In Season 3, Episode 20 of Climate Action Figures, host John Whidden welcomes Chris from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) and shares a QuickFix from Shaurya recommending the Outrage and Optimism podcast for hopeful climate conversations. Chris explains CPAWS’s conservation advocacy and public engagement, then details CPAWS Southern Alberta’s Youth Conservation Collective (YCC), a program for 15 to 18-year-olds that supports marginalized youth and others with environmental passion through mentorship, networking, field trips, and youth-led conservation projects tied to CPAWS campaigns (e.g., coal mining impacts on waterways and trout, sustainable forestry and stewardship). YCC is funded primarily by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Chris cites Steve Irwin as an inspiration, encourages writing MLAs/MPs as climate action, and finds hope in building community, especially through YCC.

00:00 Welcome and QuickFix

01:23 Why CPAWS Matters

03:03 Youth Conservation Collective

04:00 Who Can Join

05:09 Mentors and Matching

05:56 Apply and Program Flow

07:18 Projects and Campaigns

09:09 Time Commitment

10:47 Year One Highlights

12:28 Building Conservation Community

13:18 Funding the Program

14:09 Chris Inspirations

15:17 Climate Action and Hope

17:12 Closing Thanks

https://www.youtube.com/c/outrageandoptimism

https://cpaws.org/

https://cpaws-southernalberta.org/education/youth-experiences/youth-conservation-collective/

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Climate Action Figures celebrates passing 2,500 podcast downloads, sharing a listener QuickFix from Linda in Indio, California about switching from plastic reusable bottles to aluminum, and discuss recycling energy savings. They interview grade 12 student Willow McGrath from St. John, New Brunswick, who describes how nature and camp shaped her environmental passion and her work leading Earth Ed Experiential Learning. Willow explains receiving a $3,000 Ocean Wise grant to run environmental education visits in local elementary schools, add green spaces like planters and an outdoor classroom, and create a 10-poster campaign with youth artists across Canada. She recounts representing youth at conferences, including Ottawa’s National Forum for Environmental Learning and the World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, where youth co-wrote the Global Children’s Call to Action. Willow shares concerns about an AI data center proposed on wetlands, AI’s impacts on learning and energy use, her birch-tree magnetic field research, plans to study environmental science, her love of houseplants, and hope from like-minded communities.

00:00 Welcome and Milestone

00:42 QuickFix Aluminum Swap

01:45 Willow’s Nature Roots

02:45 Camp and Earth Ed

04:13 Ocean Wise School Program

07:02 Conferences and Youth Voice

10:04 AI Data Centers Concerns

13:24 Staying Balanced and Research

15:45 Future Career in Conservation

16:44 Plant Mom Climate Action

17:57 Hope and Closing Thanks

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On Climate Action Figures, host John Whidden interviews Paul Jenkinson. Paul explains how young people can connect with the climate movement through YOUNGO, the UN’s children and youth constituency, and describes co-facilitating YOUNGO’s Global Youth Statement—a major youth declaration with multiple versions (including five key demands) built from individual, organizational, and over 100 national youth conference inputs. He recounts presenting key demands to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and compares COPs in Dubai, Baku, and Brazil, calling Brazil the most chaotic logistically but more emotionally engaged politically. Paul also discusses European Young Engineers, his work designing net-zero-ready district heat networks in London, AI’s promise and regulatory risks, responses to renewable intermittency concerns, his reuse habit using jars at home, and hope from global youth collaboration.

00:00 Welcome to the Show

00:27 QuickFix Toy Car Library

01:13 Meet Paul Jenkinson

02:42 Finding Climate Networks

04:24 Joining Youngo via EYE

05:56 Global Youth Statement Explained

07:31 How the Statement Is Built

09:14 Presenting to UN Leaders

10:30 Inside the Brazil COP

12:13 Europe Views the UN

13:31 European Young Engineers

15:39 Paul’s Low Carbon Job

16:21 Heat Networks and AI

18:16 Answering Renewables Critics

20:53 Paul’s Climate Action Tip

21:36 Hope and Closing Thanks

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VPBDApCMj3s5gpbezkMDGMrFfOtBe8CK

https://youngoclimate.org/

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