Empowering Voices of Climate Change

There are global concerns that the climate debate and subsequent social action are excluding voices. People living in areas of social deprivation are increasing recognised as those who will be most negatively impacted by climate forcing. This could be seen as a democratic deficit in communities which will feel the impacts of extreme weather more acutely than their wealthier counterparts due to issues of weaker infrastructure, knowledge and resilience. Relationships between excluded communities and innovations in climate action and carbon emissions reduction are largely unexplored, with activism and behaviour change undertaken by more affluent and well-educated individuals. This paper highlights work with groups of young people living with differing social challenges in UK, Central Europe and Africa, who are connected to their communities through amateur football teams. The paper argues that despite their personal circumstances, there is a strong will to take climate action. The paper provides a framework for further future study to investigate whether engaging voices from the margins in the climate change debate may also serve as an entry point to mainstream politics, empowering a youth voice which historically demonstrated high levels of apathy or lack of knowledge to engage in the issues most likely to affect them.