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Felix Says Stop Talking
by Sarah Wilkinson
Mar 3, 2010
Positive News Issue 63 |
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'Everyone loves to talk about the climate crisis but talking alone isn't going to stop the glaciers from melting or the rainforests from disappearing. Each time adults just talk and don't act, it's up to us, the children, to take matters in our own hands; quite literally.' Felix Finkbeiner, Germany’s youngest climate campaigner
Felix Finkbeiner, from the small town of Starnberg, Germany, was just nine when he gave his first school presentation on global warming. During his research, he watched Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth and learnt about Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Prize winner who inspired him deeply. "I found out how she planted 30 million trees in 30 years and I also learnt about the United Nations Environment Programme's Billion Tree Campaign," Felix recalled.
UNEP's target to plant seven billion trees by the end of 2009 - which they reached two months ahead of schedule - encouraged mass planting by people from all corners of the earth and all walks of life; from 'pupils to presidents'.
When Felix announced that he wanted to take part in UNEP's programme, his teacher thought he only meant to plant one tree but soon realised his pupil had a more ambitious project in mind. "Let's plant millions of trees," he proposed. "A million in each country of the world."
Felix travelled the country to deliver his presentation to other schools, creating a network of young tree-planters and co-founding Plant-for-the-Planet. Two years later, his 'Stop Talking. Start Planting' campaign has rallied huge support from hundreds of other children and helped to plant a million trees across Germany.
"Every tree that we plant is a symbol of climate justice," he said, referring to a declaration made by the former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. It asks rich, polluting nations to accept responsibility and pay more to combat climate change than poor countries.
At a recent youth conference, Felix informed Achim Steiner, United Nations Under-Secretary General: "The students of Germany have taken responsibility for their future by planting a million trees. Thus, we have contributed to the worldwide target by a thousandth," reminding him: "It might not seem very much but we do have to go to school in the week!"
Felix has also set up several Plant-for-the-Planet academies, where students all over Germany and more recently China, can teach each other to become climate ambassadors. Participants learn how to give speeches, motivate their peers and mobilise adults into action. "We kids are not planting trees because we want to be forest rangers or environmentalists but because we believe that we can’t leave the future up to adults alone," he said.
Felix has gained global recognition for his work, named Champion of the Earth by UNEP in 2008, winning the Bavarian State Medal for services to Health and the Environment in 2009 and being the youngest recipient of the Utopia Award. Now 11 years old, he recently addressed the European Parliament and was invited to present his case at the G8-Summit.
Prior to a speech in Berlin, other young participants asked him: "Do adults take you seriously when you talk to them?" Felix replied that they did but later the children would witness it first-hand.
Entering the stage, he reached for the microphone and said: "The future for you means 20, 30 or 40 years." The audience fell silent. "For us, the future means 70 or 80 years. Whether the sea level rises this century by one, two or three metres is a scientific question for you. For us it's a matter of survival!"
The entire audience rose to their feet in applause. "When we cross the street, our parents take our hands," Felix said, "but as we go into the future, we have to take the hands of our parents."
Contact: Plant-for-the-Planet,
Kreuzeckstrasse 2, 82396 Pähl, Germany
Website: www.plant-for-the-planet.org
"Everybody who is going to plant
a million trees in their country
come up on the stage," says Felix
at the Tunza International Children
and Youth Conference, South Korea
Photo: copyright Plant-for-the-Planet
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