My Gold Award

When I was in kindergarden I started girl scouts and as I grew up I continued with it. Scouts gave me a lot of really cool opportunities including a trip to Yellowstone National Park, trips camping, and taught me life long skills. My love for nature started while I was in scouts and soon turned into a passion for environmental sustainability. As a child I knew that climate change was a threat and I was frankly terrified of it for years. I remember being seven and crying to my mom before bed  because I was scared of what climate change would take away. I had this anxiety centered around climate change from a young age. I knew it was a real threat to life as we knew it and as a child that was terrifying. However I buried this fear deep inside and refused to express it or talk about it. Instead of addressing it I decided to ignore it. But hiding things never really solves the problem and as I grew up I realized that this anxiety needed an outlet. I decided that I wanted to start taking action centered around climate change and wanted to encourage others to do the same. In 2020 I started a local environmental hub with a friend and from there spent a lot of my time volunteering at environmental clubs, protesting and writing my local positions, and now dedicating my time to speaking out in my community. I then decided to dedicate my gold award to raising awareness around climate action in my community. I spoke at 4 different events, made my own website, hung up flyers, and spent time connecting with members of my community. I truly understand how terrifying climate change is but I also know we can all make a difference and help our environment. If everyone starts to make changes it will make a difference.