Were I planning a social media campaign for a platform famously associated with young people, as driven as she may be, Mary Robinson would not be my first choice to spearhead said campaign.
Maybe that’s why I’m not a campaign planner, though, because that’s precisely who TikTok have turned to for a new climate initiative that aims to get young people involved in its ‘Youth Climate Leaders Alliance’, which is a programme aimed at 18-30-year-olds looking to tackle climate change.
It’s being run in partnership with the – I’ve always thought – humbly-named Mary Robinson Centre, which will run an 8 month climate leadership workshop series for the lucky participants, who’ll also be treated to the Mary Robinson Climate Conference hosted by – guess who – Mary Robinson later this year in Ballina.
I don’t doubt the programme will get a decent uptake if for no other reason than it’ll look good on a CV in this climate-conscious age, but I can’t help but think it might not be as effective at drawing young people as it could be, for the simple reason that while Mary Robinson is obviously a name of note to Mary Robinson and everyone of a certain generation, her name doesn’t carry the same weight with the youth of Ireland.
Admittedly, at 28 and as a married father of one, I’m not a spokesperson for our young people, but I do fall within the range the programme is targeting and I, as much as any well-meaning inhabitant of planet earth, care about treating the world rightly.
With all due respect to our former president, my experience of Mary Robinson – beyond being aware of the role she played in my country’s history – is scrolling past her admittedly infrequent appearances on my various social media feeds. This is born of no animosity, it’s simply as a result of little to no connection with Mrs Robinson. Even though I’m no fan of her’s, I’m more likely to be caught by Greta Thunberg-related content, even if only out of a morbid curiosity as to what she’s done this time.
Before anyone accuses me of ageism, I have nothing but the utmost respect for our elders – especially one of the Elders. There is most certainly a place for those who’ve walked the walk to share with those just setting out their wisdom and experience, to give greenhorns advice that will benefit both them and the world.
However, if climate change is as urgent a threat as everyone – Mrs Robinson included – claims it to be, I’d imagine cold, hard efficiency probably ought to be our guiding light over and above sentimentality. For a company the scope and scale of TikTok, would, say, Leonardo DiCaprio have been out of reach (TikTok’s US-troubles aside for a moment)? A face that’s been plastered all over our screens for years, in movies beloved by young and old alike, and a man who clearly spends much time and effort on this very topic.
The reality is that the explosive rhetoric so often used to drive home the overwhelming catastrophe climate change presents us with is constantly undercut by the luxuriating of those sending dispatches from the frontlines of fight. It’s a tired, old line at this stage but no less true, I think, because of it: if they were deadly serious about the necessity of cutting our emissions, would they not be carrying out climate conferences over Zoom rather than flying thousands of people around the world on a regular basis?
Similarly, if getting young people engaged in climate activism and leadership is the goal, as is this programme’s intent, could a better candidate than Mary Robinson not have been suggested, especially for an app that is famous for frying its users’ attention spans? She might have been somewhat miffed to have been overlooked, considering her considerable expertise, but sacrifices have to be made. There are lives and livelihoods at stake here, I understand.
After all, if you were to draw a Venn diagram with avid TikTok users on the one hand and devotees of Mary Robinson’s climate efforts on the other, I’m not sure there’d be all that much overlap. With 18-24 year olds being the largest demographic using TikTok in Ireland, followed by 25-34 year olds (although I’d imagine unstated under-18s must be in the mix here somewhere too) I find it hard to believe that Mrs Robinson’s brand is going to stop their scrolling and capture their hearts and minds.