Bella
Lack, a teen activist, argues that the "snowflake" generation should
be taken seriously
Being
called a snowflake, a derogatory phrase used to describe young people who are
thought to be too easily offended by non-PC language or environmental harm,
would offend the majority of youngsters.
The
designation is a badge of honour for Bella Lack, who is one of the top
environmental activists in the UK at the age of nineteen.
Is
it fragile to be concerned about the earth and our species' future? I don't
believe so," she replies. To be honest, I believe it has a lot of power
because snowfall is made up of many snowflakes.
She
even describes herself as a "proud snowflake." She claims those who
call her "are acknowledging that they are going to have to change their
ways," which she sees as a sign of success.
There
is no doubt that Lack and her young contemporaries have sparked a snowball
effect in the environmental movement.
Millions
of young people from all around the world have joined the environmental protest
movement after Greta Thunberg, a fellow adolescent, began her first school
strike for climate change in 2018, going to the streets to demand that adults
"stop stealing their future."
The
young climate movement in the UK is primarily credited with pressuring the
government to set a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and with bringing in a
swathe of new environmental regulations to reduce the use of disposable
plastic.
Bella
has swiftly become recognised as one of the top figures in British youth
activism. She is a Born Free Foundation spokesperson, spent her adolescent
years advocating for issues including palm oil and circus animals, and spent
2020 co-starring in the Jane Goodall-directed nature documentary Animal. She
has 138,000 followers on Twitter.
Speaking
just a few days after her A-level examinations, Lack claims that her
generation's realisation of life's fragility is what has motivated them to act.
"We are unsure of how much we can influence what may occur. The
unpredictability is what has an impact on young people. But it's also brought
about this amazing movement," she adds. There is undoubtedly a
consciousness of the situation and a desire to turn that anxiety into action
rather than passivity.
Lack
contends that despite the rush of activity that young protesters have managed
to generate on climate change, adults are still not paying attention to their
message. She agrees with Thunberg that the COP26 was "simply a summit for
meaningless pledges and promises," for instance.
With
the publication of her first book, Children of the Anthropocene, which includes
a prologue by Thunberg and recommendations from climate royalty like Extinction
Rebellion founder Gail Bradbrook and environmentalist Chris Packham, she
intends to change that.
Stories
from the global front lines of climate change are included in the book. She had
the notion while she was filming animals all over the world. We really ran
across quite a few young people while we were out and about, and many of them
weren't in the movie, but after hearing their tales, I began to believe that
they might have solutions and ideas that I haven't heard before but that need
to be heard.
Therefore,
the book is an effort to make sure that the voices of young activists are heard
- an effort to start her own snowfall. The largest beach clean-up in history
was successfully conducted by Afroz Shah in India, or 7-year-old Lesein
Mutunkei is fighting deforestation in Nairobi.
The
youth movement has learned from early criticism that it was too white, too
rich, and too European in its viewpoint as evidenced by its aggressively global
outlook. Lack claims that "Western activists are the focus of the
media." "There is a responsibility to use that, to flip it around,
and say actually the solutions don't just lie with Greta, and this small
demographic of activists that are amplified," the author writes.
She
claims that the book's primary goal is to inspire young people's desire for
activism among the adults in their lives. "Hopefully these experiences
will help people feel it in a more visceral sense and realise that this is
happening right now and everywhere," she says. Young people wrote this
book with older generations in mind.