This text introduces Rose Whipple's 2018 Brower Youth Awards Speech.

Rose, a 17-year-old from Minnesota, actively opposes the proposed Line 3 Pipeline. This project threatens to cross Minnesota and indigenous territories, endangering the traditional way of life for the Anishinaabe and Dakota people.

This is Valeree Catangay's 2018 Brower Youth Awards Speech. Valeree, 21, from Long Beach, California, co-founded the Environmentalists of Color Collective at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Her work with the Collective challenges mainstream environmentalism, advocating for the inclusion of narratives from communities and people of color.

Jade Sweeney, an 18-year-old from North Carolina, delivered a speech at the 2018 Brower Youth Awards.

She is actively combating Colony Collapse Disorder and promoting bee conservation. Her efforts include establishing apiaries and pollinator parks within her local schools.

Mishka, a 17-year-old from Utah, co-founded Utah Youth Environmental Solutions and helped craft the Utah Climate Resolution—the first of its kind in a traditionally conservative state. She also organized the 2016 Utah People’s Climate March.

Her work focuses on empowering youth to hold statewide organizations accountable for climate change and building Utah's youth climate movement. As a Pakistani Muslim American, Mishka also strives to build bridges and empower Muslim youth and students of color in the state.

Rose, a 17-year-old Indigenous organizer from the Isanti Dakota and Ho-Chunk Nations, actively opposes the Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota. This proposed pipeline threatens Indigenous territories and the way of life for the Anishinaabe and Dakota people.

Rose speaks publicly at schools and organizes local events to raise awareness about the pipeline's dangers. She is also a Youth Climate intervenor, one of 13 who gained legal status in the Line 3 permitting process. Her activism extends beyond Minnesota, notably including the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock.

Stephen, 22, from Pennsylvania, is co-founder and National Field Director of Sunrise Movement. This organization mobilizes young people nationwide to combat the influence of fossil fuel executives and lobbyists, empowering them to elect leaders who will address climate change and create green jobs.

He organized the 'Sunrise Semester,' a fellowship program that engaged 70 young people in five key states for the 2018 elections. This initiative combined campaigning for progressive candidates with direct action to expose fossil fuel money. Stephen's organizing journey began at Swarthmore College, where he led a widely publicized fossil fuel divestment campaign.

Jade, an 18-year-old from North Carolina, is actively combating Colony Collapse Disorder and promoting bee conservation. Through her Pollinator Initiative, she establishes apiaries and pollinator parks in local schools, aiming to replicate her successful high school model across the area.

She has secured grant funding and organized students to become certified beekeepers with local support. Since April 2017, bees introduced to the White Oak area have been maintained pesticide-free. Jade's efforts highlight the importance of honey bees in the ecosystem and educate students about declining bee populations and beekeepers.

Tina, a 21-year-old from New Brunswick, is a prominent student climate activist. She organizes a nationally recognized fossil fuel divestment campaign at Mount Allison University and serves on the steering committee for RISE 2019, a national climate convergence focused on training young people in direct action and anti-oppressive organizing.

Recognized as one of Canada’s Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25 by Starfish Canada, Tina also acts as interim Coordinator for the Canadian Youth Delegation (CYD). She previously represented CYD at UN climate change negotiations (COP 22 and COP 23), advocating for Canadian government accountability on climate justice and the Paris Agreement.

Valeree, a UCLA senior, co-founded the Environmentalists of Color Collective (EOCC) to challenge mainstream environmentalism and amplify the voices of communities of color. She is dedicated to fostering dialogues on environmental justice and racism, notably co-organizing a Climate Justice Forum that launched EOCC's work.

As a Carbon Neutrality Initiative Fellow for the University of California, Valeree engages students in the UC system's goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. She aims to integrate sustainability and environmental justice values into corporate systems.

"A girl is worth nothing. That is what I was told for 17 years of my life. It was hard for me to accept, and even harder for me to ignore." These powerful words from Lesly Goh, Chief Technology Officer of the World Bank, introduce how technology transformed her life and career path.

Previously the Financial Services Industry Lead for Microsoft Asia Pacific, Lesly is recognized as a leader in FinTech, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain. She champions these technologies as a new frontier for disrupting traditional business models in financial services. Her insights were shared at a TEDx event. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx.

Everyone possesses unconscious bias, which can significantly influence how we treat others. Dr. Rehman Y. Abdulrehman, a consulting and clinical psychologist with LeadWithDiversity.com and founder of Clinic Psychology Manitoba, explores this topic. He also holds academic positions at the University of Manitoba and in Zanzibar.

This discussion was presented at an independently organized TEDx event. For more information, visit https://www.ted.com/tedx.

Henry Taylor, a 12th grader at Pioneer High School, enjoys spending time with friends, watching movies, researching politics, and reading. A passionate advocate for the feminist movement, Henry believes everyone, regardless of gender, should embrace feminism.

He sees a TEDx talk as an impactful platform to share this message. Next year, Henry will attend American University in Washington D.C., studying Communications, Law, Economics, and Government (CLEG). This talk is for TEDxYouth@AnnArbor.

Sarah Milner, a senior at Huron High School, is passionate about sociology and writing. She plans to study organizational studies, aiming to become a consultant who helps future business leaders enhance ethical practices, diversity, and leadership skills within their companies.

Outside academics, Sarah is active in JSA, DECA, and leads her own music club. This marks her debut as a speaker at Ann Arbor's independently organized TEDx event, TEDxYouth@AnnArbor.

Veronica Mentor, a University of Florida student and powerful spoken word poet, shares her personal journey. Her work explores the struggles and experiences of growing up as a brown girl.

This compelling talk was presented at TEDxUF, an independently organized event following the TED conference format.

Tiffany Carey, an environmental studies major, believes community involvement is vital in research. For her University of Michigan project, she partnered with Detroit's Western International High School students to study urban pollen levels, a key factor in asthma and allergies.

Over three years, ninth and tenth graders placed pollen collectors, confirming vacant lots were rich in allergy-causing ragweed. Carey then explored solutions like urban reforestation and mowing. She also noted the project's positive impact, as hands-on citizen science made ecology relevant for the high schoolers.

During an ethnographic research visit to Nepal, Tsechu Dolma learned that Geling villagers in Upper Mustang were struggling with food and water insecurity due to erratic climate patterns. Upon returning to the US, she consulted with Nepalese expats and academics to devise strategies for climate resilience among the region's subsistence farmers.

With funding from the Rubin Foundation and Columbia University, Dolma returned to Nepal to study past development projects. She proposed building a community greenhouse using local materials, an idea unanimously supported by the villagers. To address youth disengagement caused by civil war and environmental degradation, the greenhouse would be built in a school, fostering intergenerational sharing and collaboration.

Dolma hopes the Geling greenhouse will serve as a global model for climate resiliency and local ownership in rural communities.

Native Floridian Sean Russell developed a passion for marine conservation through 4-H and an internship at Mote Marine Laboratory. At 16, he founded the "Stow It-Don't Throw It Project." This initiative repurposes tennis ball containers into fishing line recycling bins, distributed by youth who educate anglers on proper disposal to protect marine wildlife from debris. The project now operates in 10 states.

In 2011, Russell launched the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit at Mote Lab. This annual event equips young people with skills to start their own conservation projects, inspiring hundreds nationwide. Satellite summits are now expanding its reach, beginning with the National and Seattle Aquariums.

Arielle Klagsbrun received a Brower Youth Award in 2013.

She was recognized for her work mobilizing communities to create a healthy future, free from dependence on coal.

Amira has been honored with a prestigious Brower Youth Award.

She received this recognition for her significant work in fostering sustainable water consumption practices at the University of Puerto Rico's Rio Piedras campus.

After a 2011 march against strip-mining, Jackson Koeppel became committed to exploring alternatives to an extractive economy. That same year, he found his cause in Highland Park, MI. The Detroit-area city had lost 80% of its population, and in 2011, 1,000 of its 1,500 streetlights were decommissioned due to a $4 million municipal debt, leaving residential streets in darkness.

In response, Koeppel co-founded Soulardarity. This community organization is installing 200 solar streetlights and forming a cooperative of residents, businesses, and institutions to maintain them through annual dues. These affordable, eco-friendly lights foster community resilience and sustainability discussions.