Geography and Environmental Management student Andrew Wong is only 19, but he has already had a privilege few ever get: he has been a first-hand witness to climate change in the Arctic. Recently he shared thoughts on this remarkable experience with guests at the TEDx UW speaker series in Waterloo.
He subsequently turned that privilege into a responsibility reserved for even fewer: he attended the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to bring a message to the world about the impact of climate change on the poles.
In 2010, Wong, now a first-year student in Waterloo’s Department of Geography and Environmental Management, received a scholarship to participate in an expedition organized by Students on Ice, a not-for-profit organization that sends students on educational trips to both polar regions.
The trip brought together 70 students from around the world. There were lectures, presentations, visits to Arctic communities and hikes in natural areas including Auyuittuq National Park.
Auyuittuq means “the land that never melts” in Inuktitut. But it was melting. “There was glacial meltwater just flowing away every second,” says Wong.
Wong already had an interest in environmental issues, but the trip changed his life.
“To get that opportunity to see first-hand impacts of climate change, how it’s affecting the ecosystem, the wildlife, the people who live up there … I realized I needed to begin to take personal action rather than waiting for some solution.”
During the trip, Wong and his cabin-mate Fatin Chowdhury, now a second-year environmental engineering student at Waterloo, started talking about “doing something,” but it wasn’t until he was home that Wong started focusing on the Rio+20 summit.
In May 2011, he went to Ottawa for a multi-year reunion of Students on Ice participants, and presented his idea for a youth delegation to speak up for the Arctic on the world stage. The Students on Ice Alumni Delegation had its first meeting that day.
There are some 40 youth from around the world, aged 17 to 24, on the team. Of those, 14, including Wong and Chowdhury, are going to Rio de Janeiro.
“Our delegation is speaking up for the polar regions, speaking up for their importance and bringing to light the sustainable development challenges that both polar regions face,” says Wong.
Wong says the SOI delegation will be the only one specifically focusing on the polar regions. The group has been approved to lead an official UN side event, and plans “to speak directly to decision makers from around the world,” as well as raise awareness via traditional and social media.
The group has also developed a recommendation paper and hopes to share their ideas with the Canadian delegation and other groups from around the world, says Wong, who has received funding for his trip from organizations including the Faculty of Environment and St. Paul’s University College.
“It shows the power of youth and that we really can make a positive difference.”