News and Insights
Gen Z Gives a Glimmer of Hope
October 8, 2025
Why My Generation Might Be Who Solves the Climate Crisis
- A Climate Week event gave me a rare moment of optimism and uplift.
- Gen Z’s enthusiasm and engagement was powerfully on display.
- Scientific innovation, artistic expression and collective action are leading the way.
Hope at a climate conference?
Climate events often come with heavy truths, so when I stepped aboard a ship docked at South Street Seaport during Climate Week NYC, I braced for impact. Instead I found energy not weighed down by despair; it was buzzing with possibility.
I was there with about 400 others for “The Ocean Awakens,” hosted by Plastic Odyssey, a global organization dedicated to eliminating plastic pollution. That buzz of possibility came largely from my peers. Gen Z was everywhere in the audience: asking questions, networking and ready to roll up our sleeves. I couldn’t help but feel proud, this is my generation, showing up when it matters most.
Why is Gen Z leaning In?
For us, climate change has never been a tomorrow problem; it is and has always been a today problem. We’ve grown up watching or in many cases enduring firsthand the wildfires, hurricanes and extreme weather that are reshaping our communities. The stakes are personal and that makes the drive to act personal, too. I was in middle school when Hurricane Sandy hit New York and we still live with its consequences almost 13 years later.
Maybe the generations before us had the “luxury” of kicking the can down the road. We do not, and it shows in our behavior. According to a Pew Research Center study, Gen Z (alongside Millennials) stand out among U.S. adults for their climate activism and social media engagement on the issue. In that survey, about 32% of Gen Z adults reported taking at least one action to address climate change in the prior year, outpacing older generations.
Collaborating to combat the climate crisis
One of the more energizing aspects of the event was seeing the innovative ways people of all generations are collaborating. Scientists and people in creative fields are working together to brainstorm solutions. For example:
- One panelist is making reusable but also compostable bags out of seaweed.
- An artist transformed plastic waste into impossible-to-ignore calls to action.
- Plastic Odyssey, the event’s host, is currently on a three-year expedition, making 30 stopovers across three continents, collaborating with local communities to uncover and share solutions for building a world without plastic.
What kind of difference can we make?
Back on land, I felt genuine hope. Because Gen Z isn’t just showing up, we’re leading, experimenting, creating and most importantly, refusing to accept that it’s “too late” to make a difference.
As a communications professional, my role is to amplify the sparks of hope that ignite action. I do it for clients like ASU’s Global Futures Laboratory and the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and it was thrilling to see my generation stepping up to the plate. To my fellow Gen Zers, please keep showing up. Keep asking the hard questions. Keep engaged and enthusiastic about what we can achieve together. Then let’s get to work.
Jane Goodall once said:
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
That choice is in front of all of us. And when I look at my generation, I see people deciding boldly that the difference they make will be for the better.
Key Takeaways
- For Gen Z, climate change is a critical, urgent issue, not a distant problem, which drives our high level of engagement and activism.
- Collaborative efforts across different fields and generations are essential for finding and implementing effective solutions.
Amplifying stories of hope and action is a crucial role for professionals in strategic communications to inspire broader engagement and positive change.
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