She may be only seven years old, but this month Camille Felty took a first step to changing the world for the better.
On Saturday, November 2, Camille led a climate change awareness rally in New London’s Parade Plaza. With her team of family, friends, and teachers around her, Camille organized a ribbon project during which an estimated 40-50 people attended. The ribbon project invited people to write down what they are most afraid to lose as the result of climate change, such as a favorite beach or park. Camille and her family will send the ribbons to an organizational headquarters in New York. Ribbons from New London will be woven together with strands from all over the world.
“It felt awesome that I was doing something that could help save the earth,” Camille said. “My Dad said we could make this an annual event, so we’re going to do this every year.”
Camille, of Montville, is a 2nd grader at the Regional Multicultural Magnet School (RMMS) in New London, the oldest interdistrict magnet elementary school in the country. Operated by LEARN, RMMS offers the only fully accredited International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme in the region. To earn the IB status, RMMS aligned its curriculum to tenets emphasizing intellectual and personal skills, as well as embracing student curiosity and fostering lifelong learning.
Camille’s climate change rally grew out of RMMS’s commitment to those IB ideals. Her interest was piqued when the class viewed a United Nations film called The World’s Largest Lesson about climate change. The film raised Camille’s awareness on the effects of forest fires in the Amazon, too much reliance on beef, pork, and poultry, and consumption of fossil fuels.
She began learning more and drew inspiration from teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who recently delivered a speech before the U.N. on the need for environmental action. Inspired by Thunberg to become an “eco-warrior,” Camille embraced the U.N.’s mission and global goals to reduce poverty, end world hunger, and provide medicine to all people in need, regardless of where they live or their income.
Now Camille aspires to be an activist herself. She has already sparked the interest of many, including her 2nd grade teacher Joanne Huber, the RMMS staff and administration, and her family.
“To say we are so extremely proud of Camille is an understatement,” said her father, John Felty. “She simply amazed us with her dedication to this cause. I remember distinctly the day I picked her up from RMMS and she said, ‘Dad, I want to hold a protest."
For her part, Camille was happy to make a difference and to make her family proud. She believes that everyone shares the planet and needs to do their part to keep it healthy.
