ActNowFilm: youth climate leaders in conversation with climate experts is an international youth voices in climate change project, selected to showcase at COP28. The film is based on 1-2-1 conversations between 30 pairs of youth climate leaders and world leading climate experts.
Elizabeth Simpson (Beth to those who know her) works as the Student Engagement Coordinator at Cambridge Zero, University of Cambridge, where she aims to empower students with the knowledge, competencies and leadership skills to tackle the climate crisis. Beth's interest in climate and sustainability issues began during her upbringing in Geneva, Switzerland, where her education was influenced by the values of the international organisations that surrounded her. This influenced her decision to pursue an MA in Sustainable Development from the University of Edinburgh. Upon completion of her studies, Beth was elected and worked as Vice President Community at Edinburgh University Students' Association, representing 40,000+ students at the University of Edinburgh on issues ranging from sustainability to the student housing crisis. In this capacity, she attended COP26 as part of the University of Edinburgh delegation, where she deepened her understanding of and interest in international climate negotiations. In her current role at the University of Cambridge, Beth is delighted to be a part of the ActNowFilm project team and feels passionately about the value and role of young people in climate solutions.
Professor Tero Mustonen is a leading conservationist from Finland. He is the Finnish president and founder of the Snowchange Cooperative, a pan-Arctic and boreal forest network of community associations fighting climate change and biodiversity loss. He founded the organisation in 2000 and also holds a position as an adjunct professor of geography at the University of Eastern Finland. He served as a Lead Author for the 6th IPCC Assessment. In 2023, Tero won the Goldman Environmental Prize for his work restoring severely degraded former industrial peat mining and forestry sites throughout Finland.
As a Finnish scholar, fisherman, and leader, Tero is deeply connected to nature and rooted in traditional Finnish culture. He grew up amidst Finland’s lakes and peatlands and has dedicated his life to bringing together Western scientists, village elders, and Sámi Indigenous knowledge holders in the region to preserve traditional culture and environments in the face of human exploitation and climate change. He is the head of the village of Selkie, North Karelia, Finland.