In her spare time for the past few years, La Jolla High School student Emma Weibel has worked to raise awareness among her peers about climate issues. This took the form of informational videos, marches, forming a club and even joining a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency.

She is now recognized as one of San Diego County’s 25 Most Outstanding Teens, an honor designed to highlight young people nominated by community members for their contributions in science, arts and culture, civic engagement and activism, their commitment to personal excellence and courage their ability to overcome personal adversity.

Each candidate was interviewed by the San Diego County Youth Public Defender Board. The winners will be honored at a ceremony on Monday, November 18.

“I’m really happy and excited to be recognized because there are so many cool and inspiring young people (in the 25 most outstanding teenagers) so it means a lot to inspire others with my work,” said Emma. “I’ve been doing (environmental work) for a while, so for me it’s never been about recognition. But it means a lot. It can be isolating to feel like others don’t care about your problems like I do. But it shows that other people see this work as valuable.”

San Diego Unified School District Administrator Cody Petterson, who nominated Emma for the honor, became aware of her work before joining the school board.

“It was very clear from the beginning that she was an incredibly effective organizer in pursuing a cause,” said Petterson, whose District C includes La Jolla. “And to see someone so young so motivated and so talented bring the charisma and talent to motivate the participants was so impressive. … Nominating her was an easy call for me. … It’s not just exciting that Emma and people like her are doing this work, it’s necessary.”

Emma’s accomplishments include an internship with the local environmental advocacy organization SanDiego350 and her founding and presidency of the La Jolla High School Environmental Action Club.

“It was a passion project of mine to instill passion in climate action in students,” said LJHS senior Emma. “La Jolla is not on the front lines of climate issues, so I want to bring education to make our community aware.”

Organized environmental action a student march in September 2023 to support the end of fossil fuel use and organized a thrift store style clothing exchange in April 2023 so students can get rid of clothes they don’t need in exchange for other people’s items in an effort to encourage reuse.

The club also spearheaded a campaign to save the school’s Advanced Placement environmental science class, which was in danger of being canceled due to lack of funding. Emma is now enrolled in that class.

She is also listed as a plaintiff, along with 17 other young Californians, in Genesis B. v. US Environmental Protection Agency, a lawsuit filed last year that claims “the EPA discriminated against (plaintiffs) when they were children by diminishing the value of economic. of their lives and their futures when deciding whether and how much climate pollution to allow,” according to Youth V. Gov, the organization that filed the lawsuit.

In September, oral arguments were presented, encouraging the United States District Court for the Central District of California to allow the case to proceed to trial. Youth V. The government is waiting for this decision.

In the meantime, Emma said she plans to continue to raise awareness of climate issues among young people.

“Climate change is a fundamental problem and we should be angry about it,” she said. “Older generations caused the climate crisis and put the onus of fixing it on us, which isn’t fair, but we don’t have time to wait. It’s such a complicated issue that touches everything. For young people, it’s good for them to see adults who care about these issues and their work to solve them, so this award shows that this work matters. This can mean a lot to young people who feel forgotten by the older generation.”

Her work reaching young people goes back to her time at Muirlands Middle School in La Jolla, when she helped create a video for the Climate Video Challenge, an effort of the California Coastal Commission’s public education program.

For those who want to get involved in such causes, Emma suggests starting small.

“None of us started out big,” she said. “If you’re interested in getting involved…deciding to volunteer is a big step because teenagers have other things going on in their lives. But you don’t have to devote all your time to one thing.

“Finding this sense of purpose changed my life. … I understand how overwhelming things can be right now, but the thing that has helped me is taking action. But it’s never top to bottom. You can start with the smallest things and work your way up. No climate activist started with massive things.”