By Wei Diqi
As the Katowice Climate Change Conference goes on, December 6 has been set as its "Young and Future Generation Day." Young voices are getting heard and more young people are trying to be environmentally friendly.
"It's very important for us to protect the environment even for students," a student from Beijing Zhongke Qiyuan School told CGTN. "Because if we protect the earth, animals will have more places to live. And we will have a better environment, such as blue sky and clear water."
And Pan Jinyang, a grade three student said, "At home, I will do garbage sorting, recyclable and non-recyclable, kitchen waste and batteries. At school, we also classify garbage into kitchen waste and recyclable."
Over the past few years, the environmental impact of waste has grown hugely in importance as an issue for young people. The focus of young people's concerns mirrors the increasing importance given to tackling the use of plastics and waste.
Young people around the world are actively engaged in the effort to address climate change, leading and participating in a multitude of campaigns at different levels. Nowadays, more young Chinese continue to adopt both conventional and unconventional methods to contribute to environmental care and protection.
According to Zhou Jinfeng, secretary-general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, "Translating books and publishing DVDs at the university level, high school level, the primary school level and even the kindergarten, we have done a lot of work. From today's activities, we can see those children are fully aware of the situation, especially climate change and environmental protection and ecological civilization."
It is this generation that is responding to climate change, plastic pollution in our oceans and extreme weather events. It's absolutely crucial that younger voices are engaged in this discussion. We can draw hope, inspiration and confidence from the young Chinese. They are already shaping the future.
Environmentally themed paintings by students. /CGTN Photo
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