By CAGIS
CAGIS Teen Ambassador, Clara Brown, enjoys many STEM fields, especially when it comes to coding, but it is her commitment to climate action and environmental conservation that most recently gained her national recognition. The Starfish, a Canadian charity that amplifies and empowers youth voices in the environmental movement, announced their 2022 Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25 and Clara is one of them.
Clara is a member of a number of local, national, and global environmental organizations through which she advocates for a cleaner, brighter environmental future. Clara is a Youth Council member with Ontario Nature, and has also served as a Youth Panelist and Accelerator Program Selection Committee Member with Global Youth Mobilization, a collaborative initiative of the UN Foundation, World Health Organization, and other global youth organizations. She also became a Youth Ambassador with Plan International Canada’s Speakers Bureau and a Youth Delegate and Climate Change Working Group member at a global sustainability conference.
One of Clara’s biggest highlights from the past year was being invited to co-author a Global Youth Statement for COP27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that was held in November 2022.
But it doesn’t end there. Having completed UNICEF’s Youth Advocacy Program, Clara also co-authored their Climate Change working group policy statement, and was asked to interview Mary May Simon, the Governor General of Canada about her views on youth advocacy and climate change while attending the 2022 Youth Activism Summit.
We are also honoured to have Clara as an active and integral member of the CAGIS Teen Ambassador program. Clara joined CAGIS in 2020 because she wanted to get involved with an organization that encouraged youth engagement in STEM, a field in which girls, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people are underrepresented. As a CAGIS Teen Ambassador, Clara enjoys being exposed to a variety of STEM fields. She also loves working with her peers to plan upcoming STEM socials and events.
“It’s rewarding to see the team come together and put so much effort into planning and presenting an event, as well as the positive reactions shown by the participants who attend!”
So what would Clara like to see us all do to put less strain on the environment? Well, she suggests starting with simple day to day changes.
“Some steps I have personally taken to become more environmentally friendly include avoiding the use of single-use plastics whenever possible, carrying a reusable water bottle, and creating art from recycled materials.”
To find out more about the Starfish’s Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25, visit their website at www.TheStarfish.ca/Top-25-Environmentalists-Under-25
