International Youth Day 2025; The Power of Intergenerational Action
International Youth Day 2025: Postcards to the Future and the Power of Intergenerational Action
Every 12th of August, the world observes International Youth Day, a moment that is at once celebratory and sobering. Celebratory, because we recognise the brilliance, resilience, and creativity of young people everywhere. Sobering, because it is also a reminder of the enormous weight today’s youth carry in shaping a world that is increasingly defined by climate disruption, economic uncertainty, and geopolitical instability.
This year, the Youth Climate Collective, in collaboration with Surge Africa, anchors this commemoration around an initiative we call #Postcards2TheFuture, letters written by young people to their future selves. These postcards, drawn from across Africa and beyond, are both deeply personal and radically political. They remind us that the youth are not simply waiting for the future to arrive; they are actively writing it into being.
Why This Matters Now
The world is amid systemic transformations, the energy transition, digital revolution, shifting geopolitical alliances, and the urgent rethinking of economic models in the face of climate change. These are not minor adjustments; they are profound shifts that will define what prosperity, justice, and sustainability look like in the decades ahead. And yet, youth often find themselves sidelined in the very processes that will define their futures. Decisions are too often made in rooms where young people are absent, or their presence is tokenised.
International Youth Day serves as a reminder of the necessity of intergenerational engagement: not as charity, not as symbolism, but as a structural imperative. If systemic change is the terrain, then youth voices are the compass. They are not bound by old paradigms or entrenched interests. Their creativity, impatience with the status quo, and digital fluency equip them to ask bold questions and imagine transformative answers.
The Relevance of Youth Climate Action
Why is youth leadership especially vital in the climate movement? Because climate change is not a temporary crisis. It is a long emergency that will span generations. Decisions taken (or avoided) in the coming years will echo far into the lives of today’s young people and their children. Youth are already innovating at the frontlines: from transforming waste into clean energy to reimagining urban mobility, from grassroots adaptation projects to global advocacy campaigns.
Their efforts remind us that climate action is not only about reducing emissions but also about building fairer, more inclusive societies. International Youth Day underscores the urgency of investing in this leadership, not as an act of benevolence, but as a matter of collective survival.
Postcards to the Future: Echoes of Youth Aspirations
In our #Postcards2TheFuture, young climate leaders wrote to their future selves, capturing the anxieties of the present while projecting visions of resilience, justice, and innovation. Their words speak of the urgent need to balance human ambition with respect for planetary boundaries, the transformative power of technology and clean energy, and the dream of inclusive, greener cities where equity and hope thrive. Taken together, these postcards are more than reflections. They are collective commitments, shared philosophies, and bold calls to action. They remind us that youth are not only imagining the future, they are claiming agency in building it.
The Necessity of Intergenerational Engagement
The voices of these young champions illuminate a central truth: the challenges we face cannot be solved by youth alone, nor can they be solved without them. True transformation requires intergenerational collaboration.
Older generations bring institutional memory, resources, and positions of influence. Youth brings urgency, innovation, and moral clarity. When these forces converge, the result is not compromise but synergy. It is only through intergenerational solidarity that societies can navigate the complexities of the 21st century, balancing tradition with innovation, patience with urgency, and experience with creativity. To exclude youth is to handicap the future. To tokenise them is to insult their agency. But to embrace them as equal partners is to ensure that the solutions forged today are sustainable tomorrow.
Looking Forward
The postcards to the future written this year are both intimate and universal. They whisper hopes to personal futures while simultaneously shouting demands for systemic transformation. They challenge us all, governments, businesses, communities, and civil society, to move beyond words and embrace action.
On this International Youth Day 2025, the Youth Climate Collective affirms that:
The future is intergenerational! The future is innovative!! The future is inclusive!!! The future is already being shaped by young people today!!!!
As we look to the horizon, let us not see youth as leaders of tomorrow but as leaders of today. The future is not waiting. The future is now. And it is youthful.
