The “Global Shapers Annual Survey 2017” of the World Economic Forum showed that for young people climate change is the most serious issue affecting the world today (48.8%). While 78.1% said they would be willing to change their lifestyle to protect the environment, concerns about water and healthy food were expressed by 18.2%. Only then, young people are concerned about lack of education (15.9%) and lack of economic opportunity and unemployment (12.1%). The “Friday for Future” demonstrations show how serious young people are on climate topics and that they have created their own climate protection movement. It would be a big mistake to classify these young people as truants only without taken into consideration their seriousness in the issue.
Climate change and nutrition issues are closely connected, as agriculture is a main contributor to the production of greenhouse gases. Changes in the diet towards more plant-based foods, towards meat from animals with little enteric fermentation, and towards foods processed in an energy-efficient manner offer a challenging and until now little explored area for mitigating climate change.
It is necessary to address these problems already at an early stage in youth education and youth work. There is a need of not only raising awareness on the issue of climate change and the impact on nutrition patterns, but provide young people with the necessary competencies to contribute to sustainable way of living.
