“Yo Go” Youth in Climate Action, Powered by Climate Fact Checks  

The youth climate movement is playing a crucial role around the globe but it is a new context for Sri Lanka. Climate Fact Checks organization led the youth to take action, especially on tackling climate misinformation. The last 28^th volunteer orientation program, together with a workshop regarding youth climate action, was carried out by climate fact checks with 40 youth participants at GAP HQ, Colombo. The youths represented almost all the provinces of the island.  

Climate fact checks are doing the main work to eliminate the misconceptions about climate change in society. From there, efforts are being made to educate many people through the awareness program. Climate fact checks allowed selected individuals to join as volunteers and work on CFC internal activities to combat against the climate change related misinformation. The program is called YO GO. The main objectives of YO GO are, 

Identify passionate individuals who honestly work to mitigate the harmful  effects of climate change and adapt to the new situation. 

Engage interested individuals in CFC social works, awareness sessions, and projects.

Train selected volunteers to detect misinformation about climate change 

Engage interested individuals on CFC works, including designing, broadcasting, etc. 

Motivate them for mini projects related to climate change and prop-up it. 

On the other hand, the CFC organization’s mission is to provide netizens with scientifically sound and trustworthy information regarding the climate change narrative on the Internet. We are here to detect misinformation/disinformation related to climate and climate change, bring out the truth through a standard scientific method with the help of experts, and place it before our readers in a simple, easy-to-understand manner. It also strives to disseminate climate change and other related information in the form of ‘prebunking,’ which can help audiences “develop mental antibodies,” allowing them to detect misinformation on their own in the future. Yo Go is another step that was taken at the moment. 

The  YO Go orientation program has included an informative lecture series and group activities to enhance knowledge of climate change. Professor Hemanthi Ranasinghe, in house expert on climate fact checks and senior professor of forestry and environmental science, declared the welcome remarks. The great message from her speech was that to mitigate climate change, you must change first, and in the face of self-control, you can focus on reducing waste and stopping overconsumption.  

Then, two group activities were conducted, which were funny and informative. The poster design was a one. It encourages students to summarise their research creatively and concisely. The main issues related to climate change were given to them. 

After that, a lecture about the detection of climate misinformation was carried out by Ms. Mihiri Saparamadu, research assistant of climate fact checks. Another group activity was conducted related to the lecture. That aims to encourage students to identify false news, “develop mental antibodies,” allowing them to detect misinformation in the future, and identify presentation skills and knowledge on climate change. After that, the concluding remarks of the function was done by Ms. Silila Sandawala, Scientific researcher of climate fact checks, inspired youth to develop mini-research projects in the future, and CFC will support  them financially and academically.   

Only some feel like volunteering. Volunteers are people who give their contribution to the society for free. The purpose of Yo Go is to identify these kinds of passionate individuals and enhance their skills. Now is the time for change, and now is the time for real action. We hope everyone is happily engaged with Yo Go and may stay in the future.