These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.

Leila Pozzi is making it easier for children and youth everywhere to talk about climate change. This 19-year-old Starfish Canada Climate75 Fellow from Montreal has developed and tested a framework to allow teachers and student leaders, regardless of geography or social context, to engage young audiences.

Tell us about your project.

I am very worried about how little pressure decision-makers feel to act on climate and protect nature, and I know we need to talk about it more. But we are all so different.

As part of my CÉJEP coursework with Dawson College's social change and solidarity program, I travelled to Cuba to learn how young people there talk about climate with each other and their decision-makers. Cuba is interesting because we were encouraged to see it as a leader for low-carbon living. But I learned they are not driven by a moral imperative, but rather by their lived experience. Their society has been deeply shaped by the United States embargo in place since the 1960s. Necessity has motivated their shift away from fossil fuel dependence toward a more self-sufficient way of life.

I also discovered that conversations young people have in Havana, a large urban centre, are very different from those in Puerta Esperanza, a smaller rural one. If I asked, "What is your environment?," people in Havana might mention parks and oceans, while people in Puerto Esperanza might mention their uncle's tobacco farm. If I asked what they do to protect it, answers ranged from cleaning up beaches to not knowing it needed protection at all. People in Havana have more time and can more easily come to meetings. People in the countryside are further apart and busy working the land. Elementary school children have fewer social constraints than teenagers. Yet, climate change affects us all. How can we talk across these differences?

I returned to Montreal asking whether we could build a framework for conversations about climate and the environment that worked regardless of where people lived or what kind of life they had and without imposing our biases on each other.

I brainstormed the concept at the Intercollegiate Eco-Exposition with students from CÉJEPs across the region, and together, we developed a scaffolding: a series of questions that lead to other questions along guided pathways. It avoids making statements and leaves plenty of room for collaboration in both the design of the learning and its outcomes.

For example, the first question might be: Is your audience under 8, between 8 and 12, or older? From there, the user is guided toward age-appropriate projects. A second question steers toward conversations more likely to resonate with rural or urban groups. When we tested the framework in an under-served area of Montreal, where children must attend an after-school program because their parents are still at work, we learned how much motivation matters in design. A conversation with eco-conscious high school students in a green club looks very different from one with younger kids who aren't there by choice and face affordability challenges at home.

Once developed, we sent the framework back to Cuba, and their feedback improved it further. I'm thrilled to say it has made talking about these issues so accessible that the environment has become a major theme in the Cuban classes that students in the Dawson College program visited this year. We will release the framework as a guidebook in June.

What got you interested in working in climate change?

During the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, I watched the natural world around me thrive once our human impact was reduced. I was inspired to make that my life's work, and Dawson College's program seemed like a natural fit.

Not many people talk about climate change or even environmental protection. It can feel lonely and a little frightening. Many of my friends are simply not interested.

Those of us in this space show up for each other, over and over again. We are resilient, and we are not going away.

What is your vision for the future?

I have so much privilege as a white woman living in the Global North. I see a world where we each use our privilege for the common good.

What would you like to say to other young people?

Keep going. It is inevitable that our concerns will rise to the top. When they do, we will be ready.

What about older readers?

Give us a voice and a chance. Talk about climate change and protecting what you love — both in nature and in the young people in your lives.

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