Congrats Brittany Trilford

The Listener reports:

Wellington’s Brittany Trilford will speak at UN Earth Summit in Brazil after winning Date With History contest.

A Wellington teenager will travel to Rio next month to school the world’s leaders on the challenges of the future, after topping a global online search.

Seventeen-year-old Brittany Trilford will address the Earth Summit this June 20-22 in Brazil as winner of theDate with History contest. (See tcktcktck for more.)

Congratulations to Brittany for winning the global contest. It is a huge achievement to win any global competition, and will be an even bigger achievement to speak to a major international summit at the age of 17. From the video though, you can see why she won – a very clear and confident speaker.

Now I don’t agree 100% with Brittany’s outlook. The actual IPCC projections on sea level rises are not particularly extreme, for example. But this post is not designed to be a forum on whether or not people agree on the impact of climate change, and the need for more sustainability.

I have always been a huge fan of young people taking an interest in political issues. They are the ones that are most impacted by the decisions of today. It is somewhat depressing that so many under 30s do not vote. I suspect Brittany will never be a non-voter, and that her winning the contest to speak to world leaders in Rio may motivate others to take an interest in issues that affect them.