Youth in Action: Environmentalism and Art | Teen Ink

Youth in Action: Environmentalism and Art

April 4, 2023
By Anonymous

Youth in Action- Environmentalism and Art 

 

It is beyond the shadow of a doubt that the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination can be a form of environmental advocacy for young people changing how the next generation behaves in response to nature.

Painting

A painting speaks directly to souls in a language we all knew at birth.

The action or skill of using paint, either in a picture or as decoration, painting can be used as a method of environmentalism activism. Young painters can use paintings to reflect the protection of natural landscapes, the growth of cities, the consequences of industrialization, the use of resources, and the reuse of waste. Documentation of the changing environmental crisis can help young people appreciate, track and develop mental features to protect the natural environment, considering how the Climate Change crisis is one of the major threats in the 21st century.

Fashion

Why do people like clothes? It is crystal clear that fashion is a way to express ourselves. 

Fashion is a form of art. It takes creativity and artistry for young people or particularly the youth to make clothes that other people want to wear. Fashion connects us and helps us to express ourselves, just like painting and drawing- and in this case, environmentalists can use fashion to make an eco-difference.

The majority of young people are done with fast fashion and are shaping the future of sustainable fashion. More and more youth are becoming environmentally conscious, and some are joining youth-led environmental movements like Fridays For Future. Young people around the world are working to clean up a dirty fashion industry. “Youth for a greener clothing and Fashion Industry” will give voice to young designers, creators, and entrepreneurs from all angles who are putting circularity, sustainability, and resources-efficiency at the core of their business models. The goal or main initiative why my generation is choosing eco-fashion is because, from design to production, they are opting for locally, naturally outsourced materials and adopting recycling and upcycling practices, to reduce the environmental footprint and make their circular business models a success and an inspiration for others. Opting for slow fashion and sustainable alternatives is the way forward.

Dance

Dance has been a way for people to connect and the environment around them for many years, but what can dance teach us about our relationship with nature?

Dance is an art most young people indulge in at an early age. Young dancers experience body and place profoundly Through their training and over time develop highly attuned, conscious bodies that read, respond, and acknowledge the interconnections between the body and the natural world. As far as I am concerned, the field of dance has largely remained unacknowledged in discourse about the preservation and cultivation of human relationships with nature. More advances could be made to raise more awareness outside the field or encourage young dancers to communicate the depths of their knowledge in this area of dance and nature connection. Youth choreographers may be able to influence climate action in unexpected ways in this way; the physical, interpersonal nature of dance has the unique ability to transform people’s understanding of the world around them because the movement can lay the foundation for a sense of connection with the earth. Indeed, young choreographers can tackle environmental issues and share their approaches.

Literature

Our house, planet Earth is on the verge of over burning, looking at the rate at which the sea levels are rising. The fuel for change is hope and literature can provide this.

Literature adds to reality and irrigates the desert mindset among the human species, particularly environmentalism.

What is the relationship between literature and the environment? More and more young modernist writers and poets are becoming eco-conscious in their literary work. Representing our environment, literature plays a critical role and is the reflection of a modern-day society where the climate apocalypse is evident and the globe, is facing the effects. Just like any sophisticated terminology, 'Eco-criticism' is the term for the association between literature and the environment. I strongly believe eco-criticism is analyzing the depictions of life and the connection between literature as well as the environment. Apart from that, literature serves the purpose of describing and enriching any topic, in this way literature represents nature. Young authors can increase the sense of appreciation in readers by changing their perspective on nature, thus overall behavior towards the natural environment. Nature and the environment have been depicted in different ways by using literary devices to describe landscapes, vegetation, accounts of weather phenomena, tales of animals, climate change crises, melting glaciers, and more. Literature in nature creates a profound connection with nature for young people, and it will lead to changing people’s behaviors and greater care for the environment.

Music

90% of the world's population listens to music, and out of this, the peak consumption is among teenagers. Whether a young person normally listens, writes, or composes a music piece, music is an art that stimulates the brain to develop ideas that generate greater care for the environment. Music activates just about all of the brain. The parts of the brain involved in emotion are not only activated during emotional music, but they are also synchronized, and this will help educate the masses or the world on a crucial subject like environmental advocacy. Moreover, music can be used to emulate, praise, and enjoy nature, and to tell about issues associated with environmental damage. This is a nonscientific, but valid approach that builds empathy by providing an aesthetic understanding of the natural world and environmental issues.

Innovative young people who compose music are modifying the music industry by being eco-friendly in terms of moving most music operations to a carbon-neutral cloud and have made switching to suppliers who operate on renewable electricity a priority. Secondly, in a greener future, my generation’s musicians and performers are willing to reshape music as the world reopens by reducing their carbon footprint during huge concerts or tours.

Conclusion

The world of art, in its endless richness and ability to reflect the tensions of society through an artistic prism, contains both the sense of ‘incentive’ in its capacity to move and shock, as well as the capacity of providing a rich reflexing and reconsideration of the panoply of nature and environmental phenomena that surround us, especially in our relation and responsibility towards them. The art industry, like all industries, has an impact on the natural environment. Young people can tell stories, shape environmentalism and encourage empathy and understanding of nature, as well as change people’s behaviors and greater care for the environment. The art industry is made up of young, creative, and inspiring people who are motivated to make a change.


The author's comments:

Author : Tafadzwa Ashely Gore

Instagram: @ashely_gore_

I am a young author and environmental activist. As an author I do not belong to any particular genre, preferring non-fiction modes and utilizing a more direct poetic language. It exhilarating to combine Literature (a form of art) and environmentalism. That is the root cause why I wrote the academic article titled “Youth in Action- Environmentalism and Art” 

In a world where literature is eroding and declining, impacting audience by strategically communicating major environmental topics through a deep emotional and psychological engagement is fulfilling.


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