Climate change activist Sophie Handford brings message of hope to Taupō

Climate change activist Sophie Handford meeting with Kids Greening Taupō student leaders at Waipāhīhī Botanical Reserve. Photo / Sian Moffitt

New Zealand's youngest district councillor and climate activist Sophie Handford has a message of hope - there are things we can all do to try to change the future.

She was in Taupō recently to meet with Kids Greening Taupō student leaders and with college-age students trying to effect environmental change and she knows only too well what it feels like to have a sense of hopelessness about the future.

Sophie, 19, was last year elected to the Kapiti District Council and said at the time that political inaction over climate change had compelled her to stand.

Sophie is also co-ordinator of the Kapiti Student Volunteer Army and was involved with the Labour Party's campaign for the Otaki electorate which was won by Labour candidate Terisa Ngobi.

But she is perhaps best known as one of the organisers of School Strike for Climate Change and the Vote Climate 2020 campaign which was run to increase the dialogue and momentum behind climate change as an election issue.

School Strike 4 Climate national coordinator Sophie Handford (centre) leads students in a march to Parliament in Wellington on March 15, 2019. Photo / Supplied

In her role on the Kapiti District Council Sophie holds the climate and youth portfolios and says a lot of the work she does is connecting with different action groups in the community and making sure their voice is being heard, as well as the voices of young people and of the Kapiti Youth Council.

"What I've become acutely aware of is that everything we're talking about in a council setting directly impacts the future for us."

Sophie was invited to Taupō by Kids Greening Taupō and had a busy schedule during the two days she was in town. She ran a teacher professional development workshop ("that was an interesting experience because it's the first one I've ever run") and later that day held a workshop with Kids Greening Taupō's student leaders.

The following day she held a session with students from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whakarewa i te reo ki Tūwharetoa, Tauhara College, some home schooled students and some from Hilltop School.

She says the goal of the workshop was to let the students know there were things they could do that made a difference to the future.

"The purpose is that so they don't feel this overwhelming fear when they know what climate change is, but actually feel empowered and know what to do. I want them to get a basic understanding of why climate change is happening and its impacts … but also feel like they can communicate that to others and be part of the solutions and bringing people together to make a difference."

Sophie Handford (at left, front row) held a workshop and tree planting with Taupō students at the Taupō Community Gardens. Photo / Sian Moffitt

Sophie says while climate change is a global issue that affects every single person, this generation now has a real opportunity to be the ones that save the world.

"It's important that we empower each other to play our roles in that and to do what we can in whatever space we are in within our kura, schools and families and communities to share that, and I see these last few days as being what I can do to help in that sense."

Sophie says the task at hand seems so overwhelming that it's normal for people to feel hopeless and that there's nothing they can do. In her discussions with the Taupō students she asked them how information about climate change made them feel. The answers included sad, angry and scared.

She says it can be reassuring to know that other people all feel like that at some point to and the main thing is to normalise the feeling, talk about it, share what is being done and make conscious decisions to make things better.

"For example: rethinking about 'what shall I do with this piece of rubbish in my hand? Can I reuse it, can someone else use it? Going to the supermarket and thinking: do I really need to buy this?"

Sophie says while she knows a lot about environmental activism and initiatives in Kapiti, it's been heartening to come to Taupō and see there are other passionate young people working hard around New Zealand, and running workshops has presented a new opportunity.

"I've really enjoyed this because you can see people can feed into it and get stuff out of it and ask questions, so I've learned a lot too about how I can best communicate this to others, especially young students and what that looks like and the best way to make sure that they don't leave that discussion feeling like they can't do anything.

"I've learned a lot myself, a lot about the different perspectives young people have about the things that they are worried about in their community.

"It was so interesting hearing from the kura students and the things they are doing around gardening in their school and water and there were some really awesome insights that the kura bring and te ao Māori as a world view. There's lot of things that they can teach us about living more in balance with the natural environment and in harmony with species and nature as well."

Sophie Handford was jointly awarded the supreme award at the 2019 Wellingtonian of the Year awards. Photo / File

Is she the Greta Thunberg of Paraparaumu? Sophie laughs at the idea, but says Greta is "a huge inspiration".

"I had an huge opportunity to be on a video call with her this year and have a conversation with her. Her age and how fierce she is, she's not afraid to stand up to global leaders and tell them they are not doing enough and give them a challenge.

"Her courage and all of those things she has in bucketloads and always projects is a huge reminder to us all that we have that inside of us and whether we are using it for the greater good of the planet while we still can."

Sian Moffitt of Kids Greening Taupō said the students' workshop with Sophie had been a good opportunity to get students together to network, to feel empowered to make change and the things that had come out of it had been inspiring, with some amazing ideas being put forward.

She said one student had wondered what difference they alone could make and compared themselves to a grain of sand.

"But when grains come together they form a beach and that can make change. Everyone that comes together we can make a movement, we have a voice and it's empowering students to be able to use that and have the knowledge."

Feedback from Sophie's student workshop included: "Realising I am capable of protecting and fighting for the environment." "I feel more protective of my whenua and I got to meet new people with all different thoughts and ideas." "It helped me fully understand what climate change is." "I loved it."