¡Saludos desde Bogota! This past weekend, over one hundred youth environmental leaders from all over Latin America came together in Bogotá, Colombia to meet each other, share strategies, and make plans to build a movement against climate change in their region. The meeting was the Seventh Latin American Meeting of Youth for the Environment and Sustainability organized by the Grupo Tayrona, a fifteen-year old non-profit with a large student network across Colombia. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Actions against Climate Change”, and brought youth of all ages and fields – from the 8 year old indigenous youth pioneering new organic farming techniques in the Putomayo region to postgraduate research students studying glacial melt in the Andes.
The participants heard from researchers, professors, fellow youth leaders, filmmakers, and Colombia’s negotiator on climate change. The sessions stimulated great conversation, and led to the creation of a joint statement from all the youth participating, and plans for a regional reforestation campaign based in high schools and college campuses.
Many exciting things happening in this movement here – I wanted to give a quick update of my travels thus far, and will be sure to get up some video footage and more photos soon.