A 2019 graduate of Faasao Marist High School is attending the Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
He is Daniel Torres Balauro, a student at the prestigious Swarthmore College.
Daniel, 20, shared with KHJ News that being at the international conference has been one of the best experiences of his life.
“Being able to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, has been one of the greatest experiences ever. I’ve been able to talk to so many activists and community leaders from around the world, meet high-level government officials including Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Climate Envoy John Kerry, and even got to connect with Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC. However, the most important thing I’ve noticed is those that are not currently in the room — and that includes many Pacific nations like ours who face the first and worst impacts of climate change.”
Daniel is part of the Swathmore University delegation to COP26
He continued, “It’s even more interesting for our own island home, American Samoa: We are a South Pacific nation, but are also under the jurisdiction of the United States, one of the top contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. Even in these important conversations that are deeply relevant to us, there is little to no representation from any of our territories in the US delegations.”
Daniel said it was important to have an island voice at the international stage.
“These issues and inequalities in our island’s representation is exactly what motivates me. Although I am under the Swarthmore College delegation, I feel that I am representing my home, American Samoa, and will continue to be an active advocate for more recognition of our issues, while simultaneously seeking for the right solutions to solve it.
“As of now, I am currently in the process of developing a community project that addresses these very same issues.. and I hope folks back home can help support as soon as we launch it!”
At Swathmord Daniel has won the Eugene M. Lang Opportunity Scholarship (LOS) which awards students $10,000 plus to craft effective and innovative solutions to complex social challenges.
Daniel has selected climate change as his project.
He explained, “For Pacific Islanders, the climate crisis represents not only ecological losses, but also the threat to erase cultures and identities. Despite this fact, the narrative of Pacific communities, alongside those of others on the front lines of climate change, are often disregarded in the mainstream environmental movement. My project aims to address these inequalities by developing a program to equip Pacific Islanders with the political advocacy tools to effectively contribute to national climate justice discourse. I hope to demonstrate that an inclusive advocacy community is not just valuable, but absolutely crucial in achieving both climate and racial justice.”
