 Good afternoon. Howard Wigg, Think Tech, Hawaii, Code Green, welcome one and all. Do we have a special lineup of guests for you this afternoon? Audrey Lynn, Sophie Pager, Lisa, Kukarek, and Chisato Tawui. All from different places in the globe. They all are Iolani students, and they are all participants of the Climate Future Forum and Citizens Climate Lobby Club. And they are going to do a presentation for us and just hang on to your seatbelts. And without further ado, let's just get going with these remarkable students who are taking on the climate challenge at the ripe old age of 17 or whatever they are. And they've got about 60, 70 more years on this planet, and they're going to make it better. So take it away, students. Hello, hi, everyone. Thank you so much, Howard, for the introduction. And thank you to Think Tank for having us on the show. We're so excited to share our stories about youth climate activism and about our own individual calls to action. So Mahalo for having us. So we just wanted to briefly talk about our mission. And last year, we, a group of Iolani students based in Honolulu, Hawaii, founded the Climate Future Forum, which is a collective that serves as a bridge between the youth and the legislative system. So if we can flip to the next slide, our mission is empowering young voices in climate policy. And we hope that our attention results in accountability, especially in the state legislature. This year, we actually expanded our platform into four task forces, ranging from just transition to food policy, which are which are each headed by youth policy leaders who are aided by expert mentors and actual legislators in the state of Hawaii. So one main ideal that we hold really, really dear to the Climate Future Forum is the idea of the climate story. And Howard, in one sense, a climate story is the event or defining moment that drew each of us individuals to the climate movement. But on the other hand, climate stories also reveal the similarities between us individuals that ultimately tie the collective together. And we truly believe that climate activism is an intergenerational and interdisciplinary movement. And we are also grateful to have the platform space and time to join the wave of youth activists demanding for meaningful action. So without further ado, I want to introduce myself and my men of my fellow men members. So hello, everyone. My name is Audrey Lynn. I am a founder, policy task force leader and director of the Climate Future Forum Collective. And I also helped found the Hawaii youth team of the citizens climate lobby. So my climate story originates in Northern California, which as you all know is famed for its fair weather and beautiful, beautiful day. But every October for as long as I can remember, I would exit summer only to be drowned in the orange haze of wildfire season. So the picture above depicts the wildfires in Sequoia National Park, the same park where my family and I used to hike and admire the wildlife. And especially stressed by the 2023 Maui fires, the threat of a major increase of natural disasters is very, very real. And I joined the CCL in hopes of joining the wave of activists, especially youth activists who want real change in climate related sectors. And ultimately I'm here today so that we don't destroy opportunities for future generations and simultaneously we do not destroy the work done by our ancestors who truly cared for the land. And ultimately, I hope that generations to come can forever find beauty in their homes and homes away from homes just as I have. So that's a lot about me. And now I'll pass it on to my fellow member Chisato. Hi, my name is Chisato and I'm also Junior Iolani. I'm also one of the founders of the Citizens Climate Lobby Youth Action Team here in Hawaii. And I'm also one of the founders and organizers of the Climate Future Forum. And one thing about being a student at Iolani is that, you know, every day you pass by the All Hawaii Canal and route to school. And, you know, researchers at the UH found that rising temperatures due to climate change are quickly turning this canal into a perfect incubator for all kinds of really harmful bacteria, blooms such as the variable nymphocytes, which is this flesh eating bacteria. And so by the turn of the century, they predict that, you know, these bacterial blooms will have nearly tripled. And, you know, this All Hawaii Canal, it's a training ground for students in the kayaking team, students in the paddling team. And it's a passage that students in the cross-country team at Iolani pass by on their outruns. And so losing, you know, this space would mean, you know, increasing the disconnect between our generation and future generations, like Audrey mentioned earlier. And, you know, right now what we're trying to do is by taking, you know, climate action, we're going to reduce this disconnect and make sure that the Hawaii that we know today is going to be the Hawaii that future generations will be familiar with. But yeah, I'll pass it on to Sophie. Hi, I'm Sophie. I'm a policy director for the Climate Future Forum and one of the leaders of the citizen climate lobby youth action team at Iolani. And I'm also a senior at Iolani School. But before I lived in Hawaii, I lived in Michigan. I moved from Michigan to Hawaii three years ago. And this summer I was visiting Michigan again. And the smoke from the wildfires in Canada had came down to where I live. You can see in this photo the air quality was terrible. Even though I've never personally had breathing problems before, but my throat felt like it was closing up every time I went outside. I had an awful cough. I felt like I couldn't breathe the whole time. And thankfully, the bad air only lasted for a few days, but it just serves as a reminder for me for how climate change continues to worsen. And it's really scary to think about, but I truly believe that the antidote to fear is action, which is why I'm a CTL member is I do the things I do is I want to combat the hopelessness that people feel by promoting positivity, promoting effective and realistic solutions to the climate crisis. Yeah, and I'll pass it up to Lisa. Hello, everyone. My name is Lisa, and I'm currently a junior at Iolani High School. I'm one of the leaders of Citizens Climate Lobby Youth Action Team at Iolani and also Youth Policy Leader for Climate Future Forum this year. But before this, I used to study and live in Ukraine my whole life. And currently, I'm a boarding student at Iolani School. And this is just my second year here. And when I was still in Ukraine Climate Action, take a big part of my life. When I was still there, I was involved in a ecology club in my school where reinstalled the recycling bins around the school building. And also, I participated in the largest world lesson challenge as a tutor for Ukrainian kids. And I was educating them on the goals of sustainable development and climate action. And when coming here, I open for myself this different perspective on sustainability, as it is a completely different environment. In Ukraine, especially during the war period, the yoga systems are being really affected. And the general condition of the area sustainability is getting worse, as you can see on the photos on the slide. And even while living here so far away from my homeland, from my family, my friends, the knowledge and awareness of climate action issues around the world motivates and inspires me to join local communities like Citizen Climate Lobby in my school, and join the climate action effort with other youth around me. So I joined CCL Club because I really want to be helpful to this world, regardless the place I live in, as we are united around the world with the same goal of reaching the sustainable development. And it is really important for me and my fellow youth members of the Citizen Climate Lobby at Yolani School. So now I just want to talk about some actions, how we took our actions at Yolani. And so what brought us all together was the Citizen's Climate Lobby. We're all members of the Hawaii State Youth Action Team here. And what that basically means is that under CCL, we lobby for the climate policies under CCL's agenda, mainly carbon cashback, which Sarah Barrow, who has been on your show before, she's talked extensively about it and she explained it well. But essentially, it's a carbon tax that recycles its revenue and dividends back to people. And so that's mainly the policy that we lobby legislators and members of Congress about on both the state and national level. We also wanted to present about some ideas that we were able to discuss with Representative Ed Case last year and also talk about these same ideas during the diocese meeting that we organized last year as well. We really appreciate a representative case for joining us at Yolani Campus. And we're really grateful for the diocese community as well for hosting us and giving us this opportunity to share our perspective and give other youth from our island an opportunity to join us. In both cases, we were able to share our club initiatives and we were able to talk about the importance of youth involvement in advocacy and climate action. Specifically during the meeting with Representative Case, we expressed our concerns about climate policy and discussed various ways members of Congress can address them. And at the end of the meeting, Representative Case agreed to participate in our climate future forum, the Chisato going to talk about soon. And that's how we basically managed to build this bridge between lawmakers and youth. We also really believe in harnessing the power of the media, which is why of course we're so grateful to be on this show today. Some of our past actions we've submitted several letters to the editor and off out mostly about the urgency of climate change and the solutions we support, which usually include carbon fee and dividend and also just promoting the accountability in the legislator. We've also had members, there's a forum of Chisato and Audrey on Hawaii Public Radio. They joined the host Savannah and Rep Purusa on a radio show, which was super cool. So yeah, just through harnessing the power of the media and getting word out there, we can help further our agenda of spreading climate positivity and effective solutions to the climate crisis. Another thing that we do is we submit testimony. Personally, we submit testimony. And then we also teach other people, we give presentations on how to submit testimony. We show people how to make accounts on the state legislative website. So on the left is an image of the website where we show people, you know, here you make an account, here they submit testimonies. And then on the right is an example of testimony that we submitted. We usually submit written testimonies usually in support of climate bill so that they'll be more likely to pass. Yeah, so I just want to briefly talk about the Climate Future Forum, which is an event that we held at the Hawaii State Capitol last year. And it had over 80 youth, 25 nonprofits and six legislative offices participating in this event. And it was mostly around the purpose to empower youths in Hawaii to engage more effectively in our democracy and the discussion surrounding climate policy by teaching them about the different drivers and solutions to climate change, teaching them how to track bills and submit testimonies like Sophie mentioned. And again, like Audrey mentioned, you want to expand this event into an ongoing forum this year, both in and outside the legislative session. It's going to be for experts, legislators and youth to continue to update each other on policies and next steps, because you want to maintain the momentum to pass meaningful climate legislation. So right now, CCL or CFF actually has five different policy areas and each policy area has its own set of mentors, legislators and youth leaders. And mostly throughout both in and out of the session, we want to focus on maintaining that momentum, building that momentum and making sure that meaningful climate legislation gets passed when the session actually starts. Yeah, so in terms of future plans, we are so excited to continue just building on our foundational mission to serve as a liaison between the youth, adult experts and legislators. And just going over future plans, we're really excited to continue meeting with legislators to propose carbon cashback policies and further environmental bills that really target the systematic drivers of climate change. We are also working to expand our club network to maximize our outreach, especially to outer islands and on a national basis. So in terms of ways to get involved, Lisa will talk more about this. But ultimately, our mission is to always serve as that liaison and service that bridge. So we're really excited to be a part of this movement and a part of this driving force, moving the collective together. Yeah, so the most important question, how to get involved and join our effort in climate action. Here in a slide, you're able to see two QR codes that it is possible to scan. And then one of them will lead you to the climate future forum website where you can get more information about the event, about how it happened in the future and how it happened in the past. And also you can find information about how to register for participation. And the other QR code is leading to the registration form for citizens climate lobby, Hawaii Youth Team. As Audrey mentioned, we're trying to expand our effort in different, in other different schools and even on different islands. And we're really, really excited to meet more involved youth and we're really happy to share our experience with them as well. Yes, but thank you so much for having us on the show and having given us the chance to share our initiatives and share opportunities with youth and just share the ways how they can get involved. We really, really appreciate the opportunity to share our stories as well and just hear back from you like your perspective on what we're doing. So thank you so much. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, young people. Very, very inspirational. Somebody give me the legislative timeline. When does the legislature start and when does your legislative activity start? Right. So right now the Climate Future Forum is focused on maintaining that connection with legislators both in and out of the session. But we don't have the exact dates right now. We know that it starts in January and ends around April to May. And so on January, on opening day, we plan to have members of the Climate Future Forum go to the Capitol and speak with their legislators and discuss what bills we should be prioritizing. Thank them for and give them our appreciation for the bills that we did see in the last session and discuss how can we maintain this momentum around climate policy and how can we get more support? What legislators should we be speaking to? And yeah. Wow, that's great. Yes, the session does begin mid-January and those of us who are involved in the process actually start work right about now, identify the bills that we are very interested in, prepare testimony, visit the legislators October, November and say, here's our pieces of interest and here's why we're concerned and here's our contact information. So I think you guys are right on the timeline there. And then also, have you gotten involved with the city council at all? Now, they're not as legislative or as environmentally active as the state legislature. So you're right on there. I think, Audrey, you gave your reasons for kind of a deep psychological reason for getting involved. Anybody else want to tell their story about how you became so concerned about the environment and so educated also? It usually stems from a personal experience like Audrey, you mentioned hiking through the sequoias and so forth and that was obviously very inspirational. I can talk from my personal experience. It's a really narrow story and it happened a really long time ago. So I remember making this research for my biology class in Ukraine about the meat production and that was the first time when I kind of considered of refusing eating meat and later on I actually stopped eating meat for it and now it says three-year term that I'm not eating meat because of the ecological reasons and also ethical reasons. And this is how it all started. So it was like a really long time ago and I was in the middle school making this research for my biology class. But later on, as I was just talking to other youth in my city in Ukraine who are involved in different youth activities and different initiatives, I learned that it is actually possible to get involved and that's how I also mentioned earlier how we created this ecology club in my school in Ukraine and we were working on the recycling bins. And when I came here studying at Iolani, I really opened a new reality for myself with so many different opportunities for young people. And like when I learned about the CCL Youth Club in my school, I decided that I will definitely join because it is something that I'm really passionate about and it is something that gives me more voice and gives me more opportunity to make my own impact in the future. So yeah, but again it's really, I think it's really individual and you're right however that everyone has their own story and it's always really interesting to hear how it all starts from something really small and then grew to something bigger. That is a great story. Shisato or Sophie, any stories from you? There's usually some spark that gets us motivated. Yeah, definitely. So this was when I was very young, maybe I think in elementary school and growing up in Michigan, you know, we always have pretty harsh winters, lots of snow, but this is one year I think maybe 2016 but I could be wrong when we had a winter so cold that they canceled schools for a full two weeks, which of course as an elementary schooler I was happy at first, you know, oh I don't have to go to school. But it did have an impact on my education and not only that, it was just so cool to even enjoy the time off school. We couldn't go outside, we couldn't play in the snow, we couldn't do anything outside of our home. So that was like something that I didn't think about much when I was younger, but a few years when I was like two years older, I started taking classes, really weirded that happened. So I did some research and it turned out what caused that super cold period was something called the polar vortex in Michigan, which is like a swirling in Michigan, not in Michigan, sorry, in the Arctic, in the swirling mass of coal there in the Arctic, and when the Arctic got too hot, some of the air escaped and made its way to the Midwest and other parts of North America and Canada, which caused it to be so cold. And I obviously was scared to hear about that, you know, you learn in class about how the Arctic's getting warmer and I was like, oh, so what are people doing about this? And then I did more research and I saw a lot of people denying climate change. That made me even more scared. So I knew that I wanted to do something to share the message, you know, climate change is real. But there are things that we can do about it, which is why I'm here working with CPL. And finally, Chisato, any motivating stories from your side? Yeah, I guess. Well, I kind of discussed, you know, on the Alawai Canal and, you know, how rising temperatures are turning that into an incubator for all types of harmful bacteria. But for me, what really started my journey wasn't really one moment or one story. I think just being a young person right now in this era that's been very much characterized by environmental degradation, that feeling that we need to, you know, do something, that we need to take action, it's pervasive, you know, I think every young person feels the way that they have to do something. And go to any high school today, you'll see tons of clubs and sustainability initiatives all surrounding climate change. You know, if you go to like a club fair or a club day, people will be like, oh, save the earth, you know, join this club. You know, everyone feels that need and that urgency to take action. But I think what at the end of the day, what we want is not that pressure and that focus to be on ourselves, but also to shift that focus away from ourselves and towards the government and towards our legislature and towards people in power and because, you know, as much as we can clean up beaches and recycle and reduce waste and consume sustainably, the bottom line is that for any of that to be meaningful, what we really need is institutional policy changes. We need systemic reform. We need big umbrella policies. And I think, you know, the climate future forum addresses all those things. Yeah. You're absolutely right. Glad you mentioned recycling. I happened to be the one of the founders of the recycling association of Hawaii back in 1986. And at that time, we were recycling about 6% of all the waste. Now we're up around 75%. So these can be done. But you're right. Just cleaning up beaches, activities like that, it's feel good, but the impact is very small. It's policy. It's new laws that make the real, real impact. For instance, I'm involved in the energy code sector. And we, with every three years, we need to build homes and buildings much more energy efficiently. And it saves just literally, literally tens of millions of dollars, not just the environment, but it saves keeps money in Hawaii's pocket also. So that that's the type of thing you'll be engaged in that. And I really like the fact that you're reaching out to other students and training them in the legislative process, because the legislators really, really do respect young people like you. So on that cherry note, we are just about out of time. Any last words of wisdom from you, very, very, very inspirational young people. Oh, and by the way, this program is archived. It'll be archived in about 24 hours. And you will get notice of that. So if you want to use this for future representations, by all means do. And Jay Fidel, who was bugging the heck out of you about your lighting and posture and so forth, he is the the the expert. So he was teaching you some really good stuff also. So any parting words from anybody? Yeah, I just wanted to say like a big mahalo for having us on the show. And we really appreciate having the platform to spread our message and to share our stories and share these opportunities for youth engagement. So really, thank you so much for having us. Well, you've got some you've got another cheerleader right right behind you here. So thank you. Thank you so sorry. Yeah, I really agree with Audrey. We all are really grateful and we really, really appreciate the opportunity that you gave us. And we would be really happy to see new youth and woman in our projects and just see everyone in the Climate Future Forum this year. So yeah, thank you so much. Thank you all. And on that very, very cheerful, hopeful note, you know, what is the alternative to hope? Yeah, so you are leading the the charge in hope, what do you call it hope, positive hopefulness? Yeah. So thank you very much. And with that, I bid everybody fond of you and see you next time.