By Abbas Nazil
A young environmental advocate from Whitehorse, Pearl Pique Carpina, has been appointed to Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Youth Council, making her the sole representative from the Northern territories in the newly formed 12-member cohort.
The council, established by the federal government, advises on environmental, nature, and climate-related policies, ensuring that youth voices contribute to national decision-making.
Carpina, who will serve a two-year term, brings a wealth of experience in environmental science, climate change, and land-use projects.
She is a recent graduate of the northern environmental and conservation sciences program at Yukon University and currently works as an assessment officer with the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board.
Her career has already taken her to international platforms, including Parliament Hill in Ottawa, as well as Sweden, France, Norway, and Iceland, where she has engaged in environmental discussions.
Her passion for the environment stems from her childhood in the Philippines, where she grew up on a family rice farm, surrounded by farm animals and nature.
This early exposure to agricultural life sparked her connection to the land, which she has carried into her professional work in the Yukon.
Now, she hopes to integrate scientific knowledge with traditional wisdom—both from her upbringing and from Indigenous knowledge in the Yukon—to inform climate policy discussions.
Carpina is particularly interested in how political decision-making incorporates environmental considerations, questioning how science is applied in shaping policies.
She aims to ensure that the perspectives of young people and marginalized communities are included in climate discussions, especially in addressing the challenges of climate change in Canada’s northern regions.
Emily Ross, a former member of the council from 2022 to 2024, described her experience as transformative.
She emphasized that while the council faced bureaucratic hurdles, it remained committed to systemic change.
Ross recalled moments where members successfully conveyed the urgency of climate issues affecting their communities.
With a federal election now underway, the new cohort of the council begins its work at a critical juncture.
Ross noted that political transitions can create uncertainty for long-term climate initiatives, but they also underscore the importance of youth participation.
Regardless of who holds power, she stressed that youth perspectives must be central to climate decision-making to ensure that future generations are represented in shaping sustainable policies.