How old were you when you had all the answers? I remember being a rather opinionated (and, if I am honest, quite pompous) teenager. I blame my two elder brothers. But, my attitude to nature and conservation has evolved over time. My views have been shaped by experience (good and bad) and a growing (and, at times, daunting) understanding of the complexity of the challenge we face in wanting to live in harmony with nature.
All of us may hope that children move from a fascination with nature, via, perhaps caring and concern for individual creatures to taking environmental actions themselves and becoming the next generation of nature conservationists. In reality, many drop out along the way. Maybe it's because other more pressing or exciting things take over or maybe it's because we, the older (and slightly crustier) generation of conservation professionals aren’t addressing younger people’s concerns.
There's probably a bit of truth in this. But we do try to do something about it and we're proud of the way we engage young people. We have over 200,000 junior members of RSPB Wildlife Explorers, including over 40,000 teenagers in RSPB Phoenix.
We asked our teenagers the same question we have been asking since launching the State of Nature report: what’s your one big thing that will help nature thrive? And unsurprisingly, they had some strong views.
Many cited the burgeoning human population as a key intractable issue for nature conservation. It's difficult to argue against this: our impact on the environment is a function of a growing population consuming more.
Their solutions? Well, they range from adjustments to the benefits system and more widespread adoption of contraception to educating women in developing countries, along with more drastic remedies from the genocidal to the apocalyptic impact of an untreatable epidemic.
It's good to know what they're thinking! For the record, our view on the growing global population can be found here...
Tomorrow, I'll share with you further thoughts from the RSPB's Phoenix forum. But you can join in as well. If you have teenage children, why not ask them the same question: what's their one big idea?
Essential listening for anyone concerned with population impacts on nature: shared planet on radio 4 with Monty Don.
It is really heartening to read their sensible views, .I think our own leaders?? /politicians could learn something from these youngsters