Prince William has urged young people to educate older relatives about the damage they cause to the environment, suggesting it could really "change the tide" for climate change. Photo / Getty
Prince William has urged young people to educate older relatives about the damage they cause to the environment, suggesting it could really "change the tide" for climate change. Photo / Getty
The Duke of Cambridge Prince William has urged young people to educate older relatives about the damage they cause to the environment, suggesting it could really "change the tide" and create momentum for climate change.
Highlighting the need for positivity when it comes to green campaigning, he said he hoped to create change through "hope and action rather than pessimism and despair".
The Duke spent 45 minutes chatting to seven young people named Young Champions of the Earth by the UN Environment Programme.
He said the campaign to improve the environment had grown hugely, offering a wealth of opportunity to anyone with even a "tiny bit of passion".
And he explained that positivity was the driving force behind his Earthshot Prize, a global award designed to create significant change over the next ten years.
The young environmentalists, aged between 18 to 30 and from countries including Kuwait, Peru, China and Greece, were each recognised for their efforts to create a positive environmental impact in their local communities.
As they told the Duke, 36, about their various initiatives, he said he was "incredibly inspired" and proud of their work, suggesting they could even be "in the mix" for an Earthshot Prize in the future.
The Duke, speaking from a home office at Sandringham, asked the group what they had most missed about nature during lockdown.
Vidyut Mohan, from Delhi, said it had taught him to live more frugally, only using things he needed rather than things he wanted to buy.
The Duke agreed: "Absolutely, it's important that that message is communicated amongst everybody - like you said, it's the needs versus the wants. It helps us, with the pandemic, to really refocus our lives a little bit and work out what's really important to us."
Prince William has urged young people to educate older relatives about the damage they cause to the environment, suggesting it could really "change the tide" for climate change. Photo / Getty
He also asked the young people how they had found working with their local communities and how people had reacted to their ideas.
Nzambi Matee, from Kenya, who manufactures sustainable building materials, said it tended to be hard to convince older people to change but added: "It was not hard to convince my grandmother and her friends to stop using their bags. In fact they were telling me - 'don't throw those bags away'."
She laughed: "If we can convince my grandmother not to use plastic bags, we can do anything."
The Duke agreed: "That's a really, really important point. Younger generations can do their bit despite not necessarily being able to or having the ability to produce projects like you guys.
"If every young person educates their family on the environmental impact they are having, that in turn is making a difference and changing the tide and creating that momentum."
