Students and 1in5
A recent global survey found that 84% of young people were worried about climate change, and the majority felt powerless [1]. The 1in5 project is asking universities, departments and individual lecturers to provide you with opportunities, within your academic discipline, to be part of a collection of students and staff working together on environment related problems. Its very simple
The idea: In the UK alone, every year, approximately 500,000 students complete an undergraduate degree. In the final year of your degree almost all of you, in collaboration with an expert academic supervisor, do a substantial piece of advanced work: a research project, a composition, a dissertation, a show etc. If 1 in 5 of these pieces of work focused on environmental change there could be a significant impact.
What will be achieved by reaching 1 in 5? A group of students and former students that, in the UK alone, increases in size by around 100,000 every year will have two impacts:
The members of the group will learn to speak with knowledge, confidence and authority on environment change. When a group of people of such size interact with their families, their work colleagues, and others, they can precipitate a change in societal attitudes [3] and actions. The 18-35 generation was recently credited as having created the platform for the “largest environmental plan in all of history”.
Exceptional impacts. All work produced will be valuable (see 3), but because of something the statisticians call the law of truly large numbers[2], we can say with confidence that some pieces of work produced by this group will be of real significance. In addition, some members of the group, inspired and equipped by the work they did in their final year, will go on after graduation to have a significant impact, to create a product, start a political movement, etc.
As we put in place a facility to allow you to share your work, each one of you will have the opportunity to contribute to a unique library of articles, data, artwork and more. A library that can be used by charities, scientists, journalists, lawyers and others.
Members of the group will also learn that they are not powerless, that they can do something, and they will have gained experience and contacts that can help them in the future.
If enough people participate in 1in5 the above is all a given, but we don't plan to stop there -
Groups can tackle problems or explore ideas that are too big or complex for individuals to handle alone. In addition, many charities, businesses, and government departments are eager to collaborate on environment-related projects (see great examples of such collaborations here). We will update this page as we develop a platform to support collaboration and group work and that allows you to share your work with others.
So you want to be part of 1in5? If you choose the topic of your composition, production, project, dissertation etc, then here are some ideas. If your lecturers have a role in deciding the topic of your work then ask them about 1in5, and if necessary direct them to this website.
Got any questions? See if there is an answer in the FAQs.
[1] Climate change: Young people very worried - survey - BBC News
{there are many points that could be pulled out of this survey beyond "worry". Original paper here Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey - The Lancet Planetary Health
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_truly_large_numbers
[3] An example of a dramatic switch in societal attitudes is gay marriage. Changes in attitudes (and changes in the law that followed) have been have been attributed to greater integration between people who identify as gay and people with a heterosexual identity. Flores, A. R. (2014). Reexamining context and same-sex marriage: The effect of demography on public support for same-sex relationship recognition. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 26(3), 283-300.