2 Oak Park-River Forest High School seniors take their climate and environment interests, activism to U.N. confab in Dubai

Two Oak Park-River Forest High School seniors with avid interests in climate change and the environment are taking part in a different, more global learning experience this week, up close with world leaders and other like-minded youth at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai.

Katie Stabb and Kate Wallace are part of a group of six from the Chicago area who are more than 7,200 miles away in the United Arab Emirates city. Both girls told Pioneer Press they are passionate about the state of the environment, including climate issues, and hope to hear world leaders make policy promises in those areas — and keep them.

The conference, also called COP28, runs Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. The OPRFHS students are participating Dec. 2 to Dec. 9.

Stabb said she is interested in both the scientific and political aspects of the climate issue. In fact, she told Pioneer Press she has helped on the political campaigns of Brian Straw, as he successfully ran for Oak Park village trustee, and Kina Collins, when she mounted a congressional run against longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Chicago.

Wallace is treasurer of the OPRFHS Environmental Club and is on the school’s Sustainability Committee, where students, board members and school administrators work to implement a new climate plan. Her longtime interest in nature piqued her concerns about the environment and led the teen to immerse herself in the issue, she told Pioneer Press.

Stabb and Wallace, along with the other area students chosen for the trip, are “young climate leaders, chosen for their passion and local activism,” according to a news release announcing their participation in COP28.

The are also members of It’s Our Future, a youth environmental advocacy program run by Seven Generations Ahead, a Chicago-area nonprofit organization.

The conference brings together tens of thousands of people from around the world, including global political and business leaders, climate experts and youth advocates, the release states.

“This is one of the most consequential COP meetings in the conference’s history given the undeniable urgency of the climate crisis,” the release states.