From left to right, Manolo Avalos (Oak Park), Fatima Perez (Chicago), Tori Evans (Oak Park), and Antonio Padilla (Chicago). Missing: Emmet Ebels-Duggan (Evanston). This youth cohort will report live from Egypt in the special online event **From the Mideast to the Midwest** on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 12 p.m. CST. Register here.

By Susan Messer

On November 5, five students from the Chicago area youth-driven advocacy group It’s Our Future (IOF) will fly to Egypt to take part in COP27, the UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh. It's Our Future, a program developed by Seven Generations Ahead and supported by One Earth Collective along with other partners, connects youth climate activists and empowers them to advocate for climate solutions in their schools and communities, and for a healthy livable future for all.

The delegation will join world leaders, negotiators, government representatives, businesses, youth activists, and citizens for a week devoted to the work of learning and planning/networking so that we can all scale up the global response to climate change. (They'll be giving us an update from Egypt on Thursday Nov. 10, "From the Mideast to the Midwest.”)

If you, like me, don’t know much about how a young person gets to go on a trip like this, you’re in luck, because I had the great pleasure of discussing these matters with two students who will be going—Tori Evans and Emmet Ebels-Duggan.

Tori Evans

First up: Tori, a senior at Oak Park River Forest High School (OPRF) in Oak Park, Illinois.

Q: Tell me about your particular interests regarding climate change and the environment.

A: I’m very focused on waste-reduction systems, food security issues, strengthening local food systems, the circular economy—all interconnected issues. Which also connects to reducing our reliance on imports, and reducing the carbon footprint related to transportation.

Q: How is it that you’re going to COP27? How were you selected? What’s the process?

A: I started my journey to environmental activism in middle school. I was interested in sustainability, and recycling. I started going to protests. In high school, I joined the environmental club. That’s where I heard about COP, from a friend who’d gone. Then I joined It’s Our Future. Their goal is to equip young people to advocate for climate solutions. IOF was developed by Seven Generations Ahead, with other community partners. IOF includes students from Oak Park/River Forest, Chicago, and Evanston.

I’ve always wanted to meet people from all over, encounter a range of ideas. And I knew I wanted to attend COP, and I also saw that it took a lot of initiative to be selected. I attended meetings, learned about the work I needed to do. It’s a big-time commitment. You need to show consistent involvement. And then there’s an interview, where Gary Cuneen [Seven Generations Ahead founder] and Rachel Rosner [It’s Our Future consultant] ask you what you want to learn at COP. I was selected based on the interview.

Q: You must have felt pretty good when you learned you had been selected.

A: I was ecstatic! I’d heard so much about it from my friend. She raved about it. You can meet so many people, learn about whatever your niche issue may be, meet people who are making the important changes. I believe this experience will expand the possibilities for me.

Q: What are your goals and hopes for this conference?

A: My biggest goal is to network, to meet other youth from around the world. I want a more global perspective. I know my understanding is limited by our US media streams. In the US, a major focus is sustainable energy, but I have other issues—such as food justice and waste of all kinds, as I mentioned. I know that many places are currently facing climate change head on, and I want to know about other people’s lived experience.

Also, I know it’s not a big topic of this conference, but I want to learn more about climate justice. Climate change doesn’t affect us all in the same manner. I want to make sure that the voices of the people who are most affected are heard. I think COP is getting better at getting a wider range or voices.

Q: What are the logistics regarding travel and scheduling?

A: We have a flight to Egypt on November 5. Most of our group will be traveling together. We’re all staying at the same hotel. We’ll have a parent chaperone and 3 or 4 adult mentors. People at the conference have different levels of badges, granting access to some areas but not others. The major world leaders will be in the highest-security area, and we can’t get into that. But there’s an arena—it’s like a fair—where scientists and engineers and so forth host booths where they present their research and projects, and we’ll spend time there. The conference will be very crowded, so people in our group will cycle in and out. Time management will be key. We’ll be conducting interviews, hosting livestreams to high schools, writing articles for local papers. I want to take whatever I learn with me, so I’ll be keeping a journal. So my goals are (1) collecting information, (2) writing up what I learn, and (3) sharing what I learn with others when we return.

Editor’s note: A special follow up event on December 6 will give students the opportunity to share their experience. Let us know if you’d like to attend.

Q: What are your concerns?

A: Really, my main concern is that I find the best way to navigate something so big and busy. I know there have been heavy protests around past conferences. If that’s happening in Egypt, I want to hear those voices. Some people have security concerns, but I don’t. I’m most worried about missing out on opportunities.

Emmet Ebels-Duggan

And now to Emmet, who is a senior at Evanston Township High School (ETHS) in Evanston, Illinois.

Q: How is it that you’re going to COP27? What was your path to this moment?

A: When I was 6 or 7, I wanted to be a pro baseball player, but I was also becoming aware of climate troubles, so I said to my mother, “Do you think I should be focused on the environment instead?” I guess I answered that question for myself, because by my junior year in high school, I had taken a high-responsibility role in the Sunrise movement—a youth-based nationwide climate advocacy group with over 400 hubs across the country. I became a hub coordinator, which meant I was in charge.

Our hub has been focused on policies of the Evanston school board, and the Evanston city council. At the Evanston school board, we made a big push for them to hire a full-time sustainability coordinator—a person who would focus on energy usage, waste, other sustainability issues in the school. The board did sort of comply by hiring a director of operations and sustainability. The person they hired is very interested in prioritizing sustainability in addition to his other responsibilities, but that’s a lot for one person to take on, and we still want a full-time person. That remains as one of our goals. We’re also focused on getting the school to adopt a climate curriculum by next year. We envision it as a sub-unit within the biology program because everyone is required to take biology. We’d like to get standards in place for what should be covered. A lot of teachers have been working with us on that already.

So that’s what I’ve been doing, but I’ve also been part of It’s Our Future for the past year, and Rachel Rosner asked if I wanted to apply to go to COP. They took an ETHS student last year, to COP in Glasgow, and they wanted to take an ETHS student this year. When someone gives you an opportunity to go to the UN, you say yes!

Q: What’s your main environmental concern?

A: I don’t have one main concern. But if I have to point out a focus, it would be the role of cities and urban design in the climate crisis. For example, the lack of green space that creates heat islands, the environmentally toxic zones that exist in cities, and their disparate impact on low-income communities. I’m concerned about the way environmental injustice is reflected in city design.

Q: What are your goals and hopes for this conference?

A: It’s such a great opportunity to go and soak up information. When the information is about how bad things are, it’s maybe not as much fun. But I’ll have the opportunity to learn from international experts on some of the more niche aspects of climate change. I want to meet people who share my specific interests—urban design, adaptation, alternative energy. So much will be going on there.

Q: What are your concerns about the conference?

A: It’s going to be a strenuous journey. We’ll get into Egypt at midnight, and we’ll only get a few hours to sleep before the conference begins. Also, the US Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning about travel in Egypt—except for the resort where COP is taking place. Security issues cross my mind, but I can convince myself it’s not a big worry. With all the world leaders, and the high visibility of the conference, there will be plenty of security around the area.

Every COP is a crucial event, and I don’t want to say this one is the most crucial. But we’re approaching our last chance at a lot of things. In the face of the democratic backsliding throughout the world, and our continued march toward a worsening environmental future, we must focus on implementation. I’m encouraged that this COP has a focus on implementation, on addressing all areas of climate change, and on protecting all people from the immediate impacts of climate change as stated by COP 27’s presidency.

See It’s Our Future delegates report live from Egypt in the special event From the Mideast to the Midwest on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 12 p.m. CST.