Following a plea by Prof Saleemul Huq for youth to take action, Jonathan Levy talks to Amy Meek, environmental and climate activist Co-Founder and CEO of Kids Against Plastic

Along with her younger sister Ella, Amy launched an award-winning campaign, now charity, called Kids Against Plastic in 2016. Amy and Ella were both awarded British Empire Medals in the 2022 Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in recognition of their voluntary service to the natural environment. Their work has also been recognised by UNESCO as ‘Green Citizens’.

For the 6 years since Kids Against Plastic’s launch, Amy has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the negative effects of petroleum plastic on the environment and empower others to take action to combat it. Kids Against Plastic now has a team of over 240 young people around the world as part of the KAP Club, and the Plastic Clever scheme has had over 1400 schools and numerous cafes and businesses sign up since its launch in early 2019. Plus, the girls have collected over 100,000 pieces of plastic litter along the way, and co-authored the books Be Plastic Clever and Be Climate Clever together. Through her work, Amy has spoken to kids around the UK, ministers in all three Parliaments in Great Britain, and diplomats and young people at the UN Headquarters in Geneva. She is also a two-time TEDx speaker, speaking firstly at TEDx Exeter alongside her sister in 2018, and most recently at TEDx Geneva 2021.

LISTEN to the full interview in the next episode (15) audio edition podcast