Youth Climate Activist Jamie Margolin on Why We’re Caught in a Climate Emergency

Between founding a youth climate coalition, organizing a national climate march, writing a book, and going to high school, 18-year-old Jamie Margolin’s schedule is pretty packed. “What am I doing to address climate change?” asks Margolin. “Girl, what am I not doing to address climate change is the real question.”

Jamie Margolin.

The engaged teenager started working on issues surrounding the climate crisis when she was a freshmen in high school in Seattle. She testified on and lobbied for legislation at the city and state levels, gave speeches, and organized and attended events.

“Then after about a little over a year of doing this, I was growingly frustrated that the work I was doing locally was not enough; people were not taking enough action,” Margolin explains. She took to social media and started an organization called Zero Hour to put together a youth climate march in Washington, D.C., and around the world, which took place on July 21, 2018.

Read the story from Rolling Stone magazine by Reed Dunlea - “Youth Climate Activist Jamie Margolin on Why We’re Caught in a Climate Emergency.”

This California teen studies climate data after school

Some high school students find data analysis boring, but one California teen loves it.

McGregor: “When I get home, I spend my free time creating different graphs and reports on how climate change is affecting southern California.”

Studying climate data after school.

That’s high school student Edgar McGregor. When he first saw graphs of regional climate change, he was struck by the sharp rise in temperatures, especially over the past decade. So he began digging into climate data, looking at …

McGregor: “… which months are changing more than others. Is one month getting drier while another is getting wetter? Just to kind of understand what I can expect when I’m in my 60s, 70s, and 80s.”

Read the Yale Climate Connections story - “This California teen studies climate data after school.”

Australian high school scores international green technology gong

Toby Thorpe, shares the stage with Sheikh
 Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of
Abu Dhabi (left) and Nursultan Nazarbayev,
 President of Kazakhstan.

It's not every day an Australian high school student from Australia gets to share a stage with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed and the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev – and walks away with a $US100,000 ($132,000) prize.

But for 15 year-old Toby Thorpe, this week's award ceremony in Abu Dhabi was merely the end of the beginning for a two-year plan to spur interest in renewable energy and energy savings among students and his local community south-west of Hobart.

​"It's been a long time coming … now we can actually put our plan into action," Mr Thorpe said. "It's quite exciting."

So far, about 20 students have helped design and install a pellet mill, bio digester, a bicycle-powered mobile cinema, and started work on a greenhouse made from 2500 recycled bottles.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Australian high school scores international green technology gong.”