TakingITGlobal

18 C O P 21 I M P A C T S T O R Y Hanna Hasselqvist from Sweden was one of the students that participated as a representative at COY11 in Paris. Her contributions along with those of her classmates and other youth around the world contributed to the White Paper outlining their visions for the future of our planet. In recalling her experience at COP21, Hanna expressed having overwhelming feelings of connection with youth dedicated to action on climate change. "I felt connected to people from all over the world because of our common interest. It was amazing to see and hear from people sharing my opinions from countries far from mine, such as India or Canada. You realize that at the end of the day we are not so different at all. Still, we all added a new perspective to the project, which was great." Through her experience at the conference she reaffirmed her belief that "every local problem is also a global problem". Climate Change in My Backyard http:// http://gg.tigweb.org/tig/CCIMBY In October, our team joined Polar Bears International in Churchill, Manitoba to connect youth around the world with experts working in the area of climate change. Through live webcasts students were able to get a glimpse into the Canadian Arctic and gain an understanding of the future of climate change and how they can help protect and sustain the environment. In addition, as a part of the discussion on climate change, TakingITGlobal embarked on a collaborative storytelling project with youth around the world to create visual representations of what climate change looks like around them. The Climate Change in My Backyard contest helped document and showcase the many ways that our own backyards are impacted by climate change and were featured in our workshop at the Conference of Youth in Paris. A P R O J E C T B Y I N P A R T N E R S H I P W I T H # d e c a r b o n i z e

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