Youth owned

There are lots of initiatives out there which aim to include or speak for young people. Often, that means that much of the legwork is actually done by adult staff. We’re different- every aspect of our work is planned and run by a team of unpaid, volunteer young people. They’re spread all across the country, and are mostly between 16-25. We’re increasingly funded by lots of small donations from other young people too, giving us a lot more freedom to do what we want.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t make the most of the expertise of some pretty inspirational older people. We’ve got an advisory board made up of experts in fields such as communications, finance and the law who keep us informed. We’ve got great relationships with our coalition partners, many of who cater for all age ranges, and in our capacity as a Key Stakeholder at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, we sit around the same table as equals.

Friends and colleagues

We’re a team made up entirely of massively motivated young volunteers. We choose to do this in our spare time between other committments like a job, university and some pretty wild social lives. Because of that, hierarchy and command are less important than respect and commitment. We aim to have the same kind of energy and sense of purpose that you’d find amongst a bunch of high-powered professionals combined with the kind of support, straight talking and dun that you’d find in a close circle of friends. The rule we try to live by is that if it’s not fun, it’s not working.

Part of global word-of-mouth movement

What’s pretty exciting is that all across the World, in over 24 different countries, youth coalitions are springing up, purely by word-of-mouth and on the initiative of young people in those countries meeting in living rooms, under trees, on university campuses and just about anywhere else.

They all work slightly differently, but tools such as Skype, Facebook and YouTube mean that it’s possible for us to work together aand inspire one another in ways that just wouldn’t have been possible even 10 years ago. Check out www.aycc.org.au, www.ourclimate.ca, http://iycn.in/, http://www.ayicc.net/, http://www.energyactioncoalition.org/, http://nigerianyouthclimatecoalition.blogspot.com/ or meet some of our friends

Wider & bigger, not just louder

In order to make change happen, it’s not enough for the same old people just to shout a bit louder or even to work a bit harder. We need to increase the numbers of people shouting and working! Getting real change means breaking down the barriers which stop people from wanting (or being able) to get involved.

We’re working our backsides off to make that happen. Smashing up negative stereotypes about what it means to care. Communicating the issues in ways that connect with Sun and Daily Mail readers and people who don’t read a newspaper at all, rather than just the usual Guardian-reading trendy lefties.

We’ve got a vision

What gets us out of bed each morning? Knowing that we’re fighting for a dream, not just against a nightmare. We’re not just fighting against climate change, we’re also fighting for the clean, just, healthier, happier future that we know a clean energy economy can provide. We’re determined to ‘sell heaven’, turning action on climate change into something which can be exciting, aspirational and inspirational. Dreams are contagious.