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

Ahmad Chattha is passing on climate hope to the children who come next. This 18-year-old Toronto highschool student is determined to ensure that young children have stories of climate hope and resilience to lift them up.

Tell us about your work.

I co-illustrated the children's book Lila And The Cloud of Change and illustrated Noura's Jar of Worries, and they were published by GreenMind Canada. I authored Ripples and the River of Trouble. Hundreds of children are reading them.

How did you get into this work?

I was born in Sargodha, Pakistan, a city full of life, noise and community. Alongside warm memories of crowded streets and family gatherings, I carried something quietly: constant news of flooding across my province. I would hear stories of entire neighborhoods going underwater and families losing their homes overnight. As a child, I didn't have the language for what I was feeling, but I remember a persistent sense of worry.

When my family immigrated to rural Alberta, I thought moving to Canada meant leaving those fears behind. Instead, in our very first year, a massive wildfire devastated Fort McMurray.........

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