TakingITGlobal

aware of the rarity of this, and were brimming with pride and hope when they spoke. The project had a real impact, and the team rightly recognized their own crucial contribution: I think the best thing about this project is the youth involvement in it. Because often in major international conferences it's a bunch of old people in suits discussing issues about the planet. But in reality, it's the younger people who are going to have to deal with the issues eventually anyway. And so, giving us the opportunity to voice our concerns and our opinions and our ideas in a formal and official way — I see it as a super beneficial and really cool opportunity for us to have our voices heard, and potentially make a difference and have an effect on the world. ( C A L G A R Y , I N T E R V I E W 2 ) Wang (2018) argues that high confidence results in a higher likelihood to engage in climate change advocacy, and we have found that this relationship reinforces itself, as personal engagement in climate change advocacy resulted in higher confidence for team members. Yes, actually, this really helped my self esteem… In Columbia everyone is so strict, it makes me nervous, because you have this kind of impression that people won't believe what you are saying, so you feel like you need to have it all structured. Like I told you, people there don't believe in me, but here, they do. ( B O G O T Á 1 , I N T E R V I E W ) Though we do not know if it will be the same for these youth, the findings of Riemer et al. (2014) are promising, as they link youth engagement in climate change initiatives to other positive outcomes, like lower levels of " alcohol and drug use, risky sexual behavior, school failure, crime, and emotional distress" (p.563). The positive emotions shared by the IPCC project team members suggest that collective, in- person learning involving effective action and social support engenders greater emotional well being for youth studying the difficult topic of climate change, and may well contribute to the formation of leaders who respond to the climate crisis. International relationships formed between youth, facilitators, mentors, and teachers were key to this project's success, as was the collaborative, project-based pedagogy and the opportunity to be heard by influential decision-makers. | 59 Y O U T H A N D C L I M A T E C H A N G E 2 0 1 8 E D I T I O N

• Cover