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Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate

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DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-3677-3.ch010

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Chapter 10
Young People as
Transformative Citizens
Fighting Climate Change
Meredian Alam
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7585-7568
Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei

ABSTRACT
The government of Indonesia has launched environmental policies to address the
risks of climate change at the national to local levels and involves all elements of
development: economy and business, education, environment and forestry, and
transportation. In fact, behavioral change is seen as unsustainable, particularly
in people’s everyday lives. As this problem emerges, Indonesian young people
through youth-led environmental organizations hold environmental activities to
alternatively introduce and educate communities and schools to recognize and
identity climate change impacts. The author then presents two successful youth
organizations: Greenpeace Youth Indonesia (GYI) and the Indonesian Students
Climate Forum (ICSF). GYI’s actions are more stirred with Greenpeace’s ideology,
which focuses on direct campaigns, protest, and young activist mobilization, while
ICSF’s repertoires for mitigating climate changes are more community schools-based
educational outreach. Although both of them are distinct in nature, their works have
been transformative and applicable.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-3677-3.ch010

Copyright © 2020, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate Change

INTRODUCTION: TOWARDS CIVIC

PARTICIPATION BY YOUNG PEOPLE

Human-induced climate change unfortunately has put Indonesia in a critical situation

with events such as debilitating forest fires leading to unprecedented smoke haze in
the northern Sumatran Islands and unbearably hot annual temperatures (Bohensky
et al, 2016; Caruso, Petrarca, and Ricciuti 2016 et al). Bearing this severity in mind,
Indonesia has joined with global forces to demonstrate its political support for
addressing global climate change through coordinated national action. A pledge to
combat deforestation has been enshrined in the REDD+ (Reduction Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest Degradation) Treaty with Norway in 2011, which affirms
Indonesia’s commitment to the international agenda to reduce climate change risks
(Enrici & Hubacek, 2018). Glover and Schroeder (2017) highlight that in 2017
Indonesia hosted a United Nations Conference on climate change, marking the first
step in showcasing its responsibility in this time of climate crisis. Bonal and Fontdevila
(2017) argue that education was established as a catalyst to foster changes and the
government accordingly ratified the United Nation’s Education for Sustainable
Development program (ESD) (see also Grierson and Munro, 2018). Following on
from these trajectories, Indonesia has established itself in the international climate
change hierarchy to actively create improvements in environmental management.
However, the role of young people is also essential for the country’s future but their
actions are not sufficiently acknowledged.
This paper investigates the concerns of youth organizations and collective
environmental activists to confront climate change that could affect their future
lives. Moreover, the ways they mobilize action and show concern about climate
change is significant to examine how such activities can facilitate the new arrival of
their social identities. The presentation of young people amidst the climate change
issue through diverse socio-political participation in environmental organizations
will also be investigated. Accordingly, this paper will explore and respond to the
following overarching issues.
Climate change has had an unprecedented impact on ecosystems. Pervasive
environmental depletion, such as water scarcity, uncontrolled pollution, biodiversity
extinction and waste contamination are detrimental to the quality of life of the general
population (Desai & Goel, 2018). Today’s youth are the group that is notably impacted
by climate events. Kim (2012) points out that prolonged drought, an increase in CO2
- causing unpredictable atmospheric heating - and even a decline in water supply has
put young people at a greater risk of declining employment opportunities and the
withdrawal from political participation, as they no longer have access to resources
for boosting their development. Many young people face future misfortune and a
higher risk of unhealthy living conditions and social exclusion (Hansen, 2008).

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 Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate Change

Young people in the global south are particularly at risk of poverty since climate
change can threaten their future wellbeing and sustainable human development. By
looking closely at what young people can advocate to avert this potential crisis due to
environmental problems, we can see that people aged 15–26 actually have a strategic
role in advancing more feasible and sustainable development (Mokwena, 2007).
As a change agent, and a powerful development force, youth participation in
counteracting diverse environmental problems is important to strive for a livable
future. Youth participation is crucial because it may boost sustainable development
outcome. Burkey (1993:8), in view of youth participation in climate change regime,
explains “by actively participating in the climate change movement to alleviate its
impacts, youth takes charge of their lives and saves their own future.” This quote
implies, young people find themselves in a strategic position as active citizens and
promising leaders of tomorrow. As transformative citizens, they “take action to
implement and promote policies, actions, and changes consistent with values such
as human rights, social justice and equality. The actions that transformative citizens
take might—and sometimes do—violate existing local, state, and national laws”
(Banks, 2017, p. 2).
The youth demographic comprised 18 percent of the total global population
in 1995, estimated to be 1.03 billion, with the majority of them (84 per cent in
1995) living in developing countries (UN 2010). In Indonesia, according to the
Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sport (2012), young people (namely people
aged 16–30) number approximately 57.81 million, or about 25.04% of the total
population. Being concerned with the massive problems and challenges that young
people experience, in 1995 the United Nations reinforced its commitment to young
people by adopting an international strategy—the World Program of Action for
Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond. Despite this political affirmation, young
people remain underprivileged, as argued strongly by Asef Bayat and Linda Herera
(2010: 4): “Youths are at times described as the new proletariat of the 21st century.”
Discussing the situations and experiences of youth in the neoliberal era, Bayat and
Herera contend that they are the “new proletariat” because of their large presence
in politics, large numbers of unemployed, and experiences of exclusion by social
and political systems—particularly in the global south—which leads to political
instability and civil violence. As this youth demographic are part of civil society,
youth social power is crucial in raising public awareness, as well as in inspiring
actors contributing to climate change to be more considerate in their actions. In a
further claim, young people’s power has been recognized as central to boost greater
changes in their environment, particularly in the course of minimizing the impact
of climate events. While young people have been increasingly becoming a critical
agency in development and peace, it is interesting that little attention has been paid
to the study on youth environmentalism and democracy in contemporary Indonesia.

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Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate Change

In examining youth and democracy in contemporary Indonesia, the current paper

orients (Suharko, 2015) on the way youth environmental groups as citizens perceive
and respond to climate change issues that have been and will remain key concerns
for both national and global forces.
Young people are seen merely as “uncounted groups” in the adults’ point of
view. The concept of citizenship offers a more useful framework than the traditional
adult’s concept for understanding the influence of youth (Hall, Coffey, & Williamson,
1999). Citizenship can be defined as legal status, proven by national identity card,
passport, and so on, as well as a set of practices, which can be represented by the
involvement in social movement or by other social engagement in the community.
As citizenship is defined beyond legal status, it can be understood as a form of
active participation (although to some extent, passive citizenship is also the act of
citizenship) as it requires competency, participation and responsibility (Hall, Coffey,
Williamson, 1999). In respect of the problems of youth in the global south, this
chapter examines youth work within environmental organizations in Indonesia but
which is often undermined in the practice of democracy.

BACKGROUND: YOUTH POWER IN

CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION

Youth Power in Climate Change Mitigation

By focusing on reactions to the phenomenon of climate change, this research focuses

on locating types of youth’s transition into active citizenship—considering their
important position to promote the process of democratization in Indonesia. The
climate change topic is selected based on consideration that the issue of nature and the
environmental crisis is crucial for youth’s civic engagement. The activities related to
green life, green school, or green education initiated and conducted by youth groups
recently has proven their involvement and their contribution toward such common
concerns. As climate change is identified by youth as an issue affecting them, we can
see how the transformation of nature can be a primary mechanism in the creation of
citizens (Brosius, 2003). It turns out that climate change will be an obvious threat to
young people’s lives when it comes to social needs such as employment, a livable
environment, and natural space for interaction, which are basic requirements to
fulfill the welfare needs of any group in society. Youth participation and power in
pursuing sustainable development is integral to Indonesia’s democratization and
fostering of grassroot politics. This paper will also examine policy regimes. The
case studies of Greenpeace Youth Indonesia and Indonesian Climate Students Forum
(ICSF) are presented to allow an understanding of what Indonesian young people

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 Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate Change

undertook recently through youth-led environmental organizations to educate the

public about climate change.
Against this backdrop, the paper explores how young people have a strategic
role in making the environment issue more publicly accessible in order to force
the government to take their participation and power into account as the future
generation and as future leaders (Mokwena 2006). Youth participation is essential
because it may promote development. Burkey (1993:8) points out that “by actively
participating in the climate change movements to alleviate its impacts, youth takes
charge of their lives and saves their own future.” Furthermore, young people are
agents who have potential resources, creativity and are assets in local development
processes and in response to climate change (Turner, 2011). They can pressure those
in power to improve welfare creation and distribution. Young people’s experience,
idealism and availability to protect and preserve their areas from climate change,
will promote community welfare.
In coping with climate change impacts, the power of youth is instrumental in
raising public awareness and inspiring change. The potential of young people in
some parts of the world has been recognized as a major driver of positive changes
(Muray, 2008). Their role is not only to advocate problems affecting themselves,
but also the need to enhance the larger process of democratization through the
youth-stakeholder partnership in the decision-making process, civic engagement,
and collaborative governance. In this model, the new sense of a common identity
among youth’s new ecological identity through the environmental movement emerges
as a challenge to development and democracy in order to persuade government to
engage more with them in the democratic space, which can address their collective
concerns about the environmental crisis. Alam, Nilan and Leahy (2019) argue that
youth action through diverse environmental movements and organizations signifies
the recreation of political systems through a transformative strategy to achieve better
welfare and sustain democracy in the country.
Nevertheless, until recently there has been little research that outlines how young
people as citizens perceive and respond to climate change vulnerabilities and to
what extent it promotes the emergence of new youth-oriented social identities. As
asserted by White (2011) climate change leads to different forms of action among
this group, be it collectively or individually, that becomes social identity. Parallel
to this assertion, action by young citizens in response to climate change issues is
highly relevant, particularly in Indonesia. Indonesia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports
(in Naafs, 2012), in relation to welfare, states strongly that young people plays
critical roles in tackling climate change impacts that cause food insecurity, water
scarcity, and natural resources depletion. In the Conference on International Youth
for Environment, youth delegates declared that climate change will soon become a
real obstacle in that may downgrade their productivity. Indeed, in accordance to UN

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Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate Change

Resolution 64/134, involving youth in development policy is necessary to ensure

that their welfare and livelihoods are sustained (Chaaban, 2009).

The Climate Change Policy Regime in Indonesia

Climate change in Indonesia is mainly exacerbated by anthropogenic effects resulting

from industrialization (Wainwright, Meyers, Wijffels & Pigot, 2008). In the last
decade Indonesia combatted climate change through national policy interventions,
international cooperation, and even social movements engaging community members
(Jafari, Othman & Nor, 2012). Efforts in climate change mitigation are driven by
Indonesia being the sixth largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world (Hasan,
Mahlia, & Nur, 2012). Being a tropical country with 60 percent forest coverage,
Indonesia has been under the global spotlight and has been dubbed the lungs of the
world, but this reputation has been shaken in the past ten years. Expansive damage
to rainforest and swampland is a trigger for increased greenhouse gas emissions
(Murdiyarso, Saragi-Sasmito & Rustini, 2019). The burning of forests in areas used
by the palm oil and paper industries is also identified as a contributor to domestic
haze (Tacconi, 2016). With the reduction of green pasture land and peatlands as
carbon storage, polluting substances are no longer able to be absorbed and are
instead released into the air. In addition, in megapolitan areas of Indonesia such as
Jakarta, the use of private cars and motorbikes is the main source of air pollution by
carbon monoxide (Thynell, 2018; Rachman, & Barus, 2019). The carbonization of
urban areas is also exacerbated by hotel and road infrastructure development in big
cities such as Bandung and Yogyakarta (Alam, 2018). Moreover, the buying and
selling of private vehicles is very easy. In the Javanese city of Yogyakarta alone,
a prospective owner can buy a car immediately with a down payment of only Rp
5 million. To own a motorbike, they only pay IDR 5,000,000 (equivalent to USD
500). Consequently, the rapid increase in ownership of private vehicles is also a
major contributor to air pollution in Indonesia’s cities.
Highlighting the track record of the causes and facts of climate change, Indonesia
is now under international pressure and the global environmentalism movement,
with a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 29% by 2030 (Goldberg,
2015). Further, Goldberg (2015) reported that in December 2015, at the Conference of
(COP) in Paris, Indonesia committed to efforts to limit the rise in global temperature
to 2o C. With this promise, the domestic industry sector needs to undergo further
mitigation efforts in a sustainable manner. From the government’s perspective,
Indonesia is prepared to drastically reduce exhaust emissions by up to 41% under
a “business as usual” (BUA) scenario if it receives financial assistance and a set of
support of mitigation technology from developed countries (Alisjahbana, & Busch,
2017). The amount of funds is certainly one problem that needs to be calculated, and

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 Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate Change

to date Indonesia needs more than $7 billion to overcome it (Kumar, 2016). In terms
of coal consumption, Indonesia has reduced exports by up to 50%, but its domestic
consumption has risen annually and Greenpeace reports that 35% of domestic
electricity relies on coal (Kurniawan & Managi, 2018). Along with population
growth that remains dependent on fossil fueled energy, Indonesia must strive to set
out solar panel-based electricity utilization as a measure of climate change mitigation.
Nowadays solar panel adoption rate in Indonesia alone are low—less than 1% in urban
areas. In response to this, since the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY)
administration, Indonesia has instituted a national policy to increase the adoption
rate of solar panels (Anderson, Firdaus & Mahaningtyas, 2015).
In 2011 a presidential decree to tackle climate change was issued, and then
popularized with Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Policy (Buditama, 2016). It
is nationally acclaimed as a reference and framework for operating Nationally
Appropriate Management Activities (Nachmany et al., 2015). Not only applied
at the national level, greenhouse gas control has also reached the regional level.
Provincial governments in Indonesia are firmly instructed to enact Gubernatorial
Regulations on Provincial Action Plans to lessen the severity of the impact of
climate changes (Nachmany et al., 2015). In its implementation framework, this
mitigation plan is cross-sectoral in nature and expected to be undertaken through
collaboration among ministries, because this environmental issue accounts for
economic, social, environmental, politics and other international issues. In light of
this action, intersectoral cooperation is enacted through the framework of forestry,
industry, agriculture, energy and infrastructure, and instruments for improving the
country’s economy such as taxation (Wibowo & Giessen, 2015). However, this
sectoral cooperation has revealed potential drawbacks and disputes among state
sectors. For example, the orientation of the Ministry for the Economy is certainly
distinct in their goals from Ministries for the Environment. The logic of traditional
economics is built upon increasing profits and revenue. As such, nature is subject
to exploitation, industrialization and commercialization. Meanwhile, the Ministry
of the Environment’s key goal is to conserve nature and preserve the environment.
Examining this problem, the journey of mitigating greenhouse gases may slow down
as epistemological conflicts persist. Apart from this framework, the National Action
Plan for Climate Change is expected to be applicable for urban and rural spatial
development (Djalante & Thomalla, 2012). The government’s attention should
then be working on creating green, smart cities; developing rural areas; improving
nature governance and increasing local community participation, and community
resilience to climate change.
Politically, the government of Indonesia has d demonstrated its support for
reducing greenhouse gases. At the 2009 G20 Summit meeting, President SBY
promised that Indonesia would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26% under

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Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate Change

the business-as-usual (BUA) scheme until 2010 through unilateral actions (Enrici
& Hubacek, 2016). Indonesia’s ambition did not stop there. Until recently seven key
mitigation strategies have been implemented, which are a shift towards low emission
transportation modes, development of renewable energy sources, promoting energy
efficiency, developing carbon sequestration projects in forestry and agriculture,
abolishing deforestation and land degradation, maintaining the sustainability of
peatlands and improving management. However, it has been difficult to attain the
quality of outcomes in line with the UNFCCC (Ahmed, Wang & Ali, 2019). One
of the reasons for this is the polarization and lingering political instability of the
legislatures in Indonesia (Sforna, 2019). In practice, the REDD+ scheme perpetuates
conflicts at the local level and with regional institutions (De la Plaza Esteban,
Visseren‐Hamakers, & de Jong, 2014).
Despite the imbalance and dynamics of the existing problems, the Indonesian
government’s commitment to climate change mitigation is already firmly in place,
for example, by establishing the Directorate General of Climate Change within
the Ministry of Forestry and Environment. The effects of natural disasters such
as earthquakes and landslides and volcanic eruptions may seriously impede the
potential to hamper social welfare and the quality of the country’s economy. That
said, the government has enshrined the 2015–2016 Green Short Run State Planning
(GSRSP) as part of a new “green economy” framework that seeks to reduce the risk
of climate change while achieving inclusive and sustainable growth and improving
quality of life through disaster mitigation (Ferguson & Dellios, 2018).
Climate change policy in Indonesia has also penetrated into education. Political
pressure on the government to ratify a commitment to carbon gas emissions introduces
new aspects complexities in teaching and learning practices in schools. For example,
Education for Sustainability is intended to promote pro-environmental attitudes in
schools (Nomura, 2009), while the Adiwiyata award, established in 2006, has been
an incentive for secondary schools to value environmental conservation practices
(Desfandi, 2015). With these aims in mind, schools must prove their capacity by
actions such as installing carbon dioxide filters, planting absorbent plants, sustaining
green areas in schools, providing separate rubbish bins to accommodate organic and
inorganic waste, building waste recycling facilities, and the adoption of renewable
energy with solar panels as an alternative to coal-powered electricity. The more
facilities are provided, the greater the chance for schools to excel in competition.
The winning schools then have the opportunity to obtain extra funding from the
municipal level if their proposals for improving infrastructure submitted to the
mayoral offices are approved. In addition to the winning school gaining prestige,
other schools would become more competitive and enthusiastic about conservation.
Nevertheless, this system of environmental competition has received criticism and
the success of schools in instilling pro-environmental attitudes long-term is yet

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to be demonstrated. In practice, after a moment of competition for the Adiwiyata

award, the majority of schools returned to their habits, such as letting rubbish build
up, while students no longer routinely run collective clean-up campaigns or take
care of plants. The Adiwayata award’s judging criteria also seem invalid, as it relies
on simple documentation such as photographs and administrative papers and the
conditions of the several months before the judging were also neglected by the juries.
Not surprisingly, pre-competition preparations leave the teachers with additional
administrative burdens (Tanu & Parker, 2018). Nonetheless, winning in Adiwiyata
competition is believed by school administration to raise the school’s social status.
Schools with ample financial resources, modernized facilities and cutting-edge
equipment have a higher likelihood of defeating their competitors, but schools in
the suburbs often prefer not to take part in as they lack the funds (Prabawa-Sears,
2018). We contend that the minimization of climate change risks by turning over
behavioral change to the education sphere is compromised by bureaucracy.
Even though the climate change risk reduction project in Indonesia has reached
regional-level government, it is prone to failures in situating younger students
as agents of change. Furthermore, another problem is that it may not be a viable
platform to instil a long-standing sense of the importance of conserving nature
among students (Desfandi & Maryani, 2017). Pro-environmental action observed in
the field is usually limited to every day acts such as sweeping, cleaning the school
yard, watering plants, cleaning trash cans, and clearing garbage scattered in the
yard, and occurs no earlier than a week before Adiwiyata’s judging day (Tanu &
Parker, 2018). These practices are associated with the deterioration of the secondary
education system in Indonesia, especially in public schools. Although the education
curriculum has evolved, teachers still dominate the classroom. Students only pay
attention to the material being taught and are only evaluated at the middle and the
end of the semester. Criticism of this classroom learning model comments on several
pitfalls, such as unstimulating critical thinking of students, ignoring the growth of
emotional attachment to the environment around them, and avoiding self-reflection
(Parker, Prabawa-Sear & Kustiningsih, 2018). If this phenomenon is analyzed within
the epistemology of critical education, this learning model suppresses the ability
to actualize thought. By evaluating natural and surrounding events, students are
expected to be able to develop and implement actions to alleviate risks to nature. By
having such cognitive dislocation their minds are isolated and lack the capability to
produce applicable insights for climate change mitigation. Environmental sociology
criticizes this kind of educational practice for failing to inculcate ecological habits
from an early age.
Textbooks are one of the strategic means to transfer certain values ​​in education,
including of environmental values (Bråten, Strømsø, & Salmerón, 2011). In view of
the massive climate changes in Indonesia and global discourse related to the dangers

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of fossil fuel-based energy consumption, the effects of climate change are revealed
to the younger generation through textbooks for science subjects such as Biology,
Physics and Mathematics (Suwandi, Yunus & Rahmawati, 2018). However, the way
in which this information is delivered is often simplistic in certain contexts. In the
physics textbook, is the sentence, “carbon monoxide gas emitted by motor vehicles
can directly affect climate change. Therefore, the use of motorized vehicles must be
reduced.” Even more surprising, in the biology textbook it reads “photosynthesis can
be useful for neutralizing carbon dioxide gas in the air.” Examples of statements in this
way would be prone to misconception, as there is insufficient tested complementary
reliable information and rigorous data to facilitate the students’ comprehension of
climate change (Choi, Niyogi, Shepardson, & Charusombat, 2010; Bråten, Strømsø,
& Salmerón, 2011). Following this case, education related to climate change through
textbook-based courses has transformed into a new colonialization of individuals
and the education system itself. Those who are systematically disadvantaged by this
model are the younger generation, teachers, the school itself because the logical
fallacy in climate change understanding is not rectified (Arora-Jonsson, 2011).
Climate change has been addressed by the Indonesian government through various
policies and frameworks for action (Brockhaus & Angelsen, 2012). Even though it is
progressive and looks conceptually innovative, implementation in the field has not
yet had a real impact, particularly in behavioral change. Climate change is indeed an
elitist discourse and is permeated with scientific data and information, but its real
impacts could affect people’s everyday mobility (Bäckstrand & Lövbrand, 2006).
The climate change regime that has existed in the midst of Indonesia’s development
over the past 10 years can have both constructive and negative consequences.
Constructively, it can establish a space for learning about facts and scientific aspects
of climate change and encourage the government to develop national and regional
systems in order to mitigate the risks (Murtilaksono, Suryana, & Umar, 2011).
However, the implementation of action programs could only privilege a culture of
formality, celebration or ceremony, and does not translate into public behavioral
change (Amaluddin, Fahliza & Rahmi, 2019). The use of public funds for the
mitigation of the impact of climate change might certainly require a substantial part
of the budget, considering that hundreds of schools are targeted (Murdani, Hakim,
& Yanuwiadi, 2018). Therefore, ethics in the implementation of such actions needs
to be monitored, evaluated, and openly audited.
Since the discourse on climate change has become widespread in Indonesia,
numerous youth-based civil society organizations have emerged in major cities.
Their presence is certainly not sudden, and has been stimulated by productive
environmental activist groups, who are concerned about the effects of climate
change on the ecosystem and on humans themselves (Mulyasari & Shaw, 2012).
Furthermore, as Indonesia was active as host for the Conference of Parties for the

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first time in Bali in 2007, environmental organizations have grasped the problem of
climate change seriously or even more critically than the government, simply because
they have actively witnessed that the long-term impacts of climate change such as
prolonged drought, extinctions, destruction of ecosystems, food crises, escalating
socio-cultural conflict due to land conversion, and community stress would ruin the
lives of the millennial generation. Although this view seems anthropocentric when
observed within the bigger picture, these growing concerns encourage millennials
to become more transformative and active citizens in pursuing preventive actions
to prevent even more damage from of climate change.
There is a great deal of youth-led civic participation and action in Indonesia
to prevent the effects of climate change, including some aspects of environmental
movements, affiliated with universities, environmental organizations and activist
networks worldwide. Their actions as progressive citizens are underpinned by the
belief that the government policy towards climate change adaptation is failing to
encourage citizens to make real changes. Other critics claim that the government
is only using climate change as a strategy to secure international funds. Another
concern is that the presentation of climate change policy in Indonesia is obscured
by a preponderance of scientific language and complex empirical data (Buizer,
Humphreys & de Jong, 2014). Although science is important, this kind of campaign
model can only be understood by and appeal to intellectuals. Climate change not
only includes the empirical data to convince the public, but also informs them of
various impacts that have occurred and what they can do to help.

YOUTH AS TRANSFORMATIVE CITIZENS: LEARNING FROM

TWO YOUTH CLIMATE CHANGE ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS

Greenpeace Youth Indonesia

When it comes to organizing action and shaping the public awareness, Greenpeace
Youth Indonesia is a leading organization that fights to protect forests and prevent
ecological damage (Montada & Kals, 1995). As a subsidiary organization under
Greenpeace Indonesia, Greenpeace Youth Indonesia (GYI) works with local youth.
Their headquarters are in Yogyakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Jakarta. Social media
is widely used to reach out to young people. As stated in its Twitter, GYI claims to
be “The youth-desk of Greenpeace Indonesia.” From this point, GYI wants to focus
itself on being an extension of Greenpeace Indonesia. In short, GYI is a young wing
of Greenpeace Indonesia which strives for climate, energy, forests, water and oceans.
The origins of GYI are in the Greenpeace International program at the UN
Climate Change Convention (UNCCC) in December 2007 called “Solar Generation.”

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Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate Change

By taking young people on board, this action aims to spread the words about
environmental issues that are being disputed in the world, such as climate change,
environmental education, energy savings, renewable energy, nature conservation,
public space and so on. The management of the program is under the Greenpeace
Climate and Energy Campaign with a shared mission of calling for the use of clean
and environmentally friendly renewable energy from the perspective of young people.
In terms of organizational structure, GYI is under the Youth Division of Greenpeace
Indonesia in which the operation is carried out in collaboration with other divisions.
The first of these is the action strategy division, which belongs to the execution of
campaign actions that are a part of Greenpeace’s identity. The second is devoted
to networking and mobilization, and its task is to serve as a network builder by
embracing other communities to join in the action coordinated by Greenpeace. The
third is for recruitment and management of membership in the structure. Finally,
the fourth is the agitation and publicity division, used to spread publicity material
through Twitter, Facebook, both social media owned by Greenpeace Youth.
Regarding membership, GYI applies a recruitment system in compliance with
Greenpeace Indonesia’s policy. The activists will support and uphold Greenpeace’s
commitment to direct nonviolent action and take part in training programs
implemented by Greenpeace to maintain Greenpeace’s longstanding values in staging
its campaign activities. Volunteers may embark in boat action, climbing activities,
research teams and logistics activities. There are also online activists who participate
in campaigns conducted through the Internet and help as a Greenpeace virtual
community publishing material on organizational activities in the online world. In
addition, the local groups are directed to assist Greenpeace’s campaign activities
and as a community for volunteers who cannot take part in office activities due to
time constraints or because they are live outside cities where a Greenpeace office
is located. However, every activist can move and join whenever and wherever they
choose. In effect, all who join this structure can be categorized as activists, because
they are all involved in environmental activism under the common climate change
issue championed by Greenpeace Indonesia.
GYI’s approach is decentralized so that each office works on an issue of
environmental change that is connected to local environmental issues. For example,
in Bandung GYI aims to respond to urban problems in the region such as the
Citarum river contamination. The activists herald action under a title adopted
from Soekarno’s speech, “Indonesia Mengunggat” (Indonesia is Suing). They are
condemning the private companies for polluting the river with chemicals that poison
residents who consume the water. They stage theatrical actions in the Citarum River
by wearing a distinctive costume, a buttoned-up white shirt. The symbol of closed
clothes shows that they are protecting their bodies from river water pollution, and a
group of people who eat with these clothes represents the local people who use the

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Citarum River. Wearing the costume, they unfurl banners containing petitions of
questioning companies being responsible for the contamination. Such demonstrations
show a profound understanding of the transformation of physical space that then
metaphorically addresses the political space of young people. In his study of a
group of workers who went down the road to voice demands to the government
for salary increases, Juliawan (2011) discovered the importance of the road, which
transformed from a utilitarian public space into a political instrument. He observed,
that by “occupying government buildings and major streets, activists are able to
claim, even if only briefly, ownership of the public space, the city itself, or even
one piece of the state” (2011, p. 363). Furthermore, these narratives lead us to a
new avenue of understanding of young people as marginalized agencies that exert
political power by politicizing the roads.
Böttger (1996) and Kruger (1996) explain that post-1990s Greenpeace no longer
adopted spontaneous and “chaotic” actions and their actions were more detailed and
the execution of the action is very well planned. When carrying out its actions, GYI
coordinates in the national sphere. When GYI carries out environmental actions at the
regional level, they usually inform the central government, then GYI representatives
from other regions will join in the action. Therefore, GYI environmental actions are
usually collaborative in nature, involving activists from neighboring cities. While
in Jakarta, GYI joined the Ciliwung “lovers” community and was active in several
activities that were coordinated directly by Greenpeace Indonesia. In Yogyakarta,
the issue raised by GYI was the availability of public space, while in Semarang,
the issue was the construction of power plants with coal energy sources in Batang,
Central Java. In Bandung itself, the issue raised was the Citarum river. The Bandung
GYI movement is not far from problems around the Citarum River. While in Jakarta
GYI joined the Ciliwung-loving community and was active in several activities
coordinated directly by Greenpeace Indonesia. In Yogyakarta, the issue raised was
the availability of public space. Whereas in Semarang, the issue currently being
raised is the construction of power plants in Batang Regency.
The GYI website provides an interactive platform for the community to involve
itself in campaigning for environmental conservation, such as by becoming a GYI
donor, uploading files on the theme of environmental preservation, and becoming
volunteers. In the Indonesian context, GYI’s environmental action works for advocacy
to the government and community members to be more protective of natural
resources and the environment. GYI’s environmental actions align the institutional
missions of and orientation of the Greenpeace movement at an international level.
Environmental actions of GYI are always under the supervision and support of the
central Greenpeace Indonesia. In this context, the sustainability of GYIs organization
and environmental action are mainly reliant upon Greenpeace Indonesia at the
national level and Greenpeace at the international level.

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Indonesian Climate Student Forum (ICSF)

As a youth organization, ICSF starts from the premise that climate change obviously
threatens sustainability. The impact of climate change is exacerbated through
exploiting natural resources. Rising ocean temperatures in most coastal areas of
Indonesia inspired a Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) student Daniel Chrisendo,
to orchestrate efforts to overcome the climate-related environmental crisis. Realizing
the importance of knowledge about climate change and the role that can be played as
a student, he founded an environmental education organization that aims to be useful
for primary school students, called the “Indonesian Climate Student Forum” (ICSF)
in 2008. ICSF claims to stand for more than just an educational reinforcement on
climate change, but also on the basis of the ingenious idealism to establish idealisms
in young primary school pupils for Indonesia’s future environmental security.
Approaching climate change strategically, since almost all environmental and non-
environmental organizations echo it through various mass media, he gathered eight
colleagues to take positions as environmental educators.
In its activist recruitment, ICSF prioritizes young people whose interests lie in
environmental issues, implementation of environmental education on climate change
and environment teaching. ICSF has members from various backgrounds, including
undergraduate, postgraduate and even doctoral students at the Bogor Agricultural
Institute, West Java, as well as white-collar workers. The inclusiveness embodied
in its organizing ideology has earned ICSF a respected reputation in Indonesia. In
addition, some schools often call ICSF activists to provide or arrange climate change
socialization activities. To further consolidate the spirit of togetherness among
volunteers, ICSF has an internal program dubbed the “Amazing Race”. Participants
are not allowed to use private vehicles and must instead use public transport.
Indirectly, this activity is also considered as a form of action to encourage the public
to be less reliant on private vehicles, which in turn is expected to reduce the level
of air pollution in urban areas. For its regular governance, ICSF dedicates special
staff to manage publication media through websites and social media. Online media
is an important instrument for ICSF, not only for publication, but also as a means
of communication between members. ICSF also utilizes the YouTube website for
promotion as well as the publication of activities. Contacts and interactions with other
community networks are also built more through online media. ICSF oversees its
activities through participation in competitions organized by the Ashoka Foundation
NGO. In the competition, ICSF made 100 small recycled paper notebooks that were
distributed free to students in one elementary school in Bogor. ICSF also organizes
educational programs around saving paper and recycling used goods and has received
a monetary award that was spent on paper recycling machines. In addition, ICSF
collaborates with Earth Hour and the Jakarta Astronomical Community Association

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(JCAA). Earth Hour is a global campaign sparked by WWF by turning off electricity
for one hour each year.
Convincing the public of the importance of the environmental crisis and enhancing
their level of knowledge about it are important elements in improving the influence
of environmental organizations (Choudry 2014). As mentioned, ICSF was established
for students to learn about climate education to elementary school students around
Bogor. For that, a program called Climate Education and Environment (CEE) is
undertaken. ICSF has compiled a CEE curriculum and taught it to three elementary
schools in the Babakan Village, Dramaga, Bogor West Java. CEE is part of intra- and
not extra-curricular activities. Thus, CEE is an environmental education program
integrated into the school curriculum. CEE is more aimed at the explanation and
understanding of the importance of environmental stewardship, which is manifested in
students’ concrete actions. CEE also prioritizes innovative, interactive and applicable
education methods. In implementing CEE, ICSF involves a number of experts as
volunteers. The activists are tasked with inviting elementary school students to
nurture the environment and understand climate science and the environment. The
curriculum taught through CEE is about environmental education, such as recycling,
screening environment-oriented films, designing the future environment, ecological
fieldtrips and so on.
Another program organized by ICSF is a simulated discussion that brings
delegates from several countries to discuss environmental issues. This program
is called the “Model United Nations” (MUN). In the MUN program, participants
discuss one of the issues around the environment. One country is represented by two
participants who submit arguments about the advantages and disadvantages for their
country of certain environmental policies. The initial purpose of MUN was to add
to the environmental insights of ICSF volunteers through discussion, but it can be
followed by anyone who registers a few days beforehand. Daniel Chrisendo spoke/
wrote of his concern about the farming community and how ICSF could improve
their standard of living:

The young man requires critical thought to figure out and digest complex climate
change problems. In an era of everyone talking much about climate change, many
of them cannot distinguish the logic of weather events and their effects. An outcome
of this activity is what we can provide to disadvantaged groups when their homes
are destroyed by rising sea levels; prolonged drought and warming temperatures.
Equipping our activists with the detailed understanding of the impact, ICSF activists
will run more social activities to assists the community adapting to climate change.
Educating communities in the coastal areas of West Java and farmers in Bogor is
one of the activities conducted (Interview with Daniel, October 2013).

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This message shows that ICSF has succeeded in building a sense of practice
for activists to have ecological awareness as well as humanity and reminds us that
“the possibility of a sustainable society depends not only on what we do, but on
how we think, and the understanding that these mutually influence one another”
(Kasper, 2008:23).
In conducting its programs, ICSF often collaborates with other communities.
The momentum of implementation of the program also often coincides with other
youth-led environmental organizations’ events, such as the Earth Hour and Star Party.
However, ICSF has a network that covers various levels, from local to international.
The PILH program, for example, has succeeded in introducing the organization to
international networks through the Oxfam International Youth Partnership. Oxfam
further facilitates ICSF to various company and organizational links, especially
regarding funding. In addition to holding various activities and participating in
competitions, ICSF is also planning to build a “Science House.” This plan was
initiated by the founder of ICSF, Daniel Chrisendo, who also became the editor of
a science magazine, Kuark, aimed at elementary students. The Science House is
expected to be a means of simulation as well as learning for elementary students
who will participate in the annual Kuark Science Olympics. Scientific experiments
showcased in Kuark are expected to be later implemented in real terms through the
Science House. ICSF hopes to build the Science House soon because it can be a
useful vehicle for educating elementary students.
Although this organization operates organically by involving local communities
and schools in Bogor West Java, in practice they also continue to build connections
with the government. The government is recognized as having a large budget and
competent bureaucratic apparatus, but the complexity and transparency in financial
arrangements do not guarantee that their environmental action programs will be
successful in the field. As Daniel Chrisendo explains:

[The Indonesian] Government’s support is crucial, but how long should we wait for
them to release books on climate change and comprehensive environmental education
for the children? The bureaucracy in Indonesia is extensive and the potential for
funding cuts is also large. I don’t want to say there is corruption. However, the
reason environmental education is mostly carried out by organizations outside the
government is because this is an urgent problem - the environment is damaged every
day and changes occur every second. Therefore, we cannot depend on the budget,
which ultimately does not bring change at all (Interview, October 2013).

The above excerpts confirm the phenomenon of corruption in Indonesia,

particularly in the field of education. Mietzner (2015) notes that corruption is
rampant in Indonesia and has an impact on poverty and environmental degradation.

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In addition, several agreements that have been signed, such as the Kyoto Protocol
and Sustainable Development, are recognized as being ineffective in making the
environment into better living space, as the influence of vested interests and political
patronage persists at the local level (Larsen et al., 2012).

CONCLUSION

This article has elaborated on the actions of the young generation through their
environmental activism. Those environmental movements reflect their active
participation as transformative citizens, which engages the community through
direct environmental activism, urging the government with petitions and immediate
campaigns in the public sphere, educating the public and primary school students
by establishing educational programs on climate change and making behavioral
changes, both individually and collectively. For young people, the struggle against
climate change is a great chance to exert their legitimate power in bringing about
radical change.
The environmental activism of the two environmental organizations critically
implies a shift in the civic participation of Indonesian young people. Environmental
damages such as river pollution, prolonged drought, species extinctions, and
deforestation are inherent in their daily lives, which are accessible via social media,
everyday social interactions with diverse groups, newspapers, televised news, and
university-based environmental actions. Whatever media they are in favor of, overall
has helped gain prominence in sharpening these young people’s affinity to mundane
environmental risk. Despite the fact that most of these environmental destructions
are not viscerally inherent to them, everyday practices of media consumption have
developed, what anthropologist Cliffort Geertz claims, as ‘experience-distant’
(Geertz 1983; 57). Experience-distant occurs whenever someone who is a specialist
of a cultural problem ‘and then interprets and understands a culture through some
distance investigation, as a scientist’ (Marchi and McCarthy, 2016, p. 251). Evinced
by the young people’s practices in these two environmental organization, those
informative media have brought them closer to the various forms of environmental
crisis. And, through this environmental organization they can access various forms
of knowledge to digest the problem and then educate the public to make efforts to
mitigate or reduce risk. On the other words, multi-tiered interactivity as such has
shaped ecological habitus in themselves (Ford, 2019). Environmental organizations
in the scope of middle-macro level, act as a driving force for young people, who
gravitates to environmental actions (Carfagna et al, 2014; Kirby, 2018). Like
Greenpeace Indonesia and ICSF undertakes with their environmental education
activities, these organizations fundamentally provide space, accommodate the

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needs of environmental knowledge and channel collective emotions over the

present fragmented ecologies. It is important to note here too, although Greenpeace
Indonesia and ICSF are moving from the local level, in fact they are contemporary
assemblages of the world environmental movement (Nilan & Wibawanto, 2015).
Assemblage, as in Nilan and Wibawanto’s Nilan & Wibawanto, 2015) assertions,
is interpreted as local environmental actions that are explicitly bound ideologically
and values ​​with efforts to save the global environment in the era of climate change
crisis. In the lens of this assemblage, Greenpeace Youth Indonesia and ICSF reflect
the world’s conservationist actions.
In this paper it is apparent that Indonesian government’s environmental engagement
at national and international levels has reactivated ‘political opportunity’ (Meyer &
Minkoff, 2004) of (post) millennial generation, which are seeking to express their
cooperative resistance to Indonesia’s neoliberal policy in a progressive and intellectual
manner. While Indonesian government’s institutions at national level appear to be less
responsive to the impacts of climate change with business-as-usual (BUA), youth-
led non-government organizations step up to undergo local actions. The economic
neoliberalism, in other words, has raised youth-based ‘epistemic community’ (Haas,
1992), and activated the network of environmental collectivism among Indonesian
young people. In neoliberal governmentality that the government has loosen the
control over the economy (Foucault, 1991), the Government of Indonesia (GoI)
thrives to open up the wider market investment opportunities (Astuti & McGregor,
2017; Budiastuti, 2017; Sheng & Qiu, 2018).) However, through a deep investigation
over these two youth-based environmental organizations, neoliberal economics has
revolutionized the sense of agency of educated Indonesian young people to express
their transformative power through ‘environmental pedagogic sites’ (Walter, 2013)
with their accommodative organizations. The environmental movement exemplified
by the two activist organizations above marks a new phase of millennial movements
in which they involve cultural identity to gain access to resources used in accelerating
action and making breakthroughs. The organizations provide not just structures, but
effective, inclusive and knowledge-rich learning experiences.

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