Networking as a Hammer to Knock Down the Wall
How Youths Enhance Climate Communication through Making Friends
Have you ever found it hard to promote visibility of your climate campaign? Last year, after doing some networking projects, I found that networking might be an ideal solution. In this article, I will share how I managed the three networking projects to enhance climate communication. Although the strategy changes in each project, I want to convey an idea: networking can be a climate action.In 2018, I became a volunteer in Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition (TWYCC). For the first two years, I researched on Taiwan’s climate policies and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Yet, I later found that, the more I studied these policies, the farther I felt from my youth fellows.
When I shared climate policies with my friends, I could hardly invite them into climate discussions. “Okay. I know climate change is important. But why should I care about climate policies?” One of my friends told me after I shared my research on NDCs.
On the other hand, my peers in TWYCC and other environmental NGOs were actively engaged in climate policies. Apart from research, we would also exchange opinions with scholars and policymakers. It seemed that climate campaigns were only a game for activists, scholars, and politicians.
I saw a solid wall. A wall stood still to separate the insiders and the outsiders. I wanted to tear it down.
If people living on this planet are all stakeholders of climate change, why should those not professional in climate be regarded as outsiders of climate discussions? In 2020, I became the project manager of the climate campaign team. That is, I got a chance to tackle the wall problem. It’s always difficult to find the solution alone, but with a group of teammates, I was able to make a difference.
How TWYCC Tears Down the Wall
To enhance climate communication between insiders and outsiders, we a youth NGO thought of a possible solution: youth networking. We thus decided to implement three networking projects to meet student clubs as many as we can.
- Youth Climate Determined Contributions (April-June 2020):
Based on our past research on NDCs, we designed a petition to introduce this important topic. In the petition, student clubs wrote down their climate actions, just as governments state their climate policies in NDCs. Through this youth version of NDCs, we demanded that the government be more active than youths in climate actions and that Taiwan update a better version of NDCs by 2020.
The petition aimed to connect students with climate change with daily actions. For example, the NTU swimming team says, after the training, they can take the shower quickly to save water. The student consulting club also says they can set their weekly meeting day as the Vegan Day. Apart from environmental clubs, other student clubs could also be included.
In May, we contacted 13 organizations, and seven out of them joined the petition. We then posted their signed petitions on Facebook to promote this event. It seemed that the petition was quite successful. However, when we tried to contact more clubs in June, we received no replies. After a few weeks of struggling, we suspended the project.
- The Training Event for Eco-Clubs (September 5–6, 2020):
Given the previous experience, we found the topic of NDCs too hard for the outsiders. We thus changed our strategy: instead of meeting outsiders, we should first bring more insiders into our network. Eco-clubs thus became our target audience.
We knew that the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and several environmental NGOs had been working on the amendment of “Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act,” so we planned a training event to introduce this topic. To attract more eco-clubs, we offered workshops to help them plan projects and launch campaigns. On the other hand, we invited legislators and scholars to talk about this important amendment act.
Thanks to this two-day training event, we cooperated with some eco-clubs we had never met before. Besides, the discussion session connected us with these eco-clubs — face-to face interaction is really powerful to form partnerships!
- The Climate March (September 27, 2020):
To join the global climate strike, Fridays for future, TWYCC decided to hold the climate march on September 27th. This march is quite significant because it had been twelve years since the last climate march in Taiwan. To engage more participants, TWYCC chose to hold a march rather than a strike because students in Taiwan seldom go on strikes.
This time, we addressed the issue of climate change generally. “Climate actions, brook no delay.” is our only slogan. We successfully invited students from over 20 schools to join the march. It’s worth mentioning that our promoting strategy also activated students who had never participated in climate campaigns.
Although it was a rainy day, we were really excited because our efforts on youth networking did bring more outsiders to take actions. We could proudly say that we the Taiwanese youth not just witnessed but held the first climate march in our lifetime.
What TWYCC Have Learned through Networking
When we looked back at what we’d done for the past year, we realized that there are no shortcuts to network. It really takes time to establish long-term partnerships with student clubs. The replies we received, even if there were only a few ones, would eventually pave the way for our long-term networking development.
“Youth Climate Determined Contributions” might not be a success, but our efforts were not in vain. Through the training event and the climate march, we not only reached more eco-clubs but some previous outsiders of climate discussions. In the long run, we will have a stronger backup from the youth community and possess enough capacity to launch bigger climate campaigns.
As part of TWYCC’s climate actions, networking is not merely about making friends. It’s the cornerstone to promote the visibility of our climate actions.
Author: Regina Chang
Contributor: Shun-Te Wang and Anastasia Ionas
