Hope Is A Verb - Future Council - Change Is Loud

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

Meet Future Council, a global youth-led movement that’s empowering young people to help co-design the future. It’s inspired by the documentary ‘Future Council’ that followed eight young activists as they travelled across Europe in a yellow bus confronting big business leaders and showing how the next generation is reshaping climate leadership. In our final episode for thisseason, we chat with filmmaker Damon Gameu and two of the original councillors –Skye Neville, a 15 year old environmental campaigner from Wales and Clemence “CC” Currie,the 12 year old CEO of CCs Plastic Pick-up Crew in Scotland. From Billie Eilish to the surprising phrase that we need to stop telling our kids, this conversation is a reminder than when it comes to changing the world, none of us can sit on the sidelines. Other topics: what adults can learn from young activists; early encounters with environmental risk; small steps that scale into meaningful impact; corporate accountability and sustainability culture; hope as a tool for young campaigners; generational views on climate crisis; emerging models of youth governance; power dynamics inside sustainability boardrooms; media narratives shaping climate perception; digital networks for youth organising; the role of families in early activism; values-driven climate decision-making; the tension between optimism and urgency; cross-cultural collaboration among young leaders; and the fine line between empowerment and overwhelm.  Find Out More: If you want to support or join the Future Council Global Movement, click here.Want more details about the film? Click here.  This podcast is hosted by Angus Hervey and Amy Davoren-Rose from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fix The News⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Audio Producer/Director Anthony Badolato, Hear That? If you love this episode, please leave a comment or review. You can get in touch with the team via email [e-mail]

Welcome to the last episode of Hope is a verb for this season. It has certainly been a journey. We have gone from the depths of the ocean to the wilds of Chile. We've gone right across the African continent with the rollout of the malaria vaccine. Oh, to school mills, Aussie punk rockers, AI and medicine, the end of international aid. We have really covered it all. this season. But if this is your first time tuning in, hi, I'm Amy. I'm Gus and we're from Fix the News. Our job is to report on hidden stories of progress and during this season of the podcast,

we've also amplified the voices that don't get the attention they deserve, the menders, the fixes, people who are getting on with the job of stitching the world back together. Mostly these kinds of people do it away from the spotlight. Although today's guests have managed to create their own. We're catching up with the team from Future Council, a youth-led global movement that was kicked off by the incredible film that follows eight young people as they travel across Europe in a yellow bus

with Australian filmmaker Damon Gamow. Along the way, they challenge the decisions being made by big business about the world they're set to inherit and also tap into some of the solutions already in play. It's part documentary, part social experiment, part rally and cry, and it is just extraordinary. It sure is. I loved this film.

And today we're chatting with the filmmaker, Damon, and two of the original counsellors from the film. So we've got Sky, a 15-year-old eco-activist from Wales who campaigns against plastic wrap on kids' comics and magazines, and Cici, the 12-year-old CEO of Cici's plastic pickup crew that cleans up local beaches in Scotland. We couldn't think of a better way to wrap up the season than turning up the volume on this next generation of menders.

And just a friendly heads up, we recorded with these guys while they were waiting outside one of their screenings in the UK. So you will hear a lot going on in the background, but make sure you hang in until the end of this conversation because it resulted in one of the biggest aha moments I have had as a parent in a very long time. Okay, let's rock and roll, Sky and Cece. Welcome to Hope is a Verbe. We are so thrilled to have you on the podcast.

Thanks for having us. Yes. Thank you. I would like to ask each of you, is there anything? Is there anything? in the world that's giving you hope right now. What really gives me hope is actually doing these screenings, to be honest, seeing like all of the young people get really inspired. Most of us future council members, we're getting older now. And it's like, I'm only 12. Yeah, I know that's why it's the most. Because you're 12.

You're the youngest. Most of us are getting older now. So 9, 10, 11-year-olds getting inspired and wanting to use their voices. So I think that's what really gives me hope is seeing the next generation. wanting to do things and make a difference. I agree with Sky, seeing all the young kids and how many people want to sign up after the screenings to the Future Council,

but also hearing about all the things people are doing. I don't know if you know that Billy Ilish's band Plastic Cups at our concerts and that saves so much waste and just... She also donated 11.5 million. Yeah, just knowing that there is people out there who are doing good as well. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself,

just where you come from and why you care so much? I'm Sky. I live on the West Coast of Wales, a very, very beautiful part of the world. My whole journey started, I guess, because I live very near the village of Fairbourne, which was negatively displayed in the media for being the first climate refugees, the doomed village, it's going to flood by 2040, because basically the whole village is built on a floodplain. So that's kind of what, like, sparked my knowledge, I guess. We've always had journalists, media in the village. And then when I was 10, I received a horrible histories magazine

and it had 16 pieces of single-use plastic on it. And for some reason, that was the thing that I thought was really wrong. And that's how my whole journey started by writing a handwritten letter to the publishers, asking them to change. And they replied basically saying, go away, kid. Kids like this stuff. And that's when my petition was started, which now has over 66,000 signatures. I wrote to various media and organizations and a major UK super,

supermarket agreed with me. They stopped selling comics and magazines. And that's how this mad five-year journey started, really, which is crazy. At Cici, what about you? Well, I'm Cici. I live in Edinburgh, Scotland. And when I was three, my mum showed me a video of a turtle with a straw stuck up its nose. And I kind of just thought that that was my straw. You know, I don't want to kill sea life. And I've always been more passionate about the sea. And then I said that I would write to a major plastic polluters but I was three so I couldn't write so that didn't get very far but I wrote to Innocent smoothie but I was five or six and they agreed to change the straws from plastic to paper and I've always just been passionate about it and then got into this and it sparked my interest again

I just think you guys are amazing is this something that you have been chatting with your parents has this come from your family as a parent myself I'd just love to know if there's something that I can be doing. I've always very much been supported by my parents. Obviously, beach cleaning at the age of five, you don't really do by yourself. I remember, we got that reply from the publishers, and I sat down at the dining room table with my dad. He was like, so what do you want to do?

He gave me some options, and it was like, ah, let's start a petition, see what happens. Never thought what happened would happen. But yeah, they've always been very early supportive. I'm also very lucky to be home educated, so we have a lot of freedom. For example, I went and lived in Costa Rica for three months to work on a plastic recycling project in the jungle and sea turtle conservation. And I know not everyone will have that supportiveness. But I think at the end of the day, support your kids and encourage them. Don't force them because literally everything I've done, it's like, do you want to do this?

Now, you were both on board the Yellow Bus for the Future Council Adventure and you spoke to some pretty big business leaders. How was that for you guys? were you nervous, or were you really ready to tell them what you thought? Yeah, yeah, especially with Nestle, because plastic is kind of my thing, that's what the whole original campaign was. I knew I had to say something, because obviously it's not every day you meet the, was he sustainability director? Yeah, head of comms. Good, Markle of Coms. Yeah, head of whatever in Nestle. But going in, you are so, so nervous, because you know you have to say something, but you know you have to

say something, but equally, I mean, first of all, it's like an adult. He is an adult. It just feels naturally wrong, but you know you have to say something because he's so powerful, really. I didn't quite know what I was going to say, but then, as you're seeing the film, he mentions about Smarties in a cardboard tube. Yeah, that was the wrong thing to say. That sparked the whole thing. There's very limited impact we can have just on our own. You're the third biggest polluter on the planet. You are not a powerful leader.

You are a disgrace. But then after you say it, even if his response isn't great or not what you'd expect, the relief but also empowerment that you've said that to him is amazing. You know he's going to remember that for quite a while. I did not have a big speech-links guy. I didn't even know who Nestle was.

I was 10 when I filmed I'm 12 now, so I didn't really know any of the big businesses. I think we were all quite nervous to speak to them in case they said some crazy stuff or like really weird questions. But it was quite exciting as well because usually if you're shouting at an adult, you get in trouble for it,

but you didn't get, you know, they took it. But they sometimes, yeah, they had some odd answers sometimes, but it was good fun. All right, if I made you both ruler of the world, what is one thing you would make every business do? Making the polluters pay because I use the example

if us as the general public go out and graffiti or flytip you get prosecuted. It's illegal. When companies pollutes even indirectly so like you buy the bottle of coke but then that bottle gets littered they don't have to pay and they should have to pay for the damage that they're creating

so I mean I think if you could be ruler of the world which I mean does sound a bit like a dictatorship if I'm on it but I think a lot of things would be done very differently you can't have like an ethical billionaire you've seen the stats especially this is all leading back to Billy Eilich

I've never mentioned there's so many times but like the whole thing that Billy Elish is a millionaire she's given away basically a quarter of her net worth they don't need all that money one of the stats is Elon Musk has enough money to end the United States homelessness and starvation

exactly and he'd still have over half his money and he's just sitting around with it trying to get Mars like it's not even a habit of planet but I think if I was real of the world well I mean I'd buy a camper van but if I had to change something if I had to change something because my family would be wants one

so I'd get that for them and I'd make it a really nice one because I would have to change After that, though. Besides that, I'd make the billionaires give away their money to homeless things and food and the climate change. She's put it in a much more fancier way because she's 15 and I'm 12.

Sorry, I don't really know how to word that. There shouldn't be billionaires. I shouldn't really be billionaires. Okay, this might become chaos if everyone had this. But for example, if the government got out ofude up everyone's money, like just for a day, right, and then spread it out equally. We'd all have over a million pounds.

Before, I guess then work wouldn't get done. People would retire. But I think, yeah, that point is the smartest thing. But I'd make people who have enough money to do it, give away some to charities or help with homelessness and stuff. Maybe don't spend it in everyone's money out equally because that could end in not very well. Whilst trying not to pick tape.

Yeah. It's a fine line. It's a fire line in between. Parham for vans and communism. It is a slippery slope. Now, I had a look at your website. There's a line that says we won't be adult washed. I've heard of greenwashing.

I've never heard of adult washing before. What does it mean? And is there anything that you wish more adults understood about kids and teenagers? Basically, it's kind of the same concept as greenwashing, but it's the fact that we'd go into Nestle and ING and these types of people and they speak down to us because we're young people. Oh, with the adults, we know what we're doing. It's that type of thing.

And I just think adults quite often, they're kind of on a high horse a bit, if I'm honest. And they think that's so much better than young people just because they're old. And like, it's just, no. Obviously, us as young people can't make a difference on our own. Unfortunately, we do need the adults in power who have that leadership and those roles

to make a difference. But I really think they need to listen to young people's ideas and opinions and their views because at the end of the day, we are the future generation. We don't know all the ins and outs of business and all of that kind of boring stuff, I'm not going to lie. But we do have good ideas that need to be taken on board.

I think we've all experienced Adel Walsh before. When we were in, I NG, I asked them a question and they returned it with how they're helping sheep. We all kind of know that's not the right answer. I think people think it's like an environment. visible thing climate change but it's very real and it's very now and as much as kids can make a difference adults are the ones who don't have the power and have jobs and stuff it kind of can't really change unless you guys are on board and also just think about your grandkids your great great great

grandkids might not even have a plan out of this right to live on but it's kind of sad if you think about it like that i think there's still a prejudice around children that we have in society that might take a little while to break down but we really do underestimate how much information there exposed to, I think more than any other generation in history. And so the ones that are passionate about nature or birds or plastic or climate, they do know their stuff and they do know far more than most adults do, to be honest. And so, yeah, I think that's something that we have to really push through. They're rapidly expanding their knowledge and their emotional empathy, which you've seen with these two and in the film. That's why I think this platform and future council,

it's right for now. It might not have been ready 10 or 15 years ago, but we should happen right now. When you see a film and it's so polished, you can expect them to have answers or to expect them to be the guide. We're all looking for answers. We're all looking for someone to come save us. We're all looking for someone to tell us what the solution is. And then you meet them and you're like, oh, they're just kids. But then at the same time, there's also this amazing clarity and ability to cut through the issues. and an incredible sophistication

and I was not speaking like that at the age of 12 or 14. No, no ways. No, and I certainly didn't know that much. I didn't have those statistics in my head. That absolutely blew me away. This generation of kids, they have so much information. They're definitely teenagers. I remember the joking and the silliness

and the kind of ribbing each other. and all of that, and that's everything that I remember from being a teenager. But I don't remember having to grasp of these issues in that way. And there is a simplicity to it that is clarifying. What I love most about this entire concept is that instead of waiting for a seat at the table, this is showing kids how they can build their own. And they don't even have to sit at a table. They can sit on the floor or a bench.

And, you know, I really think we are in this. interesting time of people who are tired of waiting for that seat at the proverbial table. And so are walking away and taking matters into their own hands. And I love that by calling it a council, it mirrors a real political structure, but replaces all the adult cynicism with this incredible combination of imagination and urgency. Damon, how has making this film and filming with the kids and their families and seeing their reaction to it? How has this changed your view of the world? Massively, I think it's deepened my perspective, to be honest.

It's just such a joy hanging out, as you can see, with these two. and this is just two of the eight. And as you know, this stuff can get pretty dire and bleak sometimes, and I think we can lose the joy and the playfulness, and they keep reminding me to stay childlike and open during this time. And that's why I think I enjoy hanging out with them so much. But I think 2040, which I made before, was very focused on the tech and the governance

that we needed to get to this better place. But the children have really cracked me open and showed me the deeper shifts that we need. This is about values. This is about love. and if we don't love nature again we're not going to protect her and so we need to

embrace the word love in our boardrooms and in our governments again it's been poo-poed for so long but if we don't love something then we can't care for it and fight for it that's what the children have taught me is they've cut through the rhetoric and the graphs and the data and all that kind of

jingo that's come up around this stuff and they've just cut straight to the core which is their superpower okay you guys have seen this film lots of times and you've also seen people's reaction to the film lots of times. Do you think it's for kids or do you think it's for adults? I think it's for both.

But I think it's important for kids to see it as well because a lot of the time we're being told by adults what to do and it's a bit naff. But then, you know, it's nice for a kid to hear from a kid and see their experience of it. We've seen both audiences. We've seen audiences purely of school children, purely adults and a mix of both.

I mean, they respond to maybe slightly different bits. I actually really like the behind the scenes bit right at the end because it does just show us all sort of having fun we did very quickly become this big travelling family circus we had so much fun to get if you could see the clips from behind the scenes it wouldn't have a PG rating would it? No

we didn't get the family really quickly we sort of had to when you're travelling around with eight young people their parents and around Europe in a coach with various camera fans and stuff, you do have to very quickly bond. I mean, Sky came to my house yesterday, we're all really close. What do you think the biggest change in yourself is

between before you made this movie and after you made this movie? I've learned quite a lot from the whole experience, and I feel like I've changed maybe like the way I go into things, if that makes sense. I think all of us have grown. I also think living with people in such a wide range, I mean, we were all very culturally different and different personalities and different interests, etc. We all had the shared passion.

We are a solutions journalism platform. We care about solutions. That's what we like to report on. What solutions do you see out there? Personally, I'm encouraging people just to take small actions because at the end of the day, my whole campaign started from me writing a letter. Obviously, not all small actions end up

in the incredible journey. very lucky to have had. But yeah, anything's more reusable water bottle, eat less meat, litter pick, tell your friends and family, all of those kind of simple stuff, but actually if lots of people do them, it really does make a big,

big difference. I like what Sky's been saying. The whole film's kind of centred around little things do make a difference and it's easy to forget that, but it is an important thing. Okay, it is 2040 and we decide to do this podcast

again, except we can probably teleport each other into the same room. In 10 to 15 years' time, what will you both be doing? I'd be married. You'd be married at 27? Maybe, you never know. I've got my whole life. I'm going to get engaged between 28 and 30, then have kids at 33. Jeez.

That was the details guy. In a cup of arms. I have a very, very different plan to see him. different. I'm a big sailor. My main aspiration, big dream. I want to skip a Greenpeace's rainbow warrior. Equally, I see myself just sailing around solo away from people. I think I'm more going to do practical stuff. Active conservation work actually making a difference practically. There are people suited to being in boardrooms and making change like that. I don't see myself locked in a building. I don't think anyone who knows me can see me locked in

the building um for me i would i don't know i don't i don't really know i've got the times i want to do things planned i haven't really thought about this i already know the names i wouldn't give my kids but i don't know i don't know what i'm going to be doing at 27 hopefully have a campaign going like sky what does the world look like that you're looking around you on your boat or in your camper van what's changed in the world when you're 35 i can either see it been some dystopian in Hunger Games type thing or kind of positive. It's one or the other. I'd hope by that time people have actually realised what's going on, not thought that it's an invisible thing and actually tried to help. But I really doubt that's going to happen.

Hope, Susie. Let's have hope. I was about to say, I really hope it's going to happen. Okay. Wait. I was, well, I really hope it's going to happen. But with how it's going just now, unless we get some good people in power. Like Sky said, it's either going to be 100 Games part two in the real world. it's going to be a lovely, peaceful place with loads of trees. All right, well, I really hope that it's the second option. Me too. Desperately, yeah.

And just on that, there's a question we ask everybody who comes to this podcast. When I say the word hope, what does that mean to both of you? It can be for smaller, big-scale things. It's something that you'd look forward to and want for the world and for yourself. No, and like, that's kind of really selfish. I don't mean, like, I hope I get to pull me. No, not like, I don't want a pony, but I'm just saying, you know, I mean, like, Camper van. But I hope it's a nice thing that you should wish or make people or yourself happier.

It's like positivity. Quite often after these screenings or after a talk, people are like, oh, it made me feel so hopeful. And I think that's what I really like about it, is the positivity. Hope keeps me going because also, I think it keeps lots of activist campaigners, people who care going. because if you didn't have hope for the future, if you weren't positive about the future, why would you be doing what you were doing if you were so convinced it would be turning into dystopia?

It's really important for your mental health to have hope because, I mean, once hope goes, it all goes a bit downhill, really. Well said. You always phrase things much nicer than me. I'm just three years older than you. Yeah, you also read like 80 books a year. It makes it seem like I don't care as much, but I really do care.

She's just 15. You two are an amazing team, and I think you are both absolutely brilliant. I don't think there's a daylight between you. Okay, Future Council, the best thing about it is that it keeps on going. It hasn't stopped, right? It's now a global movement, and kids and young people get to partner with businesses to come up with ways to make them more sustainable. Can we ask you how that's going?

Yeah, I mean, as you saw in the film, the children halfway through, said, look, we don't want this to be just the aid of us. We want to invite other children around the world, because we know they're in classrooms or being taught in schools or at home that are passionate about nature, but there's nowhere to express themselves. The idea of the real future council, I guess it's an ecosystem that enables and inspires this generation

to start to co-design a more regenerative and distributed system that does value nature far more than the current one and does benefit far more people financially than the current one does. As you've alluded to, the potency is just having children in the room. They bring a morality that we do. splitly need. We don't necessarily have to get them to understand all the complexities, but they just bring something really refreshing that we've neglected. I think so many companies are acting psychopathically really in their decisions and there's no care for the future or

for nature. So children just by being there make them think a little differently. So that's one aspect. But we're trialing with a few different companies at the moment and different community groups and governments just to see what it would look like. There's everything from advisory role that the children play to actually designing and making products with one organization at the moment and then any revenue that the children make goes back into a nature repair fund that they get to vote on so they get to allocate that to nature regeneration projects around the world so sometimes like today we're doing a school screening we'll probably get 40 or 50 children that will join the council afterwards so you know in a year from now we could have

five or 10,000 kids in there that then we can really start making some meaningful change and there's an online platform where they can all connect with each other and share ideas and hear from experts and change makers and it's an emerging beast but it's already up and running and we're getting some really wonderful interest and support to scale it and we've done that in Australia and now we're in Europe and so that's opening all sorts of other doors now as well so it's both exhausting and exciting at the same time one thing I love Damon is if you just have the information and nothing to do with it then that's going to create a lot of anxiety but I feel like what you're doing is you're giving them a direction

and an avenue to really make a change. Do you guys feel like you can change the world now? Not on our own. I'm not saying that kids can't make a difference. Kids can make a lot of difference. But again, like we said, we need adults. We can't change the world on our own. And we don't want you to feel that.

That's the really careful thing. Oh, no. No, we feel pressure. We're not saying adults can't do anything. We're saying, sense for the future generation, it'd be good if we got into it, but adults also need to listen. I think after some of the screenings,

some people have said, In a very well-meaning way, oh, you're going to save the world. At first, it's like, oh, thanks. But then it's kind of like, hang on, no. Eight kids in a yellow school bus and Damon aren't going to trade the world. I'm sorry. It's not going to happen. There's a great quote from this Arctic explorer named Robert Swan,

and he says that the greatest threat to the planet is the belief that someone else will save it. And I reckon that's so spot on. Don't just relax now and expect the future council to do it. It's like everyone has to step up. That means donating to the council. That means doing a screening at your work. Whatever it takes, don't leave it just to the children.

That's not going to cut it. We had a question the other day, and it was like, so how are you going to change the economical settings of the boardrooms of governments? Now, we're not going to do that because we're 12. David gave me the mic. And there was like some waffle about working. I mean like a waffle, but I don't think it was exactly the answer. But it's like eight kids and Yel Zambos and Damon aren't going to kick open the door of a government

building to say we're going to change you and then oh that sounds really weird but also don't underestimate what you guys as a collective already done in terms of that ripple effect and this is how change happens it might be the aid of you but the thing that gives me the hope after these screenings is watching these guys get mobbed by kids I'm not kidding like more like autographs on tickets on shirts everything and these are role models and that to me gives me the most hope that the children are looking up to these young people That's when we can start to think about the possibilities that might happen in 10 or 15 years. So don't undervalue your potent selves.

This was a massive teachable moment for me. As a parent and as an adult, we tell our kids that they will change the world and we feel like we're empowering them. But really, what we are sometimes doing is over. overwhelming them. Oh yeah. Because the world that they're inheriting is so different to the world that we inherited. And when I said that offhand to them, you could see in them that they felt like it was this handing

over the problem and saying, you've got this, right? And then hearing how Damon responded to that moment really showed me that there is another way that we need to be communicating with our kids. They need us to be partners. Yeah. They really need us to be listening to them and then doing something about it. We really need to be looking at these kids and these teenagers to show us how to show up for them.

Yeah. This comes back to so many lessons that we have learnt not just in this episode, but over the course of this season, which is that none of this gets done alone. It's always a collaboration. There are no heroes who exist outside their community. or networks, and that every single time you see something solved or something restored, it's always a group of people supporting each other working together rather than some hero who stands heads and shoulders above the rest. There is no one person who saves the world.

We save the world. Yeah, this season has felt really different. We've been able to go deeper. We have now banked so many of these. It's like a little recent. project. We started this podcast back in 2003 because we wanted to find out what are the things that make somebody step up and decide that they're going to change the world. And over each season we've peeled back those layers and this season we really started to get to something very cellular. I love that idea of getting down to the

cellular level of what makes people like this tick. For me there has been such a strong three-line in the season and it kicked off right from the very first episode with our conversation with Boyan Slat, which is this quiet certainty that the people who are changing the world have and a quiet kind of knowingness of, okay, look, everyone else is going to sit there and complain about it, but we're just going to do it. And we don't need really people's encouragement. We'd appreciate a bit of money, but this is going to happen regardless of what the rest of the world thinks. that was something that came through

not just in our conversations with individual people but also especially in the compilation episodes this season where you were in New York interviewing all these different people for the people on the front lines this is not the first crisis they're just used to dealing with crisis and yet they're still out there doing that work and that makes me want to find more of those kinds of people

and not just to interview them but I want to have more of those kinds of people in my life. Yeah, I love that. It really does feel like four seasons in, we're just getting started. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who's listened in this season. We hope you've enjoyed the journey. We certainly have. If you haven't got a chance, please go check out our malaria vaccine documentary,

the three episodes of a shot at history. We worked our little butts off making that thing. We are very, very proud of it. We hope that you tune in to Season 5 of Hope is a Verve, which will be dropping sometime in early 2006. I can assure you that that guest list is very much underway. But before you leave us today, don't forget to check out the Future Council Global website

and share it with any kids in your life. Yep, the links are in our episode notes. There's lots of different ways to support this movement through funding or hosting a screening and there's also lots of resources for teachers and parents. We are going to be keeping tabs on this project. We'd like to thank our paying subscribers for making projects like this podcast possible.

If you're interested in finding out more about our work, check out fixthenews.com. There are a lot of podcasts out there. It means a lot to us that you chose this one. This podcast is recorded in Australia on the lands of the Garagal and the Wurundry and Wayorong people. If you enjoyed this conversation

and would like to support Hope as a verb, make sure you subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for listening.