CREATING a website where young people have a say about the future of the planet has earned a Maidstone resident a place in the 2012 Young Social Pioneer program.
Linh Do is one of 18 young Australians hand-picked for the Foundation for Young Australians program, which targets inspirational social change leaders. She’s been selected for her role in creating The Verb, a web-based media/advocacy project that works with emerging young journalists.
The 12-month leadership program, now in its fourth year, will give Ms Do training and development in leadership and networking to help continue and expand the project and help with other advocacy.
Ms Do, an environmentalist and international politics/environmental studies student at Melbourne University, says the recognition is a great chance to extend the reach of The Verb.
The Verb, formerly known as Speak Your Mind, focuses on environmental issues that don’t receive adequate coverage elsewhere.
“We have got people working on it from Melbourne, Kenya, South Africa — all over the world,” she says.
Her “lightbulb” moment came during the 2009 United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen.
“I realised that there was this real gap in reporting, where a lot of people in the media didn’t have the existing knowledge about the science behind these issues.”
The Verb has covered all the major climate change conferences since Copenhagen, producing daily policy updates and human interest stories on those affected by climate change.
Go to The Verb at theverb.org
