From a contemporary point of view, the young interrogators’ demands for clean air and sewage treatment appear modest, but during the campaign final – an “environmental parliament” in January 1970 – the Swedish Minister of Agriculture considered it ungrateful of the younger generation to also demand change. Quickly.

With stubborn and tireless work, he argued, further environmental degradation would be prevented in due course.

YOUTH-LEADED ACTIVISM IN GLOBAL ISSUES

Modern Swedish history provides several examples of youth-led activism in global issues. While the Folksam initiative was adult-organized, other campaigns and initiatives have relied on the younger generation’s self-organization.

An early example of this was The field biologists (literally: “field biologists”), the Swedish Nature Conservation Association’s youth department, which became a breeding ground for environmental activism.

In addition to hiking in the wilderness, field biologists began to demonstrate and make spectacular direct actions.

They marched under banners such as “killing nature is suicide” and “your children are protesting against your short-sightedness”. In the early 1970s, they sent disposable bottles and cans to the authorities to stimulate a transition to recycling.

Another striking example was the annual Operation Dagsverke campaign, the “Operations Dagsverke”, which emerged in the early 1960s.

Led by fairly loosely organized student unions, the campaign expanded rapidly and soon involved tens of thousands of school children raising money for projects in the global south.