Ella Larsen
2025 Youth Climate Activism Award - Timeline with videos.
Ella is a 14 year old from British Columbia
I am grateful for the opportunity to share ways in which I have worked to inspire positive change and environmental citizenship amongst youth.
My outlet for action has been through volunteering across the community on initiatives that promote youth involvement and education, using my love for arts and video production as a medium.
The following is a timeline of Ellaβs journey into supporting climate change initiatives, so farβ¦.
Accomplishments & Aspirations: Climate Change Adaptation
Year 2020 | Age 9
I seized an opportunity to chat with Mayor Lisa Helps to explore programs for youth in the City of Victoria, and I expressed my gratitude to my teachers.
Year 2022 | Age 11
Volunteered for the CarbonRewind Campaign, a contest sponsored by a local charity to generate youth interest and ideas in reducing their personal carbon footprint
Year 2023 | Age 12
Vision Zero: Met with the Mayor of Saanich in March 2023 to advocate for road safety improvements in my neighbourhood to address barriers and risks to pedestrians and cyclists who choose non-vehicular methods of transportation as a way of reducing carbon emissions and a healthy lifestyle habit. (Ella provided us the full email thread including scheduling meetings with the City Engineers).
Plants as Carbon Sinks: I recorded this video to demonstrate how plants act as a carbon sink and one practical way in which kids can do something to help improve air quality at home -find a fun plant to take care of at home!
Climate Heroes: I participated in the Climate Heroes Ocean Awareness Campaign with my contribution recorded and registered here in my YouTube video titled βRubbish or Furbish the Oceanβ.
Year 2024 | Age 13
Too Much Carbon, Too Much Heat: I convinced my best friend to join me in making this video on YouTube as part of my volunteer work with SOWCOOL.org, which has had almost 4K views!
Year 2025 | Age 14
I am actively working on helping to build a social media campaign to support a Calls to Action initiative to alert our leaders to youth's desire to be better environmental stewards. I hope to recruit other kids within my social media network to join me in promoting this and other initiatives that amplify the voices of youth as climate change agents.
Ella is speaking at the 59 second mark of this inspiring video.
β I want people to know that age doesnβt stop you or limit your options to inspire change.β
~Ella Larsen
As part of the submissions application we asked participants to answer these 3 questions in addition to their essay or video.
What future goals do you have around your environmental and climate work, and do you have any future projects in mind?
Over the past few years, Iβve taken the lead of using my creativity in videos to make climate action relatable for youth.
I started volunteering at age 11, and had a part in the βCarbonRewindβ campaign related to reducing emissions at home. At 12, I met with the Mayor of Saanich (Mayor Dean Murdock) to advocate for safer, greener transportation within my community.
This year, I have taken on a new challenge of helping SOWCOOL.ORG (Local Charity) build their social media presence.
My future projects and goals include creating content to raise awareness for climate change, and to teach youth more sustainable or eco-friendly habits.
If you could share one message of hope for your community, what would it be? Briefly explain why you would choose this message.
Your voice matters, even if youβre young. Thatβs the message I try to spread.
When I first got involved at 11, I didnβt think many people would take me seriously, due to my age. But getting to meet with leaders, and creating videos has shown me the impact and power of speaking up.
Most of the time young people get excluded from climate decisions and discussions, but we are the ones who will face the consequences of global warming.
I want people to know that age doesnβt stop you or limit your options to inspire change.
Who or what inspires you to work on climate change?
I'm inspired by the idea that youth can lead, not just follow.
I have always loved creating things, and I realized that I could use my passion for something huge.
What drives me is knowing that I can make the concept of climate change and global warming feel less overwhelming to people my age.
I want to turn anxiety into passion for change, because as a generation we can be bold, creative, and eventually change the world.