PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Luna Abadia is a teen on a climate change mission.
The senior at Lincoln High School recently scored another award for her work to spread her message around the world.
Luna has helped lead world climate simulations for high school students. She founded the Effective Climate Action Project in the summer of 2020.
“We’re a youth-run organization and our mission is to promote effective and systemic solutions to climate change,” Luna said. “Our voices do matter, especially as youth.”
Luna said they have three initiatives: the first is facilitating interactive workshops.
“Especially for youth, it’s an opportunity to step into that role as a decision-maker — really learning to advocate for your own ideas, your passions and then working collaboratively,” she said.
The organization also focuses on online activism and local policy work, such as getting involved with climate-related bills making their way through the state legislature.
Luna recently won the President’s Environmental Youth Award and she was among the 25 people named “2021 International Young Eco-Heroes.”
“What does make me hopeful about the climate is that we have so many people focusing on it,” she said.
Learn more about the Effective Climate Action Project
Luna’s team has trained youth in several other countries so they can run simulations and expand their reach globally. When she graduates this spring, she hopes to pass the baton to other youth in order to keep the voices fresh.
“It’s been very personal for me and I think the reason why I became involved in climate activism in the first place was because I had this really raw, intrinsic fear within me about where we’re headed and I felt hopeless to begin with,” she said, “but I think what’s helped me find my voice is learning to channel that sense of fear into motivation.”