Envisioning Healthy Futures: Youth Perceptions of Justice-Oriented Environments and Communities in Northern BC Canada

Keywords: youth, settler colonialism, climate justice, northern BC Canada, wellbeing
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 36

Abstract

What do youth perceive as healthy and just environments and communities? Through an anti-colonial and critical race theoretical framework as well as arts-based methods (photovoice), we share the strength-based messages that Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth from so-called northern BC Canada voiced in light of this question. In our presentation, we will echo youth perspectives as they demonstrate the need for a structural level analysis of the conditions that influence individual level outcomes of environmental health. We thus demonstrate how youth perspectives on healthy and justice-oriented environments and communities challenge environmental geographies and climate justice scholars to consider youth as powerful actors. Our findings demonstrate that youth perspectives of healthy and justice-oriented communities present a necessarily structural perspective to look not only at the impacts of environmental decision-making, but the conditions—particularly ongoing forms of colonialism, extraction, and systemic racism—that have allowed for harmful impacts. In doing so, youth demonstrate the need for intersectional and complex understandings of wellbeing to be considered when discussing the environment. And, as we argue here, challenge us as scholars of environmental geographies to do the same.