WATCH: The Kenyan tween take on climate change

euronews (in English)

At just ten years old, Karen Wanjiru Kimani has planted more than 30,000 trees and cleared tons of plastic pollution from her local environment.

Transcript

00:00 [ Music ]

00:02 >> Caring for the environment is important for me

00:05 because the environment is our surrounding.

00:08 When the older generation pollute the environment,

00:12 we the children are the one who are going to suffer.

00:15 When I saw people polluting the rivers

00:19 and I saw the marine lives die, I felt so sad.

00:23 When I see people cutting down trees, they don't remember

00:27 to plant more trees.

00:28 They don't remember to replace the one that they have cut.

00:32 We need to stop littering and plant more trees.

00:35 My name is Karen Wanjeri Kimani.

00:38 I am an environmental ambassador.

00:40 I do planting of trees and also I recycle plastics.

00:45 [ Music ]

00:53 I learned a lot about the environment.

00:56 It started when I was five years old.

00:59 I started a tree nursery because I wanted

01:04 to see more people planting trees and I also wanted

01:09 to donate trees for those people who don't have trees.

01:12 It was important for me to start my own tree nursery.

01:16 I wanted to make people's life easier.

01:19 Trees are important in our environment.

01:23 It started with 10,000 tree seedlings

01:29 and now it has increased to 30,000 tree seedlings.

01:35 We had a lot of people helping us.

01:37 I educate other people about tree seedlings.

01:42 In my tree nursery, I have samples of trees like bottle brush,

01:47 laveria, cypress and many other.

01:53 I feel happy when I step into my tree nursery seeing the trees

01:58 have really grown and seeing the beautification

02:02 that is coming out to our environment.

02:05 [ Music ]

02:15 In my current school, I was elected

02:19 as the cabinet secretary for environment.

02:22 We have an environmental club with 39 members.

02:27 We do cleanups in our school and also we plant trees.

02:32 We have planted maybe 30 trees now.

02:34 During our cleanups, we have cages

02:37 where we can dump the plastic bottles.

02:40 We need to have a place where we dump the plastics,

02:43 not like littering everywhere.

02:46 [ Music ]

02:49 My dream is to stop using plastic bottles

02:53 and make use of biodegradable bottles.

02:56 [ Music ]

03:01 I give talks to other children for them

03:04 to learn more about the environment.

03:07 I advise children to start planting trees and also telling them

03:12 to stop being afraid and talking to big leaders.

03:17 I've given talks in COP 27.

03:21 I was the youngest delegate at COP 27.

03:25 I got a chance to share my story with all those leaders

03:30 and they promised to do something for the environment.

03:33 How are you going to save the wild animals from drought?

03:38 I also voted for the environment

03:40 and I have won a lot of awards.

03:43 I use modeling and fashion to create awareness

03:46 for environmental issues.

03:50 I've made a dress made of plastics.

03:53 I also made a skirt and a top.

03:55 It was made of carrier bags.

03:57 I wanted to tell people to reduce plastics

04:01 and also to stop littering the environment.

04:05 What Karen is doing, I'm very happy for her.

04:08 Being an environmental ambassador, being a voice for the children,

04:13 she's mentoring a lot of children.

04:15 Proud of her as a mother.

04:18 [ Music ]

04:23 >> As a school, we put environment as one of our key policy documents.

04:28 But when she came in, she gave it the energy.

04:31 Upon being enrolled in the school,

04:33 we realized that she could possibly be an influence.

04:37 Among her peers, the mustard seed that came in the form

04:40 of Karen has transformed the institution in a big way.

04:44 >> This bag can be used another time.

04:47 >> Karen is an outstanding person.

04:50 She's been all over just informing everyone about the environment.

04:55 She's learned so many things.

04:57 She's met so many amazing people.

05:00 And she's a very good inspiration for me.

05:04 >> When I grow up, I'd like to be a doctor to treat sick people

05:08 who are getting affected by the environment.

05:13 My dream is to have my own factory making biodegradable bottles.

05:21 My plan is to reduce the use of plastic bottles.

05:24 I'd like to see more children planting more trees.

05:28 And also, I'd be really happy

05:31 to see more ambassadors doing the work that I'm doing.

05:36 I am proud of what I do.

05:39 I'd like to do more for the environment.

05:42 It makes me feel so happy.

05:44 It also makes the environment happy.

05:47 [ Music ]

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