21 hours ago
Young People at the Crossroads: Jobs, Climate, and an AI Future
As the UN celebrates and brings attention to the world’s youth with its theme of “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations” for International Youth Day this Wednesday, in this week’s Impact! we seek to understand the many challenges and opportunities that young people today are facing. For many of the nearly 1.3 billion young people who are aged 15 to 24, the future looks more uncertain than ever, as global inequality, AI, and rapidly shifting opportunities to secure work and afford homes present unprecedented challenges for young people in poorer and richer nations alike. We’ll take a special look at the specific challenges facing young people in landlocked, island states and least developed countries, while seeing how these compare with the prospects being faced by many in richer nations. Join us as always to hold intentions and prayers for the topics arising from our discussion.
Intentions and prayers start at 29 minutes 42 seconds.
Suggested Intention Focus for this week
This week, as we reflect on the future for today’s young people, and especially those growing up with unequal opportunity in many parts of the world, we suggest holding as our main intention:
We will that all global leaders, institutions, and faith communities will be moved to go beyond rhetoric to genuine cooperation to help reshape economies, technology, and international law to enable a bright future for the world’s young people.
Please join us in holding this.
Chapter markers:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:43 Youth Day and Global Context
00:04:43 Young Lives in Developing Nations
00:11:34 Youth Challenges in Richer Countries
00:15:21 AI and the Job Ladder
00:23:27 Hope Through Youth Action
00:26:27 Voices of Young People
00:29:42 Intentions and Prayers
Webpage of the UN’s International Day of Youth: https://www.un.org/en/observances/youth-day.
Sources referenced in this episode:
https://social.desa.un.org/sites/default/files/2026-07/ENGLISH-UN-SGM-InternationalYouthDay2026.pdf
https://www.un.org/en/observances/youth-day
https://www.peoplescout.com/insights/global-youth-employment-ai-automation-vanishing-entry-level/
https://www.generationunlimited.org/GenAI-time-to-act
https://www.dallasfed.org/research/economics/2026/0106
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/20/why-ai-may-kill-career-advancement-for-many-young-workers.html
https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2024-06/Policy Brief - Rural Youth Employment - v05_0.pdf
https://www.un.org/ohrlls/sites/www.un.org.ohrlls/files/cost_of_being_landlocked.pdf
https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/draft_youth_10_april.pdf
https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-ICT_MDD-2025-2-PDF-E.pdf
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000387475
https://www.thecommonwealth-ilibrary.org/index.php/comsec/catalog/download/717/717/5413?inline=1
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10441040/
https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/world-population-highlights-2026-youth-1
https://population.un.org/wpp/
https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/chart-how-worlds-youth-population-changing
https://ukycc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Youth-Voice-Report.pdf
https://actionaid.org/opinions/2020/young-people-hold-key-better-future
https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/historier/12-girls
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/01/14/workers-age-new-jobs-baby-boomers/
Join us in person for intention holding:
https://www.legacylabyrinthproject.org/events-1 Labyrinth Activist Network Zoom calls
https://insighttimer.com/cliverj Daily intention holding with Clive on Insight Timer.
Our websites:
www.heartfulimpact.com/ Our show website.
https://globalhealingresponse.com/ Global Healing Response ~ Offers a wealth of prayers, suggested practices and prompts in response to environmental catastrophe, conflict, and other world events.
https://www.legacylabyrinthproject.org/ Legacy Labyrinth Project ~ Creating global energetic connections through the labyrinth; inspiring active intention sending using the labyrinth via labyrinth activism.
https://www.clivejohnsonministry.com/ Clive Johnson Ministry ~ Events and offerings aimed at building beloved community, including weekly energy holding vigils and Power of Eight group.
https://insighttimer.com/cliverj ~ Daily intention holding.
Impact! Is presented by Ellen Bintz and Clive Johnson. It is produced by Impact Productions.
Our show content is hosted by Podbean and available from all major podcast platforms.
Our theme music is by Chris Collins. indiemusicbox.com.
Our logo artwork is by AltoClassic (Getty Images/istock).
Contact us via Facebook Messenger from the Impact! Facebook group, or using any of the contact methods mentioned on our websites.
Impact! www.heartfulimpact.com.
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