- South Africa: Local community member Zoë Prinsloo (17) was recently accepted to attend the first ever UN Youth Climate Summit in New York City on Saturday, September 21.
- The historic event will be a platform for young leaders who are driving climate action to showcase their solutions at the United Nations, and to meaningfully engage with decision-makers on the defining issue of our time.
- It will be the largest gathering of young climate leaders at the UN in history.
Over 7,000 young people between the ages of 18 to 29 applied to attend the Youth Climate Summit. Zoë was one of 500 hundred young people from around the world selected to attend the Summit after demonstrating their commitment to addressing the climate crisis and displaying leadership in advancing solutions.
The Youth Climate Summit will feature a full-day of programming that brings together young activists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and change-makers who are committed to combating climate change at the pace and scale needed to meet the challenge. It will be action oriented, intergenerational, and inclusive, with equal representation of young leaders from all walks of life.
“Youth are showing us the way on climate action,” said Special Envoy for the 2019 Climate Action Summit, Luis Alfonso de Alba. “I am eager for young climate leaders from all over the world to take their rightful place on the global stage and participate in this historic moment.”
Zoë started her eco-journey when she was only 10 years old, doing beach clean-ups with her Girl Guide Company in Bothasig. That is where her love for the environment and the ocean began! She has continued doing regular clean-ups and has run a few big clean-ups over the years with various organisations, schools and companies. She is now in grade 11 at Edgemead High School, President of her schools Interact Club; media liaison for the African Climate Alliance AND owner of her very own eco-friendly business called Save a Fishie, where she is the youngest distributor of eco-friendly products in South Africa!!
“I can’t express how honoured I am to have been selected to attend this monumental event! I may not be the most knowledgeable when it comes to the facts and figures around climate change and I might not know all the technical terms, but I strongly believe that this, together with my passion, helps me relate to the average person on the street. I feel it’s important to lead and educate by example, and I want everyone to know that there IS something they can do to help make a difference!” – Zoë Prinsloo.
Author: GBA News Desk
