A Google search tells us that millennials are a bunch of spineless, selfish twats, who think of speed as their life mantra, tend to live exclusively on social media and don’t know the meaning of ‘civic duties’. Yet, the reality – not the cliché – is that millennials view climate change and the destruction of nature as the most critical global issue –according to this year’s World Economic Forum Global Shapers Survey at least.

 

From Brazil where students are the liveliest in protesting the Amazon rainforest’s deforestation to Iceland where the construction of aluminium smelters has triggered a strong objection, the youngest generations appear keen on putting ideologies aside in name of a common good that is the environment’s conservation. As Alexander Loftus, leader of the MSc in Environment, Politics and Globalisation at King’s College  London explains: “Students attuned to environmental questions because this is very often a way into making sense of politics on a broader scale.”

In the unknown Italian village of Chiomonte, 61 kilometres away from Turin, for instance, a protest against a high-speed train has been going on for over 20 years, having gathered together thousands of people. Students, in particular, are worried that the train – dubbed TAV (Treno-Alta Velocità) – could have a detrimental impact on the whole region, drying up the valley and modifying its water catchment area. Among those Giulia Ricci, now a Psychology graduate from the University of Turin, explains: “Both the government and the military are violating our valley. If realised, the train would lead to atrocious consequences like groundwater poisoning and asbestos pollution.”

Doesn’t this look particularly significant in the wake of the 50th anniversary since the 1968 student riots? Politics doesn’t fire up the youngest generations anymore. The environment does.