Interview with our chairman. "Something has to happen now."

Left to right: Hannah, Kevin, Jarno & Quinten

Interview done by Tessa Veenstra, media editorial student at landstede

Quinten Kwadijk (21) board chair of DWARS Overijssel, a youth branch of GroenLinks, has been heavily involved in climate protests this year. Quinten took a gap year to focus on his position as chairman. He also attended the climate march on 10 March in The Hague. " We as young people are the future and deserve a clean world, something has to be done now."

There is a lot to do on climate in 2019. There have been debates, protests and important decisions. On 10 March 2019 was the Climate March, a protest by pupils and students. The aim is change in terms of environmental improvement. Thousands of young people took to the streets of The Hague to make it clear that they would like to see the government do more to combat the climate crisis. Quinten also took to the streets. More protests are sure to come if it is up to him; "as chairman of a youth movement of GroenLinks, I think it is important to participate." We as young people need to make our voices heard for the generations to come."

Quinten is satisfied with these actions; as a nature lover, he is happy that something is finally happening in the field of environmental improvement. According to him, the consultations on nitrogen policy, for example, have lasted too long; "In those four years of debates and consultations, much more progress could have been made." Quinten says he fears a lot of dissent from different groups among the Dutch; "because a judge finally gave permission for the agreement, many issues now have to be done quickly and equally." He understands there will be a lot of protests and discontent as a result, such as among farmers who suddenly have to hand in more. The 100km scheme is also good progress, Kwadijk believes, the only problem is that this only offers a temporary solution; "Emissions have to come down, that's not going to happen with just a 100km scheme."

Quinten hopes for fair deals on the climate agreement. An example of this is that if livestock is halved, farmers will get compensations and subsidies to make their farms ecologically sound. Kwadijk's later goal is therefore to reach a municipal council, so that he can apply his ideas here. ''Obviously though at GroenLinks!''