Ep. 28 There is No Plan(et) B: Youth Activism in the Fight against Climate Change in Cyprus

In this episode, Seran Demiral interviews Spyros Spyrou on how children and young people make sense of climate change and the climate crisis, how they see their role as climate activists and how younger generations imagine the future. Pointing out the policy brief, which has given the conversation its title, There is No Plan(et) B: youth activism in the fight against climate change in Cyprus, Spyrou mentions childhood activism in  schools about climate change. Through Demiral's questions about digital activism and the networks of young people, the conversation addresses both intersections of ecological and childhood movements and youth political participation in general.

The association examples of the youth mentioned during the session: 

- Fridays for Future

- Earth Guardians

Spyros Spyrou is Professor of Anthropology at European University Cyprus. His research interests include children’s identities as they intersect with nationalism and questions of borders in conflict societies and children’s role as political actors in the context of climate change activism. Over the years, he has also explored questions related to children and immigration, poverty, social exclusion and single-parenthood as well as constructions of motherhood and babyhood. He has an ongoing interest in children’s participation in research and the ethics and politics of knowledge production in childhood studies. Spyros is the author of Disclosing Childhoods: Research and Knowledge Production for a Critical Childhood Studies and co-editor of Reimagining Childhood Studies and Children and Borders. He is also co-editor of the journal Childhood (Sage) and a co-editor of the book series Studies in Childhood and Youth (Palgrave).

Another related work referred to in the episode: Children as future-makers

Seran Demiral is a children’s literature and sci-fi writer from Istanbul. She studied the subjectivities of children through their interaction with digital technologies for her PhD in Sociology by focusing on changing childhood experiences within online environments. She is also a P4C (Philosophy for Children/Communities) trainer and part-time lecturer at Boğaziçi University, Primary Education. As a teenager, Demiral published fantasy novels. After she graduated from the architecture department, she began to write for adolescents. Demiral also published a science-fiction book and many stories in anthologies and magazines. Her first non-fiction work, Living Alternative Lives, is about Ursula Le Guin’s literary works. Demiral continues to work on her novels, children’s books and plays.

A related session she recently contributed: CLIMATE INJUSTICE: Meteotopias Around the Globe

Edited by Veda Gopala (student, School of Education Studies, Ambedkar University Delhi)

Music:  Little Idea by Scott Holmes (scottholmesmusic.com) / CC BY-NC