Products of Change members can now access and watch POC’s Ambassador for Children, Gary Pope’s fascinating presentation on The Global Family and the evolving relationship with ‘sustainability’ via the On Demand platform.
Last week, the former teacher-turned-co-founder of Kids Industries sparked a lively debate when he presented the latest agenda-setting findings from the family research and insights expert’s recent Global Family Study.
Sharing insight collected from over 5,000 families from across ten countries, Gary takes a dive into the relationship families, children, and young people share with issues surrounding climate change and action
Among the issues topping the chart of challenges being faced by families around the world right now, ‘teaching good morals’ emerged as number one. At number two is the effects of ‘bullying and peer pressure’, while number three is ensuring that children receive ‘good quality education’. ‘Financial pressures’ place at number seven on the chart, while concerns around ‘the environment’ finds itself at a mid-table level at number 11.
“And why wouldn’t it?” Gary asked attendees the week. “These are things happening to families every day, not a big existential topic that seems out of reach, but lived realities.”
The reality of the situation when it comes to the engagement that 4 to 14 year-olds from across countries including the UK, the US, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and China show in the subject of climate change was broken down further when Gary revealed that 58% of children in the UK do not know what ‘sustainability’ means. Comparatively, 47% of US children say they are confused by the messaging surrounding the topic, from environmentalism and sustainability to the concept of greenwashing.
Most problematic of all, however, is the study’s headline statistic that in 2023, 74% of children from around the world feel positive about the future. It begs major questions over the concerns and childhood being experienced by the remaining 26%.
POC members can revisit the subject and recap on the debate by visiting the On Demand library.
