cause for concern; especially when the natural world around us is calling out for help like never before. But nature doesn’t have a voice. As citizens, we must therefore speak up for it, and policies and politics have a big role in that. I believe that politics can save nature.
I've been waiting to put an ‘x’ on the ballot paper
Since I was11 years old, I have absorbed headlines and other political stories like they were sweets in a corner shop, not that they were ‘sweet’ in the slightest, but rather that I found current affairs all too interesting, and have been waiting for the day to put an ‘x’ on the ballot paper. So when I nearly accepted defeat after I was initially declined my postal vote (my preference as I was abroad at the time of the election) due to my voter registration being incorrectly recorded, I realised that requirements like registering to vote online and showing ID to vote can be significant barriers to taking part in this democratic process. Luckily, this turned out to simply be a mistake on their end and I was able to vote via postal vote in time. For someone like me, who has always valued playing a part in democracy, to almost lose my vote has shown me that we need to remove all the barriers and ensure everyone can vote. Therefore, I welcome the idea of automatic voter registration and the removal of ID requirements.
A significant number of young people didn’t cast their vote this election * with turnout among young people typically trending lower; all whilst the decisions made by politicians today affect our futures the most. There is nothing that demonstrates this more powerfully than the climate and ecological crisis. Just as political action had a role in causing this destruction, political action has a role in restoring and saving it.
Before this year, I don’t think I could’ve understood why young people - the same young people who shared petitions, reposted political posts, and with whom I got into heated debates or marched alongside for the planet - wouldn’t turn out to vote. Some might say that we don’t care, some might say that we are too lazy; I would argue instead that we are at a turning point in our lives where all previous structures and restrictions have gone out of the window. Between the ages of 18 and 23 - when young people can vote for the first time in a General Election - is also when our lives are all over the place - often in a geographical sense but we are also studying, travelling, working long hours.
Ensuring the future of democracy
Although some of us are privileged enough to prioritise politics on election day, for a lot of young people financial struggles, mental health or other anxieties understandably remain the priority. These struggles and priorities are of course not unique to young adults, however we have not been able to develop a habit of voting during a more predictable time of our lives - for example while at school and living at home. Delivering on their manifesto commitment to extend the vote to16-year-olds should be one of the first actions of the new Labour UK Government, alongside compulsory political and climate education, to adequately prepare young people for their futures while ensuring the future of democracy.
Votes at 16 will give young people a voice like never before in the running of our country, however this opportunity must also extend to other influencing powers.
No one has more at stake in the future of our planet than the young people that will live on it the longest, so we need to be included in the decision-making processes. I believe all environmental and nature-based charities and organisations must have young people involved in their internal structures. Through this, organisations are creating an intergenerational structure where greater learnings, creativity and perhaps initial challenges will lead to longer-lasting, more inclusive and future-proof solutions, influence and ideas. Personally, the opportunity to create change, hold organisations to account and offer feedback has been life altering, from confidence-boosting to reducing my own eco-anxiety.
So, as we saw with the recent General Election, people still have the power. While we may not all be politicians by trade, by speaking up for action on nature and climate in whatever ways are available to us, we can alter our projected path. I believe including young people in decision making processes, engaging people in politics from a young age, giving 16-year-olds the vote, and by reducing barriers to voting, we can change politics, democracy and our futures for the better. I will be eagerly awaiting the green policies from our elected politicians that will provide us all with hope for our futures and planet, so maybe one day I won’t have to think so hard about how someone’s t-shirt slogan that compares us to politicians makes me feel.
* Half of us: Turnout patterns at the 2024 general election.” IPPR, 12 July 2024, https://www.ippr.org/articles/half-of-us. Accessed 31 July 2024. Pages 18-19