Ann Arbor teens featured in a documentary film on youth-led climate change action that premiered Nov. 8 at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, Scotland.
The video, titled “Creating Youth-Led Solutions: Sharing Stories with YMCA,” featured members of the
Ann Arbor YMCA Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC) program discussing their recent collaboration with peers at the Albay YMCA in the Philippines. As part of the
C.A.R.E. project, the two groups worked together to combat water and air pollution in their communities.
“I was sort of not believing it at first,” says YVC participant Maisie Weyhing. “I was like, 'Wow, the program I worked on and put a lot of time into and cared a lot about is going to be featured!'”
Weyhing, who is credited as an “eco-leader” in the film, says she wants the film and the project itself to inspire others toward action.
“I hope that it will get more of our community in Ann Arbor involved in realizing the climate crisis is actually happening,” Weyhing says.
“Climate change affects not just my generation, but my future kids’ generation and their kids and their kids and their kids,” she adds. “If I can play a part in trying to stop this ginormous conflict and crisis from happening – and it already is happening – then that's my goal. I need to do this for the future generations ahead of me, and also for my generation, because I'm going to be living on this earth for a lot longer than the people that played a part in ruining it.”
You can watch the full film here.
Sabine Bickford Brown is a freelance writer and editor based in Ann Arbor. She can be reached at sabinebickfordbrown@gmail.com.
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