This past week, senior Maiana Nelson attended the COP28 United Nations Climate Conference in Dubai. Spanning over the course of five days, Nelson took part in a wide variety of environmental activism activities, both learning and teaching about the ongoing climate crisis as a US Youth Delegate.
Nelson is a part of a Chicago-based youth advocacy group known as “It’s Our Future,” which connects students from all across the Chicago area interested in partaking in climate conversations and making their communities more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Nelson was one of the six students selected from the organization to attend the COP28 Conference.
“The goal [of the conference] is to connect all the nations and a bunch of different countries, [and] to come together to find a common goal, I would say, of how we want to create a more sustainable future,” Nelson said.
2023 is the 28th year the conference has been held, hence the title COP28. One of the conference’s main purposes is to be an epicenter for countries to make non-binding global climate negotiations and agreements.
“I went to the conference as—my badge officially said I was an ‘observer’—and so I participated in different panel discussions and moderated some panels,” Nelson said. “I kind of just went to learn from people from other countries and just learn what other, more civilian level people are doing to fight climate change, and hopefully be able to bring some of what I learned to my community.”
The most valuable aspect of the trip for Nelson was the amount of different perspectives she was able to gather and exposure to a diverse range of voices speaking on the climate crisis.
“I would say my favorite part was just talking with all the different people,” Nelson said. “Meeting people from all these different walks of life and different living situations was just really cool.”
Nelson also saw parts of her own passions in those that she met within the conference.
“At this climate education meet up I met a really cool filmmaker. He’s making environmental films about loss and damage and how other countries are being impacted by climate change. He traveled the world to see what climate change looks like in all these different countries,” Nelson said.
Nelson started making environmental films when she was in sixth grade as a way for her to share her ideas.
“I personally am an environmental filmmaker. So it was really cool to see what he’s doing on more of a global scale, because my work is on a local scale. It was just really cool to see someone else who’s doing similar work as I am and is making a global impact,” Nelson said. “I think it’s pretty wild to see where I started. Now I’m here speaking on global stages. I think filmmaking really did that for me.”
Nelson has entered her award winning environmental films in festivals both locally and nationally. This creative medium allowed her to find her voice, snowballing into her successful environmentalist endeavors today.
“I continue to make environmental films but more in a way to amplify my voice rather than just share it. So it’s more of a way to spread my message far and wide,” Nelson said.
Being involved in the conference itself solidified Nelson’s ambitions regarding her future career goals.
“I think that this conference really taught me a lot about where I want to be,” Nelson said. “I really see myself starting some sort of organization that can touch people from across the globe and teach them to have more sustainable practices in their communities.”
At Riverside Brookfield High School, Nelson is on the varsity cross country and track and field teams and is also a part of Ecology Club and Helping Paws. She also spends an abundance of her time volunteering outside of school within other environmental projects and organizations.
“Last summer I had an internship with the Illinois Farm to School Network,” Nelson said. “Through that I worked on connecting farmers and local schools and how you can get more local, healthy, fresh food into cafeterias. That’s a lot more sustainable because transportation is where most of the emissions come from in a food system. So being able to get food locally takes out a lot of the emissions from the process.”
Nelson is currently working on a project related to food waste within schools and sustainable food systems, looking to make sustainability changes to RB’s cafeteria.
“I’m currently working with Mr. Shermack on trying to get composting into our cafeterias, whether that’s backstage in the kitchen or for students to use,” Nelson said.
Nelson encourages her peers to get involved within climate conversations, and to take initiative over the kind of practices used within our very own community.
“I try to find a community of people who are around you because it’s really nice to have a support system of people who can also help you create these networks. You can join ‘It’s Our Future’ and be connected with a bunch of other high schoolers from the area and see how you could take what you want to do and really get it into your schools and into your communities,” Nelson said.
Nelson’s trip to the COP28 Climate Conference in Dubai was funded by a grant given by the RBEF (Riverside Brookfield Educational Fund), which covered all expenses on the trip.
“I think I’m just really grateful to have been able to have this opportunity to learn more about, again, what’s going on globally. But also be able to learn about what I want to do with my future,” Nelson said.
