Cities and Lifestyles Unit

UN Environment Cities and Lifestyles Unit Living Life Lightly “Faces4Change”

Introduction There are more young people now than ever before - over half the world’s population is under 25. Youth, increasingly, live in urban environments and the everyday decisions they make about what to eat, how to get to school or work, where to live and what to wear and buy drive global consumption trends and global aspirations. Behind each choice there are both environmental and social impacts that are not always understood. In addition, today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders so tapping into how decisions are made – better integrating sustainability – could be a game changer.

Understanding what affects people’s decision making in the face of the continuous mass consumption media messages - how choices are made and whether they are satisfying – is critical to facilitating change. For youth, research highlights that many are aware of global sustainability issues but that they don’t see the linkages between lifestyle decisions and their impacts. Youth concerns focus can be grouped around life, work and play, and sustainability issues are a secondary area of concern1. Yet in spite of this, there are a growing number of young people who have made conscious decisions to take on the ‘sustainability challenge’ in different parts of their life, play and work. They come from all over the world, with different backgrounds and interests. How sustainability fits is different for each person. But each young person tells a story of why and how sustainability drives decision-making.

This effort collects some of these stories to share the motivation behind what can bring about change. It is meant to be inspirational on how change can result from adopting sustainability as the strategy or as a new business model for living.

Objective “Faces4Change” offers insights into the types of people who are committed to make sustainability a reality.

Description The effort will collect testimonials from youth (aged between 18 and 30) from around the world who care about the environment to better understand why they are interested in sustainability and what they think can be done. Their stories offer inspiration and examples of the diverse way in which we can live more sustainable lives.

1 Youthfulcities wheel reference “ Faces4Change” Form What would you call yourself? (eg. social entrepreneur, green nerd, technocrat with style, beautician going green)

Why are you interested in SUSTAINABILITY? How did you get here (what motivated you?)

How do you spend your time? In life/work/play (food, mobility, housing, leisure) how does sustainability fit into the decisions you make?

What is 1 or two things you would tell your peers about the importance of sustainability? How could you convince MORE young people?

What is your favorite news or story on sustainability that you have heard about?