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Paper short abstract:

While a growing number of young people are becoming involved in environmental movements world wide, the majority remain silent. A European project in Bordeaux has allowed us to question what drives awareness and engagement, leading us to develop new multiscalar approaches to environmental education.

Paper long abstract:

As an anthropologist, I have long focused on citizen movements of urban youth on the African continent (Senegal, Tanzania, Togo), and my interest in citizen movements of young people in favour of the environment and climate is now part of this continuity. However, these young people, despite their large numbers, represent a minority of their generation, which tells us nothing about the majority of the others, remaining on the fringes of the commitment.Through a European project conducted with students between 13 and 20 years old in Bordeaux (France), I was able to question their interest in environmental and climate issues, and what constitutes the driving force behind awareness and civic commitment. Previously introduced to the method of ethnographic enquiry, these young people were invited to produce their own enquiry, questioning their needs, their livelihoods, their social environment, but also what directly affects their lives, and then encouraging them to open their gaze to a wider scale, and highlight what they are surprisingly connected to (Latour 2019, Eriksen 2016). A long process leading to the making of a film (18 min short film in the form of a dystopia, followed by an advocacy piece written and embodied by the young people), punctuated by workshops documenting a geopolitics of the SDGs, and others focused on pro-social behaviours such as empathy, care, mutual aid, considering with Tim Ingold (2018) that the capacity to pay attention is at the heart of education.