 on a sunny Honolulu afternoon. This is Howard Wigg with Code Green, and I have great news for all of you, all of us who are passionate about Hawai'i's achieving 100% clean energy by 2045. You are not alone. You have some very, very, very capable young people following in your footsteps. We're going to leave this achievement to a very, very capable bunch. We're going to have with us today a change in format. Dr. Debbie Millican is with Punahou School. She's the administrator of sustainability there, and she has with her Logan Liu, Tamara Lum, and Rena. And they are going to take turns discussing the Climate Future Forum. What in the world is a Climate Future Forum? You're about to see, but the main thing is that these young people are already involved in the massive task of cooling down our beloved planet. So why don't you take it away, Dr. Millican, and explain why in the world, how in the world you got these beautiful young people here today, and what their basic mission is, and then turn it over to each of them. Take it away, Dr. Thank you, Howard. It's great to be here. Yeah, I'm Debbie Millican, and I'm with Punahou School as the director of sustainability. And just really excited to share today from these three young people, but just know there's a whole movement of youth behind this. Many of us have seen over the past few years, youth involvement and taking action on climate change, but I will say, Howard, I do come from it a little bit different. I'm not ready or prepared to walk away, leave it to these guys, these young people to clean up our mess. I want to stay involved, and I actually think it's critical that we look at this as an intergenerational solution, and we can come together. I've been lucky enough to be an educator for the last 10 years or so, and before that I was a scientist, which means you're in the lab by yourself, so it's been really nice to work with young people. And just here in them and the perspective that they bring to the table is different from what I often hear from many adults, especially our elected officials. And so this event really came together as a launch to continue and to build and develop the relationships and networking between young people and elected officials. Because let's face it, these young people right here and anyone in the state of Hawaii under 18 doesn't get to vote. So here's their chance to really come to the table and speak. So I thought it would be good for us to start with the, you know, we'll tell you a little bit more about the event itself, the Climate Future Forum, but before that it's kind of important for us to ground ourselves in our stories. And for that, these young people have been thinking a bit about why it's important to act to address climate change now. We're calling those climate stories. We invite youth all over and even adults to think about their climate story, because that's what brings you to this conversation. So with that, if it's okay, I'd like to start with Logan sharing about his climate story, and then we'll hear from Tamara and Reena. When I was young, I would surf with my dad at Waikiki Beach on the weekends, waking up early to ride on our family longboard of its sunrise. I have fond memories of surfing with my dad and watching the sunrise. However, when I visit the beach now, there are stark changes. The effects of heightened sea level and accelerated erosion on the shoreline are easy to see, such as exposed concrete that was previously concealed with sediment and growing compulsive sandbags required to protect other parts of the beach. It almost feels like a different place altogether. What worries me most is that this is not even close to how much the area will deteriorate over time. If climate change continues on its current path, the land will flood and the beach will be destroyed. Our pride and joy sullied by the effect of something with the power to change. I want future generations to have the opportunity to have a childhood like I did. I want to preserve my generation's future. I want to care for the land the way that it cared for me. Thank you, Lona. And now we'll move to Tamara, telling her climate story. Hello. I'm Tamara. And up until the summer of my fifth grade year, although I was aware of climate change, its effects never really felt tangible. Every time we learned about it, it just seemed like another boring school topic that didn't really apply to us, like some melting ice thousands of miles away. But in fifth grade, I did my own research project on coral bleaching and I found myself incredibly intrigued by this issue. Learning about how coral bleaching really helped to show me just how close to home these issues are. Our islands are surrounded by coral reefs and they help make what you the special place that it is. And though I never really adored the beach itself, I really loved marine life. So when I discovered that changing temperatures forced coral to expel their algae and travel the entire ecosystems, I was heartbroken. I finally realized that climate change is more real to me than I could have ever imagined. Not only me, but organisms of all kinds all over the world. Our actions affect the whole planet, including what lives on it. While the effects of climate change may be negative, we still have the chance to work for something positive. And during CCL and our new event that we're planning, the Climate Future Forum was a wonderful opportunity to do just that. Hello Tamara. Nice. And now I invite Reina to share her story. Aloha. My name is Reina. I'm a 11th grader up to now school. Climate change, I would say has been prominent for most, if not my entire life. My dad, in fact, is a published writer of climate fiction. And as a result, I've been very acclimated to that community and to the efforts that people are making within it. I've also been developing a growing interest in science and believe that especially as we work on this issue in politics that is important, we listen to science and we take action on this immediately. Great. Howard, do you have a climate story you want to share with us? I was born and raised right here in Oahu, just a few miles from where I am now. And when we were kids, we had no interest in television. And believe it or not, there was no such thing as video games or even computers. And we would just hop on our bikes in the morning, say, Mom, I'm going to Johnny's house. Okay, be home for dinner. And we would go toodling all over the place, go swimming, play football, just be out all day long. Oh, and our dogs, our dogs came with us. And we just had a grand old time and it was looking back such a healthy way to grow up. Our bodies were developing and we were just moving, moving, moving all the time. And I realized that I had one of the most fortunate childhood experiences that anybody could possibly enjoy. And now I see the whole society changing and climate change coming at us like a giant tsunami. And that is a great passion of mine. I've been involved in the business and what's really gratified. And I think you students will find the same gratification when you work at it. You really, really make a difference, a huge difference. My efforts have saved the state of Hawaii and the nation, literally hundreds of millions of dollars in reduced energy use. Totally, totally satisfied. So I am indeed blessed and thank you for asking, Dr. You're welcome. Yeah, I had a similar experience, Howard, with that childhood of being outside, doing a lot of hiking, spending time at the beach and surfing in the ocean. But I think for me, what I bring is I also grew up in a situation where young people really didn't have a voice. We didn't get to share much and talk about the things and the changes that we were seeing take place. And so when I became an educator, it's really that has stuck with me. And I want to make sure that young people are given permission, given opportunities to speak up like today. So with that, I'd like to turn it again over to the youth because I really want us to talk about this topic of what does it mean for youth to use their voice and advocate for climate action. And when each of you speak, if you could also share why you think it's important that you get this chance to advocate together with adults, as we will see at the Climate Future Forum. So if we could go Tamara, Rain and Logan, and I don't have to jump in between, you guys can just jump in and share things. Yeah, I think there are lots of different ways for youth to take action now. For example, our Eoni Youth Action Team has recently been involved in a lot of lobbying. And we were actually able to meet with our representative, Ed Case, at school just last month, which was a really great opportunity. And everything went smoothly. And for most of us, that was our first time doing anything like that. I had never made a legislator in person before. So that was really, really cool. And so another way that we've been involved, however, is writing op-eds. And we actually wrote one about the Infliction Reduction Act. And it was in the Star Advertiser. So that was a really great opportunity as well. So those two lobbying and op-eds are just two of the many different ways that youth can can and have used their voices for climate action. And it's really important that both young youth and adults come together because climate change is a really huge issue. And it can't just be tackled by one group of people. I think we need everybody to contribute. And so yeah, that's my reason why I think youth should advocate with adults. Yep. To echo Tamara's comments, I definitely believe that youth have something significant to contribute to the conversation. And if we just let this issue be tackled by adults or legislators or people who have some sort of standing in politics, that we really won't be able to make considerable headway. Already, there's been a multitude of successes within the youth world in regards to climate change. And I believe that this youth representation sends an extremely powerful message to the rest of the world that being that not only do we have the willingness to work on these issues, but that future generations will also be affected. And that if we continue to open up these possibilities, there can only be more successes. I totally agree with what both of you said. I think that as the largest stakeholders in this problem, it means a lot to us, especially since it's our future. We're going to be alive when all of these impacts come and they already have. But when they start to come in larger amounts and greater strength, I think it's really important for us to advocate with adults because they know things that we don't mean we know a lot, but we're also just youth. And there's a lot of things that we can learn from them. There's things that they can learn from us. And by meshing together these different things that we can share, we can make the largest impact. There's a lot of wonderful adults that I love working with people like Dr. Milken and Paul Bernstein, the person that we work with from CCL. These people just inspire me and they say that we in turn inspired them. And I think it's a wonderful way for us to grow together as people. Thanks, Logan. And yeah, we are all very inspired. You guys give meaning to this work and why we're doing it. With that, I think it would be really nice for us to have a short discussion about school and education and its purpose, especially when it comes to something like, oh, let's say an existential crisis, climate change. And I thought if we could each sort of share, I know you've heard me a million times, so I'm leaving it share what you think, how can schools, in particular your teachers and others, I know you mentioned a little bit, support you in participating in climate policy and action. You've mentioned writing op-eds, joining now, what can we do in schools to help support that? And I think this order we can start with Raina would be great. Yeah, as someone who's extremely interested in politics, I think education serves an extremely important role in spreading the message that not only can we get involved, but we can actually make considerable headway in all of these directions. As a result, I'm a firm believer in student publications, in youth representation, both in the legislative process and through, like Tamara said, in the state newspaper. In addition, I've also a huge supporter of youth climate coalitions, such as the HICC, and believe that if we continue to sponsor these and connect them with legislators, that we will further support and alleviate this issue of climate change. I totally agree. I think it's a big part of the school is to be able to teach us the necessary skills for us to take action. I have a friend who at our school, we have a sustainability course that all students are required to take, or it's about action. And I have a friend that was so inspired by that, that they start taking large actions in climate in the community. I think that's the perfect example of things that educators in schools can help us with. I think there's also the role of being open to helping us in the ways that we need, for example, taking climate action in the school and being able to make changes that help our future. I think that it's important just to support us in ways that allow us to be open with action. Logan, can you give an example of just what kind of actions you're taking? You and your colleagues? We, for example, the Climate Future Forum planning events like this, we also, as Tamara mentioned, had an article published in the Star Advertiser, reaching out to other people to share information, writing testimony, reaching out to legislators. There's just so many different ways that climate action can occur, not only in legislation, but also as in a general way, such as sharing information and taking small actions that make a big difference. So I think that encouraging us to take action and do these things, teaching us how to do that, is a large part of helping our future. Yeah, I definitely agree with everything that Logan and Reina said. I think schools and educators can definitely help us in the sense that just learning more about the legislative process. And I know some of the classes I've taken have given a brief overview of how our government works, but we never really learned too much in depth about it. And so I think for me personally, it sort of created a barrier where I believe that like policies and things like that were kind of untouchable, like I couldn't really do anything about it. But I think now joining all of these different events and things like that, I've learned that I can make a difference, I can do a lot. And so I think teaching a little bit more of that in schools would be a really great opportunity to encourage students to take more action. And Tamro, same question of you, exactly. Give us some examples of the actions that you're taking. Yeah, the last thing I mentioned was the lobbying. And personally, that was really stressful the first time because I didn't realize that you could just kind of talk to legislators, to your representatives. And so meeting them was a little bit intimidating. But that was one action I took. And then like we mentioned previously, the op-eds and the climate future fund that we're planning now. Thank you, Dr. We've got about eight minutes left. I'm sure you have other things to fill in here. Yeah, I was hoping we could, that was a great segue into our next section because we really want to let our viewers learn about this event that's coming up on December 3rd. And we'll do another round through that as well. But so this event climate future forum, as you've heard the students talking about, Tamro just shared, feeling intimidated to talk to our legislators, our elected officials. But we want to break down those barriers. We want to make it easier. They're humans. We're humans. And we can all have a good conversation together as basically the idea of the event. So yeah, maybe we'll just go to the next one. I'll review a couple of these and then I'm going to have you guys jump back in. So the objectives of the event is to help support youth learning about different types of climate policies. And then getting in and working with our legislators on specific priorities and sort of, you know, identifying those climate policies that we want to work on in the 2023 legislative session. We're also going to offer some opportunities for youth to learn more about the skills they need and how to actively participate through testimony, either even coming to the Capitol or on zoom or in writing. And just to hopefully everyone's leaving feeling really empowered to engage in democracy. On the next slide, I'm going to show you a couple of the types of workshops that were running that day on December 3rd. So there'll be a focus group on food systems, climate and the economy. So looking at some of the carbon cashbacks and other types of systems there, looking at clean energy policy, and then making sure throughout that we're considering equity and climate justice for everyone as we make this just energy transition. And we'll also have UH Manoa McKenna Kauffman, Dr. McKenna Kauffman coming in and talking about policies around urban planning, transportation and a few of those things. So the agenda for today that day, sorry, just briefly on December 3rd. The next slide, we will be together at the Hawaii State Capitol and framing it with youth and elected official keynote presentations in the beginning. We'll learn a bit about enroads as a climate interactive activity to start talking about policies that can address climate change and the equity considerations. And then we'll have some time for youth and some of our nonprofit organizations who have been working with young people already to look at different policies, give them some time to talk, we'll have some elected officials there, it'll be a little bit, you know, less formal. And then we'll head into these working groups. So youth will have a chance to pick the area that they want to focus on. Doesn't mean you're doing that for the rest of your life, but it's something for that day helps set these policy priorities. And then there's a little bit of time, as I was mentioning about learning more about the legislative process and hearing from the Hawaii Youth Climate Coalition young people and the success that they've had already. It's pretty impressive. So with that, we'll jump off the slides and I want to turn it over to the youth again, if you could. Now these three have dedicated a ton of time, right? They already have the demands of, I was going to say college applications, but not quite, you know, of school, right? Of the essays they need to write and the tests and the quizzes and all the rest of it. And yet they still find time to come and join these planning meetings that we've have been ongoing. I looked at it the other day, almost six months. So a lot of time and dedication. And I think it's really important to hear why, you've heard a bit about why, you know, the future form can be important, but let's hear more about that piece of it. So. And we've got just a few minutes left. Okay. We do have time left. We'll do it. Thank you. And I think who wants to go first? Because I forget who was going first here. Raina? I can go first. Yeah. Yeah. My main reason for joining the planning committee for this forum basically stems from my belief in providing youth and my generation with more opportunities to work with legislators and organizations and to have their voice heard by people who could really put their ideas into action and see change. I think this collaboration can be highly valuable and providing more of these opportunities would lead to more success in this direction. I also joined just because I have an interest in both climate and policy. It seemed like a great combination of both. And working or actually directly emailing legislators was a first for me. So I'm at this whole experience has been just overall really insightful and worthwhile. And I'm really glad to have spent time working on it. Yeah. I mean, everything we've been talking about today is really the reason why the future forum is so important to me. I had never really thought about taking any legislative action before. But when I first heard about this opportunity and being a part of it now, personally, I find it really interesting. And I'm really, really grateful that I get to be a part of it. So I guess I've dedicated a lot of time to this future forum because I want to give other youth the opportunity to have the same experiences I did. I totally agree with what Cameron Raina said for me. I guess that tests and quizzes, they're transient in a way. They matter, but not as much as our future and empowering other people to take action. When I learned that this is what I could do and these are the things that I could help with for our future, I figured that that would be most important. That would be the kind of thing that matters the most. And I put climate action above everything else. I think that it, to me, it's the most important thing in my life right now. Very good. You know, I analogize it to a radar screen with all the problems we're having in the world. They're just blips, blips, blips. They're going to come and go. But climate change is the giant tsunami that's headed our way. So your focus is tremendous. The recent book I read is called 9.9%. And it argues that about 10% of our population are the ones who make all the difference in the world. Let me assure you that you guys are already in that upper 9.9%. So Dr. Dr, you want to head it off? We got about one and a half minutes left. Great. Yeah. Thank you for that. I wonder if we could have that last slide of the event details for that December 3rd event and Logan's going to share. So if you are interested in what we're doing, educators, youth, anyone who's interested, we have the Climate Future Forum on December 3rd Saturday, 8.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. It'll be in person at the Hawaii State Capitol. You can register at that link, bit.ly slash climate teacher forum. It's free. We'd love to see you there. And the website you can also, there's also the registration link there is www.climateteacherhoi.org. We hope to see as many people there as we can. And apparently you've already arranged for some legislators to come in to speak to you. Very good. That's right. But we could always use more. So if you're an elected official listening right now, we want you to join us. It's fun talking to these young people and I think everyone will be inspired by spending at least a couple hours with them. So come on over during lunchtime. That's when the policy action groups will be happening and we'll feed you. Hope you can make it, Howard. Yeah. I'm going to make it my business to be there. All right. Wonderful. Okay. Any last words from any of the students? Again, this is a tremendous inspiration here. So on that very cheery note, I bid fond of you and Aloha to all the blooming audience out there and this program will be archived. You can watch yourselves in action and say, where could I have improved just a little bit in my speaking and my presenting abilities? So until next time, Howard Wigg, Code Green. Thank you, Dr. Students so much. This has been really inspiring. Bye-bye. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktechawaii.com. Mahalo.