Five area high school students are getting a firsthand look at global efforts to deal with the world’s changing environment.
Poppy Booth and Elora Cianciolo of Oak Park and River Forest High School, Kolagbade “Kola” Kolawole of Thornwood High School in South Holland, Carissa Chen of the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora and Chloe Zhu of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, left Friday for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP29, that began Monday, Nov. 11.
The student delegates are traveling with Seven Generations Ahead, an Oak Park-based environmental nonprofit as part of a youth climate advocacy program called It’s Our Future. Oak Park and River Forest High School Superintendent Greg Johnson and Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman are joining the students on the journey to Baku, Azerbaijan, said Rachel Rosner, a program manager with Seven Generations Ahead.
In Azerbaijan, the Chicagoland contingent will meet with world leaders, activists and representatives of indigenous populations living and working on the front lines of the climate crisis, Rosner said.
For Kolawole, 16, of South Holland, a junior at Thornwood, it’s his first trip overseas, a prospect that’s “very cool, indeed,” he said before embarking.
Last year, his friend and Thornwood schoolmate Avery Smith, who attended COP 28, asked if Kolawole was interested in going this year. Besides the excitement of travel, the climate change conference was interesting to him because “as a young person, the climate and what happens to it affects me the most.”
“There is surprisingly a lot of mental health associated with climate change. As someone interested in the psychology field — enough to pursue that as a career — researching mental health (and its ties to the climate) is very important as well,” he said.
Droughts, hurricanes, famine and flash floods, he said, can all have an effect on mental health.
Kolawole plans to bring what he learns at the summit back to Thornwood and already has some ideas how he can help make a difference at home. He plans to address his School Board about adding solar panels to the high school.
“If I were to attend and not try to get solar panels in my school, that would seem kind of a waste,” he said.
Also making her climate conference debut is Booth, 17, of Oak Park, a senior at OPRF.
“It’s such an honor. I was kind of surprised I got selected and I’m so excited,” Booth said.
She was looking forward to talking to activists and world leaders. “Basically, it’s a huge group of people interested in the climate,” Booth said.
Any students involved with Seven Generations Ahead’s It’s Our Future program could apply for the trip.
“We had to answer questions like ‘Why do you want to go? What would you bring back? How would it help you to be able to go?,’ Booth said.
The climate means much to Booth who wanted to learn more about the topic because she’s “worried for our future.”
“But, there’s definitely hope that we can change things. I think a lot of people are worried for our future. I think that’s good because there’s a lot of energy toward changing things,” Booth said.
Education is the key, she said.
“Climate is important to me because of its effects on people. It’s concerning to me how people will prioritize making money and saving money by using fossil fuels or using polluting technologies and not care that will have direct impacts on people,” Booth said.
“Hurricanes, forest fires, it’s all related to climate change,” Booth said.
The students may make presentations about the climate, she said. “I know last year they did a panel and were asked to participate a day or two before,” Booth said.
Locally, Seven Generations Ahead has partnered with area leaders on various climate-related projects, Rosner said, such as a zero waste strategy task force created in an attempt to address the stubbornly high waste data from Oak Park and River Forest.
Rosner said it’s important for students to attend the conference because “they are going to live with the consequences of the decisions that are made at these conferences.”
Students are encouraged to engage in conversations with people they meet, especially those living with the consequences of the climate crisis right now, Rosner said.
Students presented topics to each other to prepare for the trip. Kolawole, for example, “took it to the next level and spoke of people experiencing PTSD from (forest) fires and hurricanes,” Rosner said.
Now at the conference, which last year was attended by 70,000 in Dubai, they’ll get to take their climate concerns even further.
“They’ll sit and observe the negotiations themselves,” Rosner said. “It’s just an enormous educational opportunity.”
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
