The world’s most famous environmental activist is just 21-years-old.
Greta Thunberg has been challenging leaders to take immediate action against the effects of climate change and inspiring millions around the globe for years, despite her young age. Or is it because of her young age?
“Being young is a great advantage,” Thunberg said in an interview with The Guardian, “since we see the world from a new perspective and we are not afraid to make radical changes.”
Should we be empowering more young people to follow in Greta’s footsteps?
A new global fellowship is empowering innovators aged 16 to 28 to bring their planet-positive projects to life. It’s a 12-month hybrid-learning program called beVisioneers, that aims to train 1000 fellows annually by 2025 to implement each of their projects.
Currently in its pilot year, it’s free for the fellows and provides support for those who could not otherwise participate. After completing the program, the young ecopreneurs continue to receive support to scale their projects and develop their leadership skills. The aim is to amplify impact today and build the environmental leaders of tomorrow.
“It starts with anyone who notices an environmental challenge in their community and has the courage and commitment to addressing it,” explains Mariah Levin, Executive Director at beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship.
“It’s someone who is willing to take the creative steps, and the courageous steps, to travel a path that is not necessarily laid before them,” she says.
Noticing that interest in the younger generation is rising for different types of business models, ones that closely integrate social and environmental considerations with the bottom line, the young ecopreneurs that join the fellowship are ones that dream big, focus, plan and act.
Research has shown that, as we age, we actually care less about being environmentally-friendly. Academics from BI Norwegian Business School discovered that environmental concern increases from the age of 18, peaks at 43, and then tails off. Professor Benny Geys, one of the researchers, explains that their findings suggest a life-cycle effect with individuals placing different levels of emphasis on protecting the environment depending on their age.
So if younger generations can be empowered and enabled to take action before that desire fades, our planet stands to greatly benefit from its youth.
The young people joining the beVisioneers fellowship are from highly diverse backgrounds, tackling various problems in their communities, from addressing waste management and reducing carbon emissions to preventing water waste using AI and fighting food insecurity. Fellows have first-hand experiences like shock at the plastic population produced from the industry of their favourite hobby, climbing, and so are making climbing gear out of mushrooms. Another has seen their village being flooded and preventing children from getting to school so they want to create porous surfaces to absorb water and change the lives of those around them.
“For us, ecopreneurs are doers. These are people who, from all backgrounds and levels of education, just want to act and put their energy behind what they’re seeing as problematic in their communities, specifically as it relates to the environment,” says Levin.
The donation for supporting these individuals from Mercedes-Benz came from the auction of an ultra-rare 1955 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, of which only two prototypes were ever built. It sold for the record sum of 135 million euros ($143M), becoming the most valuable car in history.
Run by The DO School Fellowships, beVisioneers became the recipient of this seed capital and now strengthens their fellows’ entrepreneurial action for the environment, building on that by creating a networked approach to create a community, even providing each visionary fellow with a mentor. Levin says the aim is for the community to reach 10,000 people.
“We’re multiplying the impact and spheres of influence,” she explains. “We need to be able to use this program to inspire a broader population to action. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Looking for young people with motivation and passion first and foremost, the foundation of the fellowship is cemented in the belief that anyone can be an incredible entrepreneur with the right resources and community around them. With the funding covered, the ethos of equalising opportunity is embedded into the core. At least half of the fellows are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and half are woman.
“You do not need to have a bachelor’s degree or high school diploma to be a visionary,” states Levin. “You need extreme motivation, determination and resilience. Those are really the building blocks to helping young people make a difference.”
By providing young ecopreneurs with access to experts and mentors, the fellowship helps to aid strategic thinking and create effective long-term strategies for tackling climate challenges that are being faced across the world. Building opportunities like events to establish deep collaborations between fellows and experts into the program helps to ensure networks with that come up with solutions, furthering the fellows’ work.
Levin explains that it’s partly about setting principles around behaviours.
“Our community has clear values around co-creation, inclusivity, integrity and sustainability. These are values that fellows can very clearly relate to and that our team members are cultivating alongside the partners and experts we engage with,” says Levin, describing that this is how genuine interactions happen and that’s what people crave.
Ultimately, fellows not only receive intensive training and advice but they gain a community that believes in them, champions them. Sometimes that makes all the difference.
And this is just the beginning. The pilot year of 2023/2024 welcomed 100 fellows and welcomes 500 fellows from 30 countries this summer. From 2025, they’ll welcome around a thousand fellows every year. The community of beVisioneers fellows and alumni is set to number tens of thousands, a veritable army of young people actively tackling the climate crisis.
