Youth Climate Leaders

Sally Lin co-leads the development, launch and improvement of Iron & Earth’s Climate Career Portal to provide Canadian fossil fuel workers with an increasingly comprehensive pathway to a career in the net-zero economy.

Christie McLeod

As a lawyer, 32-year-old Christie McLeod believes her profession has an ethical obligation to advise clients to advance climate justice.

Lily Barraclough

This 24-year-old Dalhousie student used her master’s thesis to explore the emotional responses of politically active youth across Mi’kma’ki (Atlantic provinces, Gaspé Peninsula and the northeastern region of Maine) to the climate crisis.

Jennifer Smith

She helped found Pour nos enfants / For Our Kids Montréal, and now a core group of 30 moms and two dads remind decision-makers that a future for families is worth saving.

Ana Giovanetti

For Ana Giovanetti, safety for chimpanzees is symbiotic with security for people.

Luke Wallace

Luke Wallace is an entertainer with a mission. This 29-year-old singer, songwriter and filmmaker wants to see other young climate leaders shine.

Warsha Mushtaq

Eighteen-year-old Warsha Mushtaq is Saskatchewan’s youth poet laureate and a passionate climate justice advocate.

Abigail Hunter

Abigail Hunter helps the Biden administration understand the advantages of doing business with the province of Quebec.

WeiChun Kua

"It is our future. It is not enough for you to have a token youth in your decision-making circle. Foreground our voices and show you are listening," says SFU grad WeiChun Kua.

Madyson Adams

By helping Surrey, B.C.'s 600,000 residents co-exist with salmon, she is restoring and building resilience in ecosystems across the second-most populous municipality in the province.

Chris White

Chris White’s PhD thesis aims to help us reduce and reuse electric vehicle batteries.

Katharine Zywert

Katharine Zywert’s just-completed PhD thesis shines a light on transformative approaches to health care that improve both human and planetary well-being.

Will Sheldon

Will Sheldon works with Vancouver-based not-for-profit Taking Root helping smallholder coffee, cacao and cattle farmers in the tropics improve their lives while saving the planet.

Makadunyiswe Ngulube

Makadunyiswe Ngulube is studying how natural plants can soften the devastating effects of sea level rise.

Gurleen Aujla

Gurleen Aujla, as one of the leaders with SFU350, helped draw the attention of Simon Fraser University's board of governors to the substandard working conditions of its contracted janitors and cooks.

Francine Pauvif

Francine Pauvif is protecting animals by bringing young voices to decision-making about biodiversity.

Zain Haq

On Feb. 15, the 21-year-old history student at Simon Fraser University is to be sentenced for his alleged obstruction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.

Andrés Jiménez Monge

Andrés Jiménez Monge amplifies the voices of birds to elevate hope. As urban program co-ordinator for Birds Canada, he hosts podcasts profiling bird lovers and runs online courses empowering city dwellers to love the birds around them.

Rosie Simms

As research lead and project manager at the University of Victoria’s POLIS Water Sustainability Project, Rosie Simms helps decision-makers centre water in planning and building healthy communities.

Abby Herd

On Nov. 1, Abby Herd helped lead a group of Simon Fraser University students over the finish line as they won an eight-year campaign to persuade the administration to divest from fossil fuels by 2025.

Lisa Chen

Meet Lisa Chen, who wanted to use her biology degree to fight climate change but had trouble finding a relevant job.

Sam Levac-Levey

This 29-year-old Montrealer has invented a board game called Solutions so adults and kids can have fun while they use science to learn how to do their part to save the planet.

Alison Gu

Alison Gu knows politicians must make decisions now to save humanity. So at 24 years old, she became one.

Sabrina Guzman Skotnitsky

As part of a series highlighting the work of young people in addressing the climate crisis, writer Patricia Lane interviews Sabrina Guzman Skotnitsky, who has realized the power of art and stories in easing climate angst.

Dani Miller

As the co-ordinator of the Common Ground project for Community Forests International, Dani Miller uses knowledge-sharing and storytelling to support the 80,000 family landowners in the Wabanaki forest in climate-smart forest management to protect their land for generations.

Meet our Youth Climate Leaders