It was at the beginning of May, during the graduation from the Agro Paris Tech engineering school. Eight students arrive on stage, each with a small paper in hand. They address their comrades and colleagues with a message of rupture. “Agro Paris Tech trains hundreds of students each year to work in industry in various ways (…) Choosing these jobs is harmful by serving the interests of a few“, said one of them.
To listen absolutely: the striking speech of a group of AgroParisTech students during their graduation ceremony.
They refuse to serve the failing agro-industrial system to which their studies predestined them. pic.twitter.com/xCHptKvsc4
— For an ecological awakening (@ReveilEcolo) May 11, 2022
The video quickly made the rounds on social media. These students define themselves as “forks”. In other words, they refuse to participate in a system that they believe destroys nature and biodiversity. It’s a kind of elite revolt, as Julia, one of the eight students in question, explains: “We don’t believe in being able to change things from within. Inside the system, we think that it is rather the system that will change us rather than us that will change it.”
>> They want to be “useful”, “raise awareness” of global warming: what professional orientation choices for green youth?
Despite their diplomas from the top French schools, these students now have other projects. For some, it will be the foundation of a collective farm. For others, it will be to go to the Zad of Notre-Dame-Des-Landes. Their idea is that it is the local scale that can organize society so that it becomes compatible again with planetary limits.
Are agricultural engineers the only ones to revolt? No. However, this is a radical first move. The other actions are more conventional. For example, HEC and the Ecoles Normales Supérieures have published open letters while a collective, called “For an ecological awakening”, was created four years ago to influence schools and businesses. Its manifesto was signed by 30,000 graduates.
The objective is to push for the climate from the inside, explains Rémi Vanel, engineer member of the collective: “We are lucky to be able to choose our company. We have leeway. We will therefore be able to choose a company that is really committed and in which we will be able to change things. What is the company’s strategy? What governance is in place to deal with these subjects?“
“It’s better to boycott certain companies and go to companies that really take these matters into account.”
Rémi Vanel, engineer and member of the collective “For an ecological awakening”at franceinfo
On the one hand, there is a revolt, on the other, an awakening. The common point is the rising commitment of a generation for the climate. These young people do not just sort the waste, explains Théo Rougier, an activist who participates in the organization of the marches for the climate. “There is a generation that is already a little too much in the system. These are people who are now between 40 and 50 years old, who have a loan, three children to feed. They may be very aware of these subjects, it is complicated for them to get out of this system.e, he explains. This is why it is in the generation of 18-24 year olds that the switchover takes place. Awareness is distributed, the move to action is generational.“
Do these students manage to influence companies? The head of HRDs in France, Benoît Serre, assures us that this is now part of the landscape. As engineers are in high demand, companies must be virtuous if they want to attract students from the Grandes Ecoles. “The whole new generation, especially after the pandemic, is quite demanding on these issues. We realize this because they tell us about it when we want to recruit them and when they are recruited. We know that it is part of the elements of attractiveness, what we call the ’employer brand’.”
Schools also say they take movement into account. HEC, for example, recently revised its curriculum to incorporate this new elite climate demand.