A bevy of ideas to respond to climate change

In this year’s essay competition The Economist received nearly 2,400 entries from 130 countries and territories. They came from entrants as young as nine and as old as 71—who said they felt compelled to add their voice, even though the rules specified that only those aged 16 to 25 were eligible to win.

The essays advocated everything from eco-authoritarianism to anarchy to artificial intelligence. Common themes included treating climate change as a new “world war” and replacing subsidies that contribute to pollution with ones that mitigate it. A “green index” to track the extent of the problem was put forward, as was the idea of a “green GDP” to price the value of the environment in national accounts.

Many writers pressed for abolishing capitalism, while others argued that the free market would solve the problem. A number of essays called for local governments to set environmental standards, as well as to elevate the voting power of vulnerable countries in international forums. Some advocated a form of “eco-conscription”, that is, a youth national service to combat climate change.

Among the shortest essays we received was one from a Chicagoan, 24, who simply wrote: “Eat the rich.” More on that below. Information on the competition and finalists is here. The winning essay is here. A handful of gently-edited excerpts from the essays is hereunder.

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Change our mentality

Nargiz Ahmadova, 22, Sumgayit, Azerbaijan

“By saying to his grandchildren, ‘this river passing our house was too wide to swim in my childhood, but now it is too small to swim’, my grandfather indeed touched the point that today scientists are talking about. If even a man who has never been educated, and who has been living in the far corner of the world, far away from the media, is aware of climate change, then why the world does not give enough attention to this issue? I can not blame anyone for the climate change but only myself. I need to change my mindset so that it does not solely focus on my self-interest, but also the interests of all.”

Mohammad Shaheer Qateh, 25, Kabul, Afghanistan

“This is a cancer that is seizing humans’ and the Earth’s wellbeing. To easily understand it, let's use a simple example. Daily, we are advised that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer. To decrease the chances of cancer, doctors say that one should quit or decrease smoking. But we still smoke. We can't stop it. Why? The answer is addiction. In the same way, we are addicted to extracting and using resources to produce things and feel satisfied with having a large number of products. They are not improving us. We say that we are more intelligent than our ancestors. But our ancestors’ minds were tied to wisdom, not things.”

Daniel Alcock, 23, Sunderland, Britain

“Perhaps the answer to our future is found in our past. With a bit of irony, the answer can be excavated from an old coal-mining community. Childhood in the northeast of England is polluted with anecdotes from the elderly as to how things ‘used to be’. Community was at the heart of everything. Whereas a Church-goer would have attended three times a week, now three times a month will suffice for the title of ‘regular’. Shared garden allotments and community meals are replaced with soup kitchens and food-banks. As for family, in some areas a teenager is more likely to own a smartphone than have a father living at home. To respond to climate change, take a step back from modernity and call back community.”

The public sector

Aarav Leekha, 12, New York, United States

“Even though the majority of people in the United States believe climate change is real, conservative parties around the world are giving voice to climate deniers. They take advantage of a disenfranchised electorate to push denialist talking points—ill-informed at best and ridiculously untrue at worst. Convincing disenfranchised voters of the benefits of climate-change solutions is required to unify the entire electorate behind climate action. The transition from a carbon economy to a green economy, in the long run, will economically boost the disenfranchised. A World Climate Accord is needed.”

Awor Deng, 23, Juba, South Sudan

“While the inventions and ingenuity of man have given him a giant leap beyond the moon, it is the harm he has caused his original home that will define his fate. Mother nature has become the inevitable victim of humanity’s quest for progress. The menace is caused partly by a tendency of nations to sacrifice the environment at the earlier stages of their economic development, creating the notion that economic progress and environmental protection are mutually exclusive. The menace of plastic waste is a ‘thorn in the flesh’ for humanity and the ecosystem. We must redirect our capital to clean up our polymeric mess. Mankind must rethink the use of capital; we must give it a new purpose, one that will ultimately enable us to save and make peace with our planet.”

The private sector

Johannes Stupperich, 19, German in Nancy, France

“GDP is not functional for measuring the sustainability of an economy, which is why a “climate chit” should be introduced, whose negative equivalent is 1 tonne of CO2, making it desirable to have a GGDP (or “Green Gross Domestic Product”) equalling or being superior to 0, because that would indicate that the harm done to the environment equals or is inferior to the measures in favour of the environment. Climate chits could be traded on exchanges against currencies. Companies with a positive GGDP can trade their climate chits to make further (and hopefully further green) investments, while companies with a negative balance must pay a fine.”

Eduardo Magalhães, 22, Albergaria-a-Velha, Portugal

“The ‘polluter pays’ principle is dramatically outdated. In some cases the damage done can have irreparable costs to nature and wildlife. In other situations the damage looks affordable by the polluter, especially if the cost is associated with policies like taxes or subsidies. A possible solution is to turn the principle to a sort of ‘polluter rebuilds’ principle, in which damage can only be rectified by a large investment to recover what was lost and to expand the injured area (for example, if it was a forest, to reforest more).”

Rethinking the economy

Audrey Herrera-Lim, 16, Muntinlupa City, Philippines

“As a kid, my cues for growth or happiness were closely associated with buying material products: iPad, toys and video games. This has become the measure of our self worth. It sustains the idea that consumption is a measure of how far we have come, whether it be as teenagers, a community, a country or a planet. That has to change. But how can it? All the measures that we broadly agree on—GDP, production, output, growth—are based on the idea of production and consumption. The fundamental change needed for an effective response to climate change is to redefine the way we measure progress as a society.”

Htet Myat Aung, 16, Yangon, Myanmar

“In developing countries, many researchers working on solutions for the environment find it very difficult to live, because organisations and governments there do not support them. So they need international organisations and governments. Only developed countries can save the world, not the developing countries. Raw materials should not be produced without the permission of those governments, so a black market for natural resources can be reduced. In addition, production should use raw materials from local sources, so they do not need transportation.”

New voices needed

Juan Gutierrez, 21, Armenia, Colombia

“Historically it has been the loudest voices that have been heard the farthest. The only way our political systems will combat climate change is by turning the current cacophony of cries and complaints into a unified narrative. Our economic and political systems need to hear the voices of small states and need the co-operation of the largest ones—if not from principle then from pressure. As long as the economic interests of the few are placed ahead of the needs of the world, the planet will keep heating up until the destruction is so harsh that unilateral action is the only choice left. By the time we run out of choices we might already have run out of time.”

Kenneth Ryu, 18, Hoengseong, South Korea

“One of my classmates persuaded her parents to use eco-bags at grocery stores. Granted, they might have done it not for the environment but because their daughter asked for it. However, this kind of parental love is key to amplifying the impact of grassroots movements. The young have shown that they care about the world as much as the adults, if not more. They have proven to possess a responsibility that the adults should have shown. Most importantly, they have the right to decide their future. They are already making major decisions in life such as colleges, careers and places to live. They deserve the right to choose policies and leaders that could shape their future—or destroy it.”

The view of developing economies

Shania Robinson, 21, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago

“Shifting the entire basis of the global economy is no easy task. A transition to a “steady-state economy”, while entirely feasible, would conflict with several dominant interests. Major extractive industries in the global south would be negatively affected by the shift toward ecological taxation. Products with longer durability would prove detrimental to manufacturers worldwide. A fluid model based on each individual society means that there will no longer be a clear, albeit flawed, standard of development; the very concept of what the term means will have to be redefined.”

Okechi Okeke, 24, Oyigbo, Nigeria

“My parents' happiness died recently with the death of their crops. My parents are farmers in the small town of Oyigbo, in the oil-producing Rivers State. But their happiness was cut short after a pipeline explosion in May 2019. It was devastating. It roasted hundreds of heads, burnt huge trees and a few houses. But no one realised that the explosion had deposited toxins in the air until an unusual weather change occurred. Acid rain fell, with no significant effort to curb it. After it happened, when I stood before those crops that had turned ashen, I asked, ‘Who is responsible for this change?’ The environment is becoming ambiguous and volatile, and political leaders are like a good dancer who, even if the music’s rhythm changes, instantaneously devises a step to continue dancing flawlessly.”

Mazvita Chikomo, 20, Harare, Zimbabwe

“As a young Zimbabwean girl, I came to understand the effects of climate change at an early age not from books but from the cobwebbed box that I stumbled across. This box was full of thick winter jackets I had packed away during the summer. In the middle of July, when it used to be dreadfully cold, I was wearing tights and a long-sleeved shirt, something I would have worn on a mild day. I realised we might all have different terms for this, but surely I was not the only one who had experienced this change. As I got older, I realised that this was not ending soon. Efforts to address climate change have not been effective because people say they understand climate change, but they do not realise what it means. Until people understand that climate change is an ‘us’ problem and not a ‘me’ problem, no policy will ever be effective.”

Puthtipong Thunyatada, 17, Bangkok, Thailand

“Eight years ago, the streets of Bangkok flooded such that my village became a virtual canal where, for a time, the primary means of transport was to row boats through the streets. The economic damage was immense: as much as $46bn, according to the World Bank. Yet this could happen again. Unchecked urbanisation and climate change mean that Bangkok could be mostly submerged by its own weight by 2030. But little more than ad hoc fixes have been enacted in response. This is replicated on a larger scale in the rest of the world, where the flowery promises of politicians to combat climate change do not match their actions. It is time the politicians took a backseat and gave the upcoming eco-billionaires a chance at the steering wheel, as dangerous as it may be.”

Potential solutions

Marwane Aboulfaouz, 23, Moroccan in Paris, France

“In terms of international policies, one question is: why isn’t there a ‘World Waste Organisation’? Regulating the flows of waste and trading it as a classic commodity should be considered. For instance, Rome risks being swamped by its urban waste, due to economic and social factors. The city used to rely on Austrian and Chinese markets, which imported industrial scrap for waste-to-energy purposes. However, since an environmental backlash in the city, the imports couldn’t meet the huge supply, leading to unsanitary treatment and an international grey economy. Regulating waste flows should be a priority.”

Henry Sahdalá, 24, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

“A ‘sponsorship model’ would consist of a developed country being liable for all or a percentage of the climate-related damages that a sponsored country suffers. This would make developed countries bigger stakeholders in the wellbeing of the sponsored, developing countries. To define who sponsors whom, we could take into account two main criteria. The first would be capacity, measured in budget-capacity of the developed country relative to the potential damages suffered by developing countries. The second would be historical relationship, measured by the long, historical ties some developed countries have with developing countries. The aim is for developed countries to forge closer ties to the countries that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.”

Alishba Imran, 16, Toronto, Canada

“Nanotechnology may be one way to help reduce levels of carbon dioxide in a cost-effective way. We can use tiny powerhouse materials called nanomaterials to capture CO2 from our water, air and land. We can then use the captured CO2 to create useful products. It’s not easy but if it worked, it could be revolutionary. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants make food. Carbon dioxide can be converted into useful fuels through ‘artificial photosynthesis’. Plants are terrific at using energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide and water. We can try to replicate this process."

Looking for answers

Mashael Alzaid, 24, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“I live in the middle of a huge desert that—to keep pace with the times—blew away the dust from its land, decorated itself with high-rise buildings and factories, under a constant, busy rhythm. On my 24th birthday, I wanted my nature to meet the nature of the earth, away from the hustle and bustle of civilisation, in a fascinating spot in its depth, mystery and uniqueness: the sea that carries happy stories, such as those that tell the love story of polyp and a tiny plant-like organism called zooxanthellae; the secret behind the colourful corals that are visited by both fish and people from all over the planet. So I asked: ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall. What is the most important thing to the modern human, of them all?’ It replied: ‘Industry.’ I asked: ‘How come the sea is not the most important of them all when it is the main producer of the oxygen on which organisms live, including those that developed the industry?’ So I took it upon myself to look in the treasures of the sea for an answer.”

Second-order effects

Fabiola Scheffel, 23, Venezuelan in Dublin, Ireland

“The global north should recognise how, in Venezuela, resource insecurity and violence can shatter a society and produce a massive displacement of people. Look carefully, because the Syrian refugee crisis that alarmed Europe and America will seem insignificant to the 143m people that the World Bank projects will be displaced by 2050 due to the effects of climate change. Such an apocalypse might swallow migrants and their receiving communities alike. And yet the difficulty lies in collaborating to prevent and mitigate climate change in an era of protectionism. I call for a temporary broadening of the number of people that each of us would consider to be one of our own, and for whom we would act, to include people hundreds of kilometers away.”

The final word

As for the three-word essay we received, it came with a title that was eight times longer: “The Anti-Disparity Cookbook: An Evidence Based Policy Recipe to Ending World Hunger While Dismantling the Impending Socioeconomic and Ecological Threat Posed by Climate Change.”

Thank you to all the people who submitted an essay.