Climate Action Lab Report

Climate Action Lab Report from Let’s Talk Science

More than 900 teens told us what they want – and we are sharing their insights. Climate Action Lab powered by Let’s Talk Science is a youth-led research initiative to uncover barriers that prevent youth from taking climate action and daylight opportunity areas for climate action programming that is relevant to them. Students want climate action to be a positive experience, one that is social, connected, experiential, nature-based and is aligned with their life goals. Learn more and check out our handy program design in this brief report. 

Research about youth, by youth

Let’s Talk Science is proud to share the recommendations of our Climate Action Lab initiative. Students want climate action to be a positive experience, one that is social, connected, experiential, nature-based and aligned with their life goals.

A project team of 150 people made this initiative possible through a collective effort to create ways into climate action that make sense for youth. Eighty-two high school researchers aged 15-18, led by 16 university student coaches on 12 teams representing the Canadian provinces and territories, learned to lead ethnographic and community-based research that was used to produce the outcomes detailed in the Climate Action Lab report.

We hope the recommendations are useful in creating/updating youth climate action initiatives to include the needs of diverse youth in Canada.

Goals

• Uncover the barriers that prevent youth from taking climate action,
• Daylight opportunity areas for climate action programming that is relevant for youth,
• Offer a meaningful experience for youth to collaborate with Let’s Talk Science

Key barriers

• Lack of power
• Lack of meaningful feedback around impact
• Denial of pleasure
• Social isolation
• Lack of benefits for youth