In the face of an increasingly urgent climate crisis, a new generation is rising to the challenge, demanding action, and reshaping the narrative around climate change. The global youth movement for climate justice is not just a passing trend; it’s a powerful force of change that’s here to stay. Young people from every corner of the globe are engaging in meaningful dialogues and actions to demand a sustainable and just future for all.
As the youth movement gains momentum, it’s crucial that we all lend our support to these young activists. One of the ways we can lend them support is providing the space for artistic expression and knowledge sharing to strengthen the movement.
A place for youths to connect
Planet One is a collaborative initiative between three organisations – Fryshuset, Greenpeace, and Armenian Progressive Youth – combining their long experience and strengths in meeting, engaging and building platforms for young people to carry out advocacy work.
Since 2021, Planet One has created makerspaces (physical centers or hubs) for people between the ages of 15-25 years, providing them with tools for learning-by-doing. The makerspaces are aimed at providing young people with space for everything from small-scale solar projects to global climate campaigns.
A Planet One makerspace is a collaborative work space for making, learning, exploring and sharing. The space is open for everyone and it contains tools and resources that allows young people to come in with an idea and leave with a complete project. These are places where youths learn more about climate and environmental issues and where they explore, create and improve sustainable solutions for the future. With the support of Planet One makerspaces young people come together and learn new skills, collaborate and create projects, share their experience and knowledge with each other.
“Young people don’t always have the chance to meet other youths from different backgrounds. At Mboa Hub (Planet One makerspace in Cameroon) young people from the formal and informal sectors are meeting in the same place and I’ve learned so much from them. Through different activities I have become confident enough to bring out the best version of myself”, says Erica, a 21-year-old Communications student from Yaounde.
”I was at Ubuntu Hub (Planet One makerspace in South Africa) for a youth unemployment workshop and quickly became interested in Planet One. The insight they gave me into the climate justice movement sparked a desire to be involved so I told the youth lead about my photography and asked how I could be part of this movement and include my art”, says Andile Shawe. With the support of the Ubuntu Hub trainers, Andile arranged his first ever intersectionality art exhibition, celebrating the beauty of diversity.
Through its makerspaces, Planet One strives to support young people to achieve bigger involvement in climate and environmental issues, ensuring that young people have more equal conditions to be able to influence one of the most crucial future issues of our time.
A global sustainability initiative
Planet One runs makerspaces in six cities of Europe and Africa:
- Alternative Youth Center in Yerevan, Armenia
- Bolygó in Budapest, Hungary
- Mboa Hub in Yaoundé, Cameroon
- Momentum in Stockholm, Sweden
- Ubunifu Hub in Nairobi, Kenya
- Ubuntu Hub in Johannesburg, South Africa
So far, the Planet One makerspaces have organised over 1400 activities, hosted over 22,000 participants and supported over 2,000 youth-led initiatives!
If you live in any of the cities where Planet One runs a makerspace, and you are a young person interested in climate activism or environmental issues, looking for a space to build your capacity or organise an initiative, check the Planet One website for a location near you.
