Green Generation Initiative founder Elizabeth Wathuti efforts to preserve the enironment are making ripples over the globe.
On Tuesday, Wathuti was unveiled among a list of high net worth and impactful world leaders in Time Magazines' annual TIME100 Impact Awards.
She was praised for her effort to bring up an environmentally-loving generation and her initiative, which she founded in 2016, has already planted 30,000 trees in Kenya alone.
"The 28-year-old’s real goal is to sow the seeds of climate consciousness and advocacy in other young people," read a description of the environmentally on Time website.
"Over the last few years, Wathuti has embraced becoming a spokesperson of sorts. She addressed more than 100 heads of state at COP26 in 2021, detailing how the climate crisis is already exacting a devastating toll on low-income countries and imploring leaders of the developed world to act urgently."
So powerful was Wathuti's speech at COP26 that she caught the attention of Joe Biden, the then-newly installed leader of the free world.
In her address at the UN climate change conference in Glasgow in November 2021, Wathuti's impassioned speech swayed US President Joe Biden to defy his security.
In her recall in a later interview, she noted that the leader of the free world disregarded a signal from his security detail to leave while she was giving the address.
"I saw Biden’s security team trying to signal to the president that it was time to leave but he waved them off. He wanted to listen. Perhaps I had something he really needed to hear," she stated.
The award marks the 11th feather on her cap since she launched her initiative eight years ago. Here is a list of 10 other awards she has received over the period;
1. 2016 fourth Wangari Maathai Scholarship Award
2. Africa Green Person of the Year 2019 Award by the Eleven Eleven Twelve Foundation.
3. The Diana International Award (2019)
4. UN Young Champions of the Earth Regional finalist for Africa (2019)
5. International Youth Day 2019 Recognition by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
6. Green Climate Fund Climate Youth Champion Award 2019
7. TIME100 Next 2022
8. 100 Most Influential African Women in 2022.
9.100 Most Influential Young African by the Africa Youth Awards.
10. Bloggers Association of Kenya - BAKE Awards (2018) for the best environmental blog.
