The Natural History Museum announces Generation Hope: Act for the Planet

·       From Monday 12 to Friday 16 September, the Natural History Museum will hold a week-long programme of free events and activities for young people aged 15-25 around the world

·       Generation Hope has been created in partnership with an advisory panel from across the world including high profile climate justice activists Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Elizabeth Wathuti, Disha Ravi, Larissa Pinto Moraes and Daphne Frias

·       Taking place both online and at the Museum in London, the line-up of talks and participatory panels will tackle key issues impacting young people today including eco-anxiety

Between 12-16 September 2022, the Natural History Museum will be hosting Generation Hope: Act for the Planet a programme of free events creating in partnership with young people across the world including Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Elizabeth Wathuti, Disha Ravi, Larissa Pinto Moraes and Daphne Frias.

Taking place before the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference and the COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference, Generation Hope’s line up of talks and participatory panels will tackle key issues impacting young people today including eco-anxiety, getting to grips with the science, understanding the impacts of the planetary emergency, and skills workshops. Highlights include:

-        A panel event to explore the role of the media in engaging people with the climate crisis

-        A workshop examining some of the most prominent health impacts of climate change from leading experts to understand how this varies across communities, and discuss how we can become more resilient to these impacts

-        A practical workshop to understand the relationship between mental health, mindset and climate change facilitated by youth-led group Force of Nature

-        An interactive workshop led by Climate Outreach to help create a practical toolkit on how to best engage with climate science, overcome disinformation and take a solutions-oriented approach to sharing stories of hope on how we are mobilising knowledge to tackle climate change.

Conor O’Keeffe, Creative Producer of Generation Hope at the Natural History Museum said “Only by connecting to one another, bridging divides and forming communities can we ensure a future where people and planet thrive. By the end of the week, our hope is that everyone participating can commit to one action, whether it’s following up on a new connection, or speaking up on behalf of nature”.

Following a week-long programme of public events, workshops and training sessions co-curated with young changemakers from across the world, an evening event in collaboration with Force of Nature is planned to be the culmination of the week and a manifestation of the Natural History Museum’s commitment to creating a new generation of advocates for the planet and supporting science and nature-based solutions to the challenges we face.

Booking tickets is essential, please visit nhm.ac.uk/GenerationHope

Generation Hope Advisory Board 

·       Daphne Frias  is a proud Latina climate justice activist, disability awareness advocate, organizer and storyteller based in New York, USA. 

·       Kat Hamilton is the partnerships & programmes Director for Force of Nature (FoN). Through virtual programmes, FoN empowers young people and decision-makers in over 50 countries to cultivate mindsets of agency, purpose and resilience. 

·       Ken Johnson is a Principal Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London, where he studies the history of coral reef systems from decades to millions of years. Documenting how reefs have responded to past environmental changes will help to constrain the potential trajectory of future changes and allow us to plan accordingly.

·       Selina N. Leem is a climate warrior from Aelōn̄ Kein Ad, now known as the Marshall Islands. A self-described “small island girl with big dreams”, Selina was the youngest delegate at the COP21 conference that adopted the Paris Agreement at the age of 18.

·       Erica McAlister is Senior Curator for Flies and Fleas at the Natural History Museum, London. She has been recording, researching, and describing flies for over 15 years in the UK and across the world. Erica is very involved in public engagement both within the NHM and externally, including radio, TV, writing and events.

·       Larissa Pinto Moraes is Executive Director of Engajamundo, a Brazilian youth-led organisation with a mission to make young Brazilians aware that by changing themselves, taking part in their community, and engaging politically, they can make a difference.

·       Disha Ravi is a climate justice activist based in Bangalore, India, and founded the Indian branch of the Fridays for Future network.

·       Mitzi Jonelle Tan is a climate justice activist based in Metro Manila, Philippines. She is the convenor and international spokesperson of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP), the Fridays For Future (FFF) of the Philippines.

·       Elizabeth Wathuti is an environmentalist and climate justice activist from Nairobi, Kenya, and founded Green Generation Initiative, connecting young people to nature across Kenya.

Notes to editors

Natural History Media contact: Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5654 / 07799690151 Email: press@nhm.ac.uk

The Natural History Museum is both a world-leading science research centre and the most-visited indoor attraction in the UK last year. With a vision of a future in which both people and the planet thrive, it is uniquely positioned to be a powerful champion for balancing humanity’s needs with those of the natural world.

It is custodian of one of the world’s most important scientific collections comprising over 80 million specimens accessed by researchers from all over the world both in person and via over 30 billion digital data downloads to date. The Museum’s 350 scientists are finding solutions to the planetary emergency from biodiversity loss through to the sustainable extraction of natural resources.

The Museum uses its global reach and influence to meet its mission to create advocates for the planet - to inform, inspire and empower everyone to make a difference for nature. We welcome millions of visitors through our doors each year, our website has had 17 million visits in the last year and our touring exhibitions have been seen by around 20 million people in the last 10 years.