Penelope Lea

Penelope Lea
Born
Kjelsås, Oslo, Norway
Known forEnvironmentalism, climate change mitigation

Penelope Lea is a Norwegian climate activist who became the second-youngest ambassador for UNICEF at the age of 15.[1]

Activism

Lea is from Kjelsås, Oslo. Her mother is a children's book writer.[2] When she was eight, Lea joined the Eco-Agents, a youth climate group. She gave her first speech aged nine at a Nature and Youth national camp.[3] She was elected as a board member of the Eco-Agents when she was 11.[1] At twelve, Lea was one of seven people to join the Children's Climate Panel, founded by the Eco-Agents.[3]

In 2018, Lea became the youngest nominee for the Frivillighetsprisen [no] (Volunteer Award), at the age of fourteen.[3] She won the award and donated the kr 50,000 (US$6,000 in 2019) prize to a lawsuit filed jointly by Greenpeace and Nature and Youth against the Norwegian government for its oil contracts.[4]

In 2019, Lea became a climate advisor to Knut Storberget and was a youth ambassador for Norway at the UNICEF summit for World Children's Day.[5][6] In October 2019, Lea became the first climate ambassador for UNICEF; her age of 15 made her the second-youngest UNICEF ambassador in history.[1][7][8] She was the fifth Norwegian ambassador and the first to be appointed since 2007.[9] At the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25), Lea was one of five child activists to speak at an event organized by UNICEF and the OHCHR.[10]

Books

  • Lea, Penelope (2021). I hverandres verden. 11 samtaler om klima, natur, aktivisme, politikk og menneskerettigheter [In Each Other's World. 11 talks on climate, nature, activism, politics and human rights].

References

  1. ^ a b c "Climate change: COP25 recognises that children are leading climate change activism". BBC. 10 December 2019. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  2. ^ Ingrid Røise Kielland (20 June 2019). "Når de voksne ikke klarer å redde fremtiden, må Penelope Lea (14) gjøre det". D2. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Haugtrø, Beate (26 November 2018). "Penelope Lea (14) er så engasjert for miljøet at ho er nominert til Frivillighetsprisen". Framtida (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  4. ^ Kjøllesdal, Bente; Ingvild Eide Leirfall (30 August 2019). "Penelope Lea donerer prispengar til klimasøksmål". Framtida (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  5. ^ Ragnhild Moen Holø; Hans Andreas Solbakken (10 May 2019). "Har du hørt om Penelope Lea?". NRK. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  6. ^ "David Beckham and Millie Bobby Brown headline UN summit to demand rights for every child". UNICEF. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  7. ^ Ingvild Eide Leirfall (30 September 2019). "Klimaaktivist Penelope Lea (15) er ny UNICEF-ambassadør". Framtida (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  8. ^ Harvey, Fiona (9 December 2019). "COP25 climate summit: put children at heart of tackling crisis, says UN". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Unicef Norway appoints teenage climate activist as ambassador". The Local. 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 4 October 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  10. ^ "COP 25: Young climate activists call for urgent action on the climate crisis at UNICEF-OHCHR event". UNICEF. 6 December 2019. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.

Further reading