Climate Crisis and Youth: Vocal Representatives of the Climate Discourse

Climate change and environmental questions have dominated the media agenda for almost forty years now. Besides the academic circles, these issues appear in political discourses and in the public sphere. From a social perspective, it is the now young generation mostly discussed in connection with the possible effects of climate change. It is often highlighted that Generation Z will be the cohort who will have to face the consequences of environmental destruction. There are several youth-led movements that appeared during the past five years: these are strikingly similar, go viral within a very short time and besides that they are professional both in their rhetoric and marketing. However, the majority of scientific research features only the positive effects these movements, there is often no information provided about who is behind them. The rapidly growing body of research is disproportionate in terms of geographical location, ethnicity, sex and social class of the participants, which raises important questions.