Inspiring young people with sustainability

What is the Big Ideas Programme?

At Solutions for the Planet, we believe in the power of young people to face the future and its challenges head on, and in the importance of collaboration with business. Our award-winning Big Ideas Programme connects students with businesses local to them to start conversations around a sustainable future whilst educating a diverse young audience about the many opportunities within the STEM sector. And our Youth Insights delivers youth voice, youth engagement and business youth panels across the UK, bringing the unique voices of young people into the heart of businesses to help future-proof their strategies. Young people think without departmental barriers and bring actionable solutions to some of businesses most intransigent issues now and in the future.

How to inspire with sustainability

I was asked to write a piece on inspiring young people with sustainability, and it’s an interesting concept to consider. Sustainability is key to survival, whether you are thinking about it from an environmental, economic or social perspective (and we encourage our students to think about it from all three). Yet it is in danger of becoming just another buzzword that gets lost in headlines and greenwashing. So, we do need to think about ways that we can inspire everyone, not only young people, to continue to think and act sustainably.

Climate Activist Clover Hogan recorded a podcast where she shared  one of the biggest myths in climate and sustainability work. That people are ‘fundamentally rational’ and they will act if you just present them with the irrefutable facts. As we’ve learned over the last 50 or so years with our global inaction in the face of climate facts, this sadly isn’t true. She goes on to say, “So now, I focus less on convincing, and more on connecting. And on asking the hardest questions of all: if not now, when? And if not you, then who?”.  

This is what we do, in a sense, with the young people (and the adults!) who take part in our programmes. We work on building relationships, and we work on showing young people that what they think matters and that you are never too young to stand up and speak and make a change, have a positive impact. By making the young people the agents of change, that makes the concept of sustainability inspiring to them. By taking them on a journey with us where they can develop their confidence, skills and knowledge. We give them opportunities to network and connect with others who can help them make a difference, that’s how you inspire them.

How young people inspire us

Aisha Thomas, Director at Representation Matters, reflected on her book launch, and explained how she was and is led by young people. “I couldn’t do this work without them - the young people who have been my guide, my why, and my constant source of hope. Giving them the mic wasn’t just symbolic - it was necessary. They didn’t need me to speak for them. They just needed space.” Our thoughts exactly.

A previous coordinator on the Big Ideas Programme once reflected that he felt that ‘surprise’ sums up the programme. Teachers are amazed by their students’ engagement, our business mentors discover creativity in the young or themselves, and students surprise themselves. Whether by presenting or finding passion for solving a problem they care about. 
“For me, I love seeing a student start to realise that even when something is new, confusing or intimidating and they are doubting their abilities, if they keep persevering and asking questions like ‘why?’, they can achieve things they didn’t know they could.”

We are currently in the midst of our Big Ideas Competition Regional Finals, and one of our judges reflected after her experience. "I left the day feeling humbled and energised by the ideas, the teamwork, and the effort that had gone into bringing these projects to life. It was a reminder of the power of giving young people the space to lead and the tools to solve real-world problems." – Charlotte Hobster, Social Value Manager, Tarmac

I was asked to write a piece on inspiring young people with sustainability, but in reality, it is the young people that always end up inspiring the rest of us, and themselves!  What young people need is the opportunity and support to be creative. To build skills and to be heard and listened to. Their ideas and opinions taken seriously and acted upon. The rest all comes from within them!