Future Builders – Youth, Innovators, and New-Generation Leaders (Jan 29 – Jan 31).
We close this month of dreaming by looking toward those who are drafting the new maps for our collective future. If the Beloved Community is our destination, the youth are the ones currently navigating the terrain. They remind us that the revolutionary power to dream is not a relic of the past, but a living force that evolves with every generation.
The Revolutionary Power to Be Seen
The future is not something we wait for; it is something we build with every decision we make today. We see this in the fierce clarity of Vanessa Nakate a climate activist from Uganda and author of A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis. Her journey became a global lesson in the necessity of representation after she was literally cropped out of a news photo featuring four white activists at a major summit.
That moment was a tangible example of the world trying to silence a dreamer. Rather than retreating, Vanessa used that erasure to demand that the media stop ignoring the Global South and BIPOC voices in the climate movement through the Rise Up Movement she founded. She famously reminded the world that “you did not just erase a photo, you erased a continent.” Her resilience shows us that our collective vision is incomplete if it does not center those on the front lines of the crisis.
The New Momentum
We find this same vision in leaders like Mari Copeny (Little Miss Flint) who proved that a child’s voice can hold an entire system accountable for the human right to clean water. We see it in the digital activism of the Z Generation organizers and groups like Earth Guardians who use technology, art, and storytelling as tools for rapid response solidarity. They are redefining what it means to be together in a globalized world.
These future builders remind us that our collective thinking must remain open to new possibilities. They are X González turning grief into the March for Our Lives movement for peace, and the Indigenous youth protecting sacred lands and waters for the seven generations yet to come. They show us that the dream is a relay race, and they are running it with a speed and a spirit that should give us all hope.
We are not too young to lead and we are not too old to learn.” – Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Indigenous climate activist and Executive Director of Earth Guardians
Reflection: In our community, how are we listening to the voices of the future and clearing the path for the dreamers who are just beginning their work? Let us know if there is a fresh perspective a younger person has shared with you.
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