Three young climate leaders from Surrey have been selected for a new national fellowship recognizing youth driving environmental change across Canada.<\/p>\n
Isabella Wen, Shrey Rao and Armaan Thandhi are among 75 recipients chosen from across the country for Starfish Canada\u2019s inaugural Climate75 fellowship program.<\/p>\n
The fellowship runs from February to August and includes training, national recognition and a five-day summit in Squamish.<\/p>\n
Fellows will have the chance to connect with other youth climate leaders and learn from environmental initiatives across the country, including Indigenous-led climate action.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s beautiful to see people be joined by this deep care for the world whether it\u2019s climate action or any other kind of social impact work,\u201d Wen said.<\/p>\n
Isabella Wen<\/p>\n
Wen, a Grade 12 student at R.E. Mountain Secondary in Langley, who lives near the Surrey border, began her climate advocacy through public speaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think public speaking gives you the power to challenge dominant narratives and take back space for people who might not have that voice in the first place,\u201d she shared.<\/p>\n
This passion led Wen to create a public speaking series called \u2018Loudly Together\u2019 in hopes to uplift others to start speaking up.<\/p>\n
This series started locally but has now expanded globally, with Wen teaching girls in Afghanistan and Ghana.<\/p>\n
Her passion for public speaking sparked her interest in journalism which led her to do a journalism series as a research assistant with a professor at the University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n
It was the climate stories through this series that further sparked her curiosity and inspired her to want to learn more about this topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to interview water defenders, farmers, and different kinds of people who are doing climate work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wen said she is especially looking forward to building relationships with the other fellows and strengthening collaboration among youth climate advocates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always believed there\u2019s too much \u2018I\u2019 in the world and not enough we. That\u2019s something that I want to change,\u201d Wen said<\/p>\n
Despite all of her achievements; Wen shared with Peace Arch News that she was surprised to learn she got into the program and explained that she is just at the cusp for the eligible age requirement but will be 18 before the summit.<\/p>\n
Armaan Thandhi<\/p>\n
Thandhi, a fourth-year Simon Fraser University student pursuing a business administration degree with a sustainability joint major, said his interest in climate work developed after witnessing B.C.\u2019s 2023 wildfire season.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few years towards the end of high school, I was kind of aimless and I didn\u2019t really feel as though I had a strong sense of purpose in life,\u201d Thandhi shared with Peace Arch News. \u201cSo surprisingly, the thing that kind of was my light bulb moment was when the wildfires happened here in B.C. in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the experience was what motivated him to pursue work focused on addressing climate change and protecting future generations.<\/p>\n
Thandhi\u2019s recent role as a junior policy analyst with B.C.\u2019s Ministry of Forests also exposed him to Indigenous-led environmental work, including interviews with representatives from Indigenous communities about forestry and sustainability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was an eye-opening experience,\u201d Thandhi shared.<\/p>\n
Thandhi also is passionate about the intersection between mental health and climate change.<\/p>\n
He carried this passion with him when he had the opportunity to help co-design a climate anxiety peer support intervention for youth.<\/p>\n
This was made possible by Stanford\u2019s Psychiatry Circle Initiative with a program called \u2018Y-Care\u2019.<\/p>\n
Thandhi shared he hopes the fellowship will help him better communicate climate issues and encourage a broader participation from others in the world and community.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need to have an environmental studies degree or be a scientist to be interested in addressing the issue of climate change,\u201d he explained. \u201cThis really should be an uplifting and inclusive moment where we all seek a better vision of our future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shreya Rao<\/p>\n
Rao, an environment, resources and sustainability student at the University of Waterloo, is the founder of \u2018Planted Youth Opportunities\u2019, and organization that connects young people with internships, scholarships, volunteer opportunities and more.<\/p>\n
She shared that her passion for climate advocacy was in a way shaped by watching Surrey\u2019s rapid urban development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I wanted to tie myself to a greater cause and bigger purpose,\u201d Rao said. \u201cGrowing up in such a beautiful environment in Surrey and seeing the way that my neighbourhood changed, I think that was what really drew me into this whole space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rao is very familiar with Starfish Canada and mentioned this wasn\u2019t her first year applying.<\/p>\n
She explained that prior to Starfish Canada\u2019s Climate75 there was another program called the \u2018Top 25 under 25 environmentalist program\u2019.<\/p>\n
This previous program used to invite 25 selected environmentalists as well as 50 other participants to a retreat to connect with the cohort of 25 as well as the other 50 individuals.<\/p>\n
In the spirit of becoming more inclusive to all the 75 participants, Starfish Canada rebranded the program to Climate75 this year.<\/p>\n
Rao has applied a few times in the past but this is the first time she has been accepted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts very important for me to highlight that I had applied previously,\u201d admitted Rao. \u201cEven if something doesn\u2019t work out once, you should always continually apply and continue to build that relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued her message by sharing that rejection is not something that is meant to keep someone out of a space. \u201cIt\u2019ll come to you when it\u2019s ready for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rao added that she hopes to help make climate action more accessible and integrated into everyone\u2019s everyday life.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we position it so it\u2019s not a chore? Rather it\u2019s something that is embedded in our daily practice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Building a new network<\/p>\n
All three Surrey recipients said they are looking forward to learning from other fellows and strengthening their work through collaboration.<\/p>\n
As the Climate75 fellowship begins its inaugural year, Wen, Thandhi and Rao will join dozens of young leaders across Canada working towards a shared goal of building a more sustainable future.<\/p>\n
More information about the Climate75 fellowship, including a full list<\/a> of recipients, is available on Starfish Canada\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three young climate leaders from Surrey have been selected for a new national fellowship recognizing youth driving environmental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-481313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}