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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday April 4, 2008 - 7 Oakville youth fighting climate change on the world stage By Paloma Migone SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Megan McKeen was surrounded with a massive list of environmental problems at an international climate change conference in London, England last week. The display of the Earth's state and the urgency for change, stirred her emotions. It was a depressing morning. Her sadness however, quickly changed to determination and she began speaking for Canadian youths and working towards a positive solution for climate change. At the conference, along with 38 students from 13 different countries, the 16-yearold Abbey Park student embarked on her mission-- the Kobe Challenge -- a climate change message that will be presented in May to G8 environmental ministers in Kobe, Japan. Every country involved in the challenge had to write three climate concerns on posters and later hang them on the walls. "It's just going around the room and looking at pages of problems that all these countries have to face and you just realize what we've done to our planet," said McKeen, who was one of three Canadians named International Climate Champion by the British Council for the challenge. "It's because it's all right there in front of you, this massive list of horrible consequences and you look at it and go `yeah something has to be done.' Our generation is going to come together to make a difference." And McKeen is taking part in that difference. The Grade 11 student began locally as president of her school's environmental council and has been involved in several initiatives, including a project that plants 250 trees in Oakville every year. Now, McKeen goes international. After a seven-hour, red-eye flight and much anticipation, McKeen arrived at London for a six-day-long conference on March 24. Once the conference began, she was warned several times that she would be tired all week and in her own words, they were "bang on." McKeen was excited to meet the other 38 students participating in the project from "countries you only dream of travelling to." After a day of introduction and mingling, she began to work. The Climate Champion met Futerra, a communication agency dedicated to "corporate responsibility and sustainability," which helped the participants put together the Kobe Challenge. After writing down their concerns about climate change, McKeen was asked to take an opposite view by envisioning a positive 2020. "We talked about having a carbon credit card. If you go shopping and you bring your own bags, you'd get positive points on your carbon credit card. Whereas say, next time you go and forget and you have to use the plastic ones, you lose the points on your credit card." The next step was to connect the gap between the negative present to a positive future by devising a solution. Three groups of 13 students wrote a statement, creating three choices. The statements are posted on the British Council website, where students from ages 12-18 can vote ALLAN STANLEY / BRITISH COUNCIL CLIMATE CHAMPIONS: From left to right, Caroline Jo, Montreal; Hilary Benn, UK Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Meagan McKeen Oakville, Katie Skyvington, Stouffville District Secondary School, Stouffville, Ont.) in front of 10 Downing Street, London. (www.britishcouncil.org/climatechampi- very well represent our generation," said ons)--one will become the Kobe McKeen, who encourages youths to get Challenge. involved and vote online. "This is a prob"I think they are all really strong. If any lem for youth and we're working to get as of them were taken forward, I think it will many youths as we can involve in this." McKeen's highlight of the week was meeting the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural affairs, MP Hilary Benn. As one of the few who addressed him, McKeen asked Benn if he could give the participants' Kobe Challenge to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, with the hope that he would present it to G8 leaders in Hokkaido, Japan in July. Benn agreed and also volunteered to join the Climate Champions in Kobe. "It's a great feeling. It's almost a very tangible success because we actually handed it over. We took what we believed and we handed it over to people in powerful positions that can do something about it." Within her hard-working schedule, McKeen had time to have fun. Oakville's International Climate Champion was on CTV's Canada AM talking about her London experience and Kobe Challenge. McKeen also visited tourist's attractions such as Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral and 10 Downing St. (British Prime Minister's home). 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