By Alexa Charouhis, We Are Forces of Nature
Standing alone at the United Nations headquarters in New York, I grasped my newly printed Office Depot business cards as if they could unlock influence.
Our world leaders convened this week at the U.N.’s landmark Summit of the Future, taking place during this year’s U.N. General Assembly, to act on what may be the last chance to ensure the sustainability of our planet.
The youth came to hold them accountable. And while I hold no illusions that I can impact the action, I’m hoping there’s a Moses or Odysseus in the room who can alter the world’s perilous trajectory and deliver a sustainable future for us all.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres opened the summit just as temperatures across the globe smashed records for the 15th month in a row. Sounding the alarm about the survivability of humanity, Guterres has called for nations to come together to solve the greatest challenges of our time in what has been billed as the Pact for the Future.
Like the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015, the Pact is meant to get us back on track to ensure our future. My own organization, Forces of Nature, alongside thousands of other civil organizations, businesses and governments, has contributed to the vision, which has been two years in the drafting. And despite 15 nations abstaining and seven nations objecting, the Pact that is meant to ensure our very survival was passed Sunday by a majority of the 193 members of the United Nations.
The youth have been instrumental in bringing the issues of poverty, conflict, education and climate change to center stage, and we are – and should be – proud of the Pact. But as the speeches drone on, and the platitudinal words of collaboration, collective action and consensus are repeated by nearly every speaker that takes the mic, my mind drifts to the havoc that climate change is wreaking on the other side of the globe.
While we are here in this room, right here, right now, people are struggling to recover from Storm Boris, the worst storm to flood Central Europe in more than two decades, which has brought death to 24 people and billions of dollars in destruction. A crop-destroying drought in Southern Africa has placed 68 million people in desperate need of aid.
Just a few days ago, scientists published findings that Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier is on an irreversible path to collapse, spelling catastrophe for global sea level rise everywhere from Bangladesh to London to Miami. And here in the U.S., alongside news stories championing the Pact for the Future, are stories that climate change is expected to triple heat deaths by mid-century.
Our leaders convened here with the intent to do good. The Pact gives us a path forward. But missing from the promises are the hard choices ahead that must equally be a part of the plan for a sustainable planet. Hard words, including sacrifice and reduction, must be included in this pivotal conversation. Technocratic fixes alone will not fix the mess we’ve made of our only home.
At the SDG Hub, I add my own short pleas for the enactment of policies decreasing consumption and increasing the circular economy. But like other youth, I’m worried.
Emerging technology is only part of the solution – all of society must commit to making the necessary changes we need, at every single level, to deliver the future we want. As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
We’ve been talking seriously about resolving this threat to our very existence since at least 2015, yet the stats that now roll across our screen with alarming regularity make it clear we are farther away than ever before at ensuring a sustainable future.
My days at the U.N. were busy. I attended countless side events touting the progress made on solar and wind, and other renewable energy sources, and heard multiple panelists speak to new commitments to help developing countries pay for climate losses. But beyond the U.N.’s security gates, protesters held signs revealing another truth: Despite progress made, global fossil fuel consumption has hit a record high in 2024, with coal usage increasing by 1.6% and oil demand rising by 2%.
My time at the U.N. came to an end too quickly. As I headed out, I hunched my shoulders against the wind, lost in the thought that the promises made here might be too little, too late. But as I hit the street, a cacophony of youth voices excitedly talking about the Pact’s passage gives me hope.
While I left the U.N. filled with so much uncertainty, I know this: The youth are the innovators; the game-changers; the cross-cutters. This is our opportunity to not only build a sustainable planet, but to use this moment – to commit to this conversation – to rebuild a better world.
As the lights came on across the light sky, I looked up at the U.N. flag waving alongside the flags of 193 other nations, symbolizing the nations who are here to fight for our future. Straightening my shoulders, I hailed a taxi for the airport. It is, after all, the City of Dreams. And I’ll be back.
Alexa Charouhis is a 15-year-old climate activist from Miami. Alexa is president of We Are Forces of Nature, one of the youngest youth-led organizations in the world accredited by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and U.N. Environment Program. Alexa leads Fashion Forward, reintroducing fashion to the circular economy and supporting secondary education in undeveloped coastal communities most affected by climate change.
If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here. Banner image: United Nations General Assembly sign outside United Nations building in New York City. (Diplomatic Security Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
