Demystifying climate change: Edinburgh Law student chosen as Earth Fellow
Tue 5 November 2024
LLM Global Environment and Climate Change Law student Jenny Salmon is one of four Earth Fellows for 2024/25. As part of the Edinburgh Earth Initiative, Earth Fellows are undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students at the University who work on impactful, short-term, paid climate, environment, and sustainability-related projects and research.
As a Postgraduate Earth Fellow, Jenny will be developing two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The first, 'Learning for a Sustainable Future,' will allow learners to critically reflect on the range, scope and nature of sustainability and to consider the role of personal values and frameworks in this. The second course, 'Learning for a Sustainable Future: Live at COP29,' will investigate the broader context of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) and allow learners to consider other associated frameworks such as the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Jenny has a background in climate advocacy and is the outgoing UNFCC Climate Youth Delegate for Ireland and previously represented Irish youth at COP27 in Egypt with NGO Concern Worldwide as their inaugural Youth Climate Ambassador.
She hopes that through her work as an Earth Fellow, she can continue to help bring clarity to the climate change process. She said: “A big part of climate advocacy for me has involved demystifying aspects of the UN’s climate change process for young people in Ireland, and doing my best to ensure that young people had their say in climate policy decisions in Ireland. Having taken part in the Climate Youth Negotiator’s Academy too, I’ve experienced first-hand the ways in which being educated about climate change, particularly in terms of international negotiations, can empower you to be able to speak out and contribute to COP discourse in a strategic and meaningful way. Hence, as an Earth Fellow, I hope to really continue this work in terms of demystifying climate processes for young people.”
Jenny enjoys studying the LLM Global Environment and Climate Change Law as it gives students the opportunity to take optional courses alongside core modules, which she feels is important as climate change should not be seen in isolation but instead across all areas of law.
She added: “I’m loving learning from both the professors and the peers in my class. We have such a wide range of voices in our class, all with such invaluable experiences to share so it’s been really great getting to learn from each other.”
Jenny plans to continue her work in helping to achieve climate justice - ensuring that responses to climate change are fair and equitable, particularly for communities most vulnerable to its impacts - when she graduates from Edinburgh Law School next year.
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