NATURE CONNECTION

I’ve been told more than once that it’s hard to get young people interested in nature or climate change. That they’re always on their phones - disconnected, disinterested.

But honestly? I think we’re asking the wrong questions - and placing the blame in the wrong place.

The truth is, each of us wakes up to the world in our own time and our own way. You can’t guilt someone into caring - not with lectures, not with doom-laden stats. Tell someone to “go green” and chances are they’ll roll their eyes… or do the opposite. It’s human nature.

What we’re missing is joy.

We need to get so much better at showing how bloody joyful taking action can be. Connecting with nature isn’t some solemn obligation - it’s a chance to feel alive. To feel part of something bigger. To feel like we belong.

Climate action doesn’t have to be all fear and sacrifice - it can be empowering, energising, even fun. That’s where the idea of ACTionism comes into view. It’s not just about preventing catastrophe - it’s about cultivating a better way to be: one that’s more connected, more just, more fun.

It opens up climate action not as a burden, but as an invitation to rethink how we live, work, and care for the world and each other.

Whenever I’m out in communities sharing my passion for nature, I often hear the same thing: ‘Young people just don’t care - they’re glued to their screens.

But maybe the issue isn’t attention spans - maybe it’s access.

Take a look around your neighbourhood. How many places can kids roam free? Climb trees? Get muddy? Feel wild?

The fields and woods many of us grew up with have been swallowed up by housing estates and “keep out” signs. Even the parks that remain often feel like they’re designed to keep young people out, not welcome them in.

We’ve stripped nature from our lives, then blamed for not knowing it.

It’s time to flip the narrative.

Young people do care - deeply - when they’re given the chance, they take action for nature. They need to feel invited, not excluded. Trusted, not policed. They need wild spaces where they can be curious and free. They need adults who meet them with honesty, not judgment, and who show them that joy and climate action can walk hand in hand.

If we want young people to care about the natural world, we need to start by making sure they can actually get to it.

"We are showered every day with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and the exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put into the universe will always come back." - Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass