CHANGE IS COMING is a student originated initiative highlighting young people’s attitudes towards the climate crisis and climate injustice.
I founded the project in 2021, with the aim of bringing the voices of the student population of the University of Cambridge to the centre of the conversation on the climate crisis.
Students were asked to consider two key questions, prompting them think about the role that the climate crisis plays in their own life and what they as individuals can do to help:
“What change do you wish to see?”
“What change do you pledge to make?”
The project plays an important role in bringing the voices of young people from all walks of life to the forefront of the conversation on the climate crisis and climate injustice in a visually striking way. This is crucial as young people are the ones who are going to be most affected by the climate crisis in the future if nothing is done now. We need to listen to their voices and the enact the changes they wish to see happen.
Darinka Szigecsan, Newnham
What change do you wish to see?: I hope that we will increasingly recognise that the climate crisis is rooted in a loss of reciprocity between humans and the environment.
I would like to see the emergence of ideas that are not only concerned with ‘fixing’ climate change but simultaneously with the resolution of our relationship with the non-human.
I hope that we will see changes in our current political, social and economic systems so they will start to reflect a mutual caring between human and non-human nature.
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to start asking questions not about how climate change can be ‘fixed’ but about how I can care best for the environment, whilst appreciating how it cares for me.
Anna Oswald, Lucy Cavendish
What change do you wish to see?: The change I wish to see in regard to politics is that problems like the large meat consumption does not depend on the choice of individuals or on one’s social class.
Crimes against nature must be forbidden by law and can not depend on the morality of individuals.
What I wish for every individual, however, is a spiritual change. The question must not only be how we save nature, but also how nature can save us.
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to to have faith.
Ed Smith, St. John’s
What change do you wish to see?: I want to see a growth in understanding of how we are a part of the natural world, not apart from it.
Once the world-view of a natural, beautiful whole of which we are a part becomes more widely held, it should permeate all parts of human society to fundamentally change our relationship to the world!
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to continue to learn how to integrate my beliefs into my actual behaviours, and to continue learning from others.
Eloise Matthews, St Catharine’s
What change do you wish to see?: I would love to see the shift where living sustainably becomes the norm, where plant-based is default, and where everyone realises the crucial role they play and how far actions can propagate.
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to become a more active citizen, educating myself around policies and challenges and how I can use my voice, and encourage others to do the same.
Ioana Dobre, Lucy Cavendish
What change do you wish to see?: I would like to see an increasing sense of awareness of the interrelatedness between humans and the natural world.
I would like to see how we could live together in a sense of symbiosis, care, and love that would oppose anthropocentrism, exploitation, and ignorance.
I would like to be able to contribute to maintaining this kind of relationship for the future generations.
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to make conscious, sustainable decisions, to learn more and to ask questions. I pledge to reduce my ecological footprint through everyday choices of eating, shopping, living.
I pledge to cultivate love and care in my day-to-day life, and a sense of personal awareness and connection to the environment.
Jacob Gawel, Homerton
What change do you wish to see?: I wish to see greater recognition of Land as a home which cares for us and all life, and which we are responsible to care for.
What change do you pledge to make?: Firstly, I pledge to explicate my own prejudices, to listen to people and understand their choices.
Secondly, I pledge to raise awareness of more sustainable alternatives and inspire love for the Land.
James Burrows, Homerton
What change do you wish to see?: I think nature is key to tackling climate change.
Creating more resilient ecosystems, and restoring natural processes and functions can help sequester carbon, but also make our environment less vulnerable to change.
I hope to see people engaging more with their local natural spaces, and become more invested in them.
The UK has destroyed much of our natural spaces, but there is hope, and lots of simple steps we can make.
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to dedicate my career to the protection, expansion and recovery of nature within the UK.
I pledge to turn the knowledge I have about how to tackle climate change, into actions and behaviours.
Mahera Sarkar, Newnham
What change do you wish to see?: I want to see more people actively shifting their daily habits to be more environmentally conscious.
Small changes add up!
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to make more shifts in my daily life to help the planet such as buying local and sustainable wherever possible and disengaging with the fast fashion industry.
Rory Cockshaw, St Catharine’s
What change do you wish to see?: I want to see those people in the world who have the means to make the change go plant-based in their diet and lifestyle.
We know with full certainty that a plant-based world would use less land, fewer resources, and is significantly more efficient than a world that consumes animals. We would also stop breeding animals to live grizzly lives and die grizzly deaths in factory farms. Yet, social inertia, lack of knowledge, and the feeling that individual choices can’t make a difference mean that very few people, proportionally speaking, have made this change yet.
I want to see a more plant-based world.
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge never to back down on my principles or shy away from a difficult conversation.
It’s often hard to find the energy to stay composed, to be a good advocate for animals and the planet, and to engage people who vehemently disagree with you or who don’t seem to understand the impact going plant-based can have.
My pledge is to remind myself to approach such situations with humility, empathy, and energy – rather than impatience, anger, and laziness. It’s often easier to go the latter route, but so much less productive.
Rosalind Cooper, Newnham
What change do you wish to see?: I would love to see people becoming more involved in their communities and helping to change the world in kind, brave and radical ways.
We need change from above, but I think change coming below is also beautiful.
I would also love to see more awareness amongst the student body in terms of water and energy use, and food waste, and an acknowledgment that fast fashion is supremely unsustainable for people and planet.
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to continue to think about my interactions with the human and non human world – to tread lightly. I also pledge to not give up; to see hope in the dark.
Wilfredo Gomez, Christ’s
What change do you wish to see?: I’d like to see a public literacy/educational campaign centred on nurturing and developing critical consciousness.
I say this with a focus not only geared towards critical media literacy and the digital world, but with an eye towards understanding our positions to the natural world.
As politically charged a subject as climate change can be, I’d like to see a shift in the discussion so that individuals and communities have both a critical consciousness and level of accountability with regards to how human behaviours and decisions impact our environment.
All in all, less a focus on framing climate change as a ‘they’ problem, and one centred on a collective problem that we are all implicated in.
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to further continue engaging others in conversations that disrupt and further inform how I continue to think of myself as a citizen of the world.
Towards that goal, I aim to be better as an ally, advocate, and agent of social change.
Dominika Baerova, Newnham
What change do you wish to see?: A change I would like to see would be a collective increased awareness towards the importance of nature in our everyday lives. I would like to see centres of education and work to implement outdoor activities and working outside where and when possible. They should teach and support the importance of connecting with the natural world through daily walks, exercise or even just quiet contemplation outside as an essential and greatly beneficial part of our daily lives and overall health and they should implement the space for these activities as a part of their organisations when and where possible.
What change do you pledge to make?: I pledge to encourage people to spend more time outside.
Rosa Prosser, Lucy Cavendish
What change do I wish to see?
This is such a difficult question to answer as there are so many changes that both individuals and society must make if we are to sufficiently tackle the climate crisis in time. Personally, I would like to see governments and Big Industry take this issue seriously, rather than showering us with what Greta Thunberg denotes “blah blah blah”. I would like to see them also take into account the most vulnerable – including both human and nonhuman life – and use this crisis to move towards a more equal world.
What change do I pledge to make?
I pledge to continually try my best when it comes to making a difference regarding climate change but also take into account that we cannot be perfect, nor do we have to be – even the small changes make a difference!
I pledge to engage in environmental activism, working with others as a collective to put pressure on those in positions (e.g. governments) that should be making the greatest change.
The Photographers: Rosa Prosser and Dominika Baerova
Rosa Prosser is a Part II History and Philosophy of Science student at Lucy Cavendish College, graduating Cambridge in July. She is currently working on a feature documentary exploring the relationship between language and climate change in the Outer Hebrides, which she will be filming this summer.
Dominika Baerova is a second year student at Newnham College studying Classics. She has been involved in a number of photography projects for Varsity, and is currently working on her own project exploring reflections of the self.
CHANGE IS COMING will be exhibited in person on the 23rd June as part of the Cambridgeshire County Day at the Newmarket July Course.
