“It’s so frustrating, I’m done,” one of my closest friends told me, walking out of her classroom.
She explained to me that she planned to switch out of her AP Environmental Science course. It shocked me. She had her own garden and even sold some of her vegetables to promote local agriculture; I didn’t know anyone as passionately environmentally-conscious as she was. It puzzled me when she told me she couldn’t stand the class any longer.
When I confronted her about her change of heart, she explained to me how the sheer scale of environmental degradation — from deforestation to arctic amplification — was extremely overwhelming to her.
It only added to my confusion. “Doesn’t it just motivate you to be more sustainable and eco-conscious?”
“Not at all, I only feel helpless.”
As my concern for her grew, it prompted me to reflect on the different ways people respond to the overwhelming nature of environmental issues.
I had always adopted a pragmatic outlook, believing that individual change would — hopefully and eventually — culminate in significant, broader change. However, it suddenly occurred to me that the magnitude of climate disruption may leave some individuals, such as my friend, paralyzed and questioning the efficacy of any of their individual actions.
“She made clear to me the necessity of a nuanced approach to environmental education; it should not only educate students of environmental issues but must also empower them to believe in their ability to make a difference.” I smiled as I concluded my testimony to the Minnesota Senate’s Policy Education Committee regarding the passing of a statewide Climate Justice Education Bill.
I knew that education was really the root cause of our generation’s doomsday mindset when it came to our environment, so I decided to join Climate Generation as a Youth Environmental Activist. I dedicated weeks to planning with representatives, campaigning for bills, and organizing the annual Youth Climate Justice Summit at the Capitol. I shared the story of my friend in my testimony to the Minnesota Senate’s Policy Education Committee regarding passing a statewide Climate Justice Education Bill. I knew that I had the ability to empower my friend and so many others to believe in their ability to make a difference.
I live for problem-solving, particularly solving the issues pertaining to my community. As I’ve grown, I’ve watched the prevalence of environmental degradation in my city and even in my ethnic country of Somalia through the times I spent there growing up. Thus, I’ve come to understand a critical quality of the environmental issues I’ve seen: they’re preventable. This is why I am dedicated to studying Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management. With these opportunities surrounding me, I know that I am capable of making a change in my community, educational environments, and even my political systems.
Being an environmentally conscious person means not only making change within yourself but also creating a space for change that can reverberate across a community. That is why I am dedicated to enriching myself and others with the experiences and knowledge to make that change a reality. I hope to not only work towards mitigating and addressing our immediate environmental concerns but to also foster a paradigm shift in how we approach environmental issues and education.
Rakiya is a Climate Generation Window Into COP delegate for COP29. To learn more, we encourage you to meet the full delegation, support our delegates, and subscribe to the Window Into COP digest.
Rakiya Sheikhosman is a freshman at the University of Minnesota majoring in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. She loves engaging in work pertaining to environmental conservation and community involvement. As a Youth Environmental Activist for Climate Generation, she’s done work lobbying for a statewide Climate Justice Education Bill, along with co-hosting the annual Youth Climate Justice Summit. She’s also spent a summer working in a biosystems and bioengineering lab at the University of Minnesota to mitigate hydrogen sulfide in agricultural settings. She recently finished her term as a 4-H State Ambassador representing Hennepin County in which she co-facilitated statewide 4-H youth conferences as a part of the Service Committee and gave presentations guiding youth in starting sustainable initiatives to help their communities and enact change. Outside of her work, she enjoys crocheting and cooking. She also loves spending time with friends and family.
The post A Paradigm Shift in Our Environmental Perspective appeared first on Climate Generation.
Climate Change
Analysis: Constituency of Reform’s climate-sceptic Richard Tice gets £55m flood funding
The Lincolnshire constituency held by Richard Tice, the climate-sceptic deputy leader of the hard-right Reform party, has been pledged at least £55m in government funding for flood defences since 2024.
This investment in Boston and Skegness is the second-largest sum for a single constituency from a £1.4bn flood-defence fund for England, Carbon Brief analysis shows.
Flooding is becoming more likely and more extreme in the UK due to climate change.
Yet, for years, governments have failed to spend enough on flood defences to protect people, properties and infrastructure.
The £1.4bn fund is part of the current Labour government’s wider pledge to invest a “record” £7.9bn over a decade on protecting hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses from flooding.
As MP for one of England’s most flood-prone regions, Tice has called for more investment in flood defences, stating that “we cannot afford to ‘surrender the fens’ to the sea”.
He is also one of Reform’s most vocal opponents of climate action and what he calls “net stupid zero”. He denies the scientific consensus on climate change and has claimed, falsely and without evidence, that scientists are “lying”.
Flood defences
Last year, the government said it would invest £2.65bn on flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) schemes in England between April 2024 and March 2026.
This money was intended to protect 66,500 properties from flooding. It is part of a decade-long Labour government plan to spend more than £7.9bn on flood defences.
There has been a consistent shortfall in maintaining England’s flood defences, with the Environment Agency expecting to protect fewer properties by 2027 than it had initially planned.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has attributed this to rising costs, backlogs from previous governments and a lack of capacity. It also points to the strain from “more frequent and severe” weather events, such as storms in recent years that have been amplified by climate change.
However, the CCC also said last year that, if the 2024-26 spending programme is delivered, it would be “slightly closer to the track” of the Environment Agency targets out to 2027.
The government has released constituency-level data on which schemes in England it plans to fund, covering £1.4bn of the 2024-26 investment. The other half of the FCERM spending covers additional measures, from repairing existing defences to advising local authorities.
The map below shows the distribution of spending on FCERM schemes in England over the past two years, highlighting the constituency of Richard Tice.
By far the largest sum of money – £85.6m in total – has been committed to a tidal barrier and various other defences in the Somerset constituency of Bridgwater, the seat of Conservative MP Ashley Fox.
Over the first months of 2026, the south-west region has faced significant flooding and Fox has called for more support from the government, citing “climate patterns shifting and rainfall intensifying”.
He has also backed his party’s position that “the 2050 net-zero target is impossible” and called for more fossil-fuel extraction in the North Sea.
Tice’s east-coast constituency of Boston and Skegness, which is highly vulnerable to flooding from both rivers and the sea, is set to receive £55m. Among the supported projects are beach defences from Saltfleet to Gibraltar Point and upgrades to pumping stations.
Overall, Boston and Skegness has the second-largest portion of flood-defence funding, as the chart below shows. Constituencies with Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs occupied the other top positions.
Overall, despite Labour MPs occupying 347 out of England’s 543 constituencies – nearly two-thirds of the total – more than half of the flood-defence funding was distributed to constituencies with non-Labour MPs. This reflects the flood risk in coastal and rural areas that are not traditional Labour strongholds.
Reform funding
While Reform has just eight MPs, representing 1% of the population, its constituencies have been assigned 4% of the flood-defence funding for England.
Nearly all of this money was for Tice’s constituency, although party leader Nigel Farage’s coastal Clacton seat in Kent received £2m.
Reform UK is committed to “scrapping net-zero” and its leadership has expressed firmly climate-sceptic views.
Much has been made of the disconnect between the party’s climate policies and the threat climate change poses to its voters. Various analyses have shown the flood risk in Reform-dominated areas, particularly Lincolnshire.
Tice has rejected climate science, advocated for fossil-fuel production and criticised Environment Agency flood-defence activities. Yet, he has also called for more investment in flood defences, stating that “we cannot afford to ‘surrender the fens’ to the sea”.
This may reflect Tice’s broader approach to climate change. In a 2024 interview with LBC, he said:
“Where you’ve got concerns about sea level defences and sea level rise, guess what? A bit of steel, a bit of cement, some aggregate…and you build some concrete sea level defences. That’s how you deal with rising sea levels.”
While climate adaptation is viewed as vital in a warming world, there are limits on how much societies can adapt and adaptation costs will continue to increase as emissions rise.
The post Analysis: Constituency of Reform’s climate-sceptic Richard Tice gets £55m flood funding appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Analysis: Constituency of Reform’s climate-sceptic Richard Tice gets £55m flood funding
Proposed Endangered Species Act rollbacks and military expansions are leaving the Pacific’s most diverse coral reefs legally defenseless.
Ritidian Point, at the northern tip of Guam, is home to an ancient limestone forest with panoramic vistas of warm Pacific waters. Stand here in early spring and you might just be lucky enough to witness a breaching humpback whale as they migrate past. But listen and you’ll be struck by the cacophony of the island’s live-fire testing range.
US Government Is Accelerating Coral Reef Collapse, Scientists Warn
Ice loss in the Antarctic Ocean may be killing the sea birds during their molting season.
Each year for millennia, emperor penguins have molted on coastal sea ice that remained stable until late summer—a haven during a span of several weeks when it’s dangerous for the mostly aquatic birds to enter the ocean to feed because they are regrowing their waterproof feathers.
-
Greenhouse Gases7 months ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Climate Change7 months ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Greenhouse Gases2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Bill Discounting Climate Change in Florida’s Energy Policy Awaits DeSantis’ Approval
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Spanish-language misinformation on renewable energy spreads online, report shows
-
Climate Change2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Climate Change Videos2 years ago
The toxic gas flares fuelling Nigeria’s climate change – BBC News
-
Carbon Footprint2 years agoUS SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules Spur Renewed Interest in Carbon Credits