Senior Gives Keynote Speech at Environmental Conference

Hannah Wente, Co-Editor-In-Chief

For most high school students, their biggest experience with public speaking is having to give a PowerPoint presentation in front of their class. For senior Eden Vitoff, it was speaking in front 600 people in a city 600 miles away.

Vitoff got the opportunity to give speech in Pittsburg, PA at the Green Schools Conference and Expo (GSCE).

“It was an unforgettable experience. First of all, it was the first trip I’d ever take on a plane by myself, so that new feeling of independence was amazing,” Vitoff said.

Vitoff only got an hour and a half of sleep before this speech, because his flight was delayed several hours. He didn’t arrive in Pittsburgh until 3:30 a.m., but still was full of energy for his speech.

“I wanted to tell my story through my speech and talk about why I’m motivated to do the things I do. I also wanted to stress the importance of tackling global warming immediately while we still have the chance to do something,” he said. “The fact is the issue of climate change is a human rights issue. It’s affecting people all over the globe in the form of fires, droughts, floods, and famines. Extinction rates are rising drastically; our sea level is rising drastically. And when the state and our school system fails to make meaningful change to do their part to help combat this crisis, we youth refuse to remain silent.”

Vitoff wasn’t too nervous for this speech because of his experience in public speaking. Through his experience in advocating for environmental change, he’s had plenty of time to sharpen his skills.

“I’ve delivered rally speeches at the doorsteps of legislators, I’ve given scientific lectures to hundreds of students and members of the community, I’ve hosted eco-events for the environmental club, and more,” Vitoff said.

But this speech was on a whole new level.

“But this speech was definitely the most important one I’ve ever given. I was giving it to 600 people; that crowd consisted of teachers, administrators, state representatives and senators, nonprofit partners, and students,” he said.

Vitoff got the opportunity to speak at the conference because we won an essay contest the Nature’s Voices Project about his environmental work and belief in conservation. Vitoff is the co-founder and executive director of Green LYFE Network, a nonprofit focused on environmental issues.

“I will continue fighting the good fight. Throughout the next month, the Green LYFE Network is kicking off the statewide campaign that we’ve been planning for a long time. It will involve getting youth across the state to give presentations to their municipal leaders, demanding that these leaders take immediate action in their cities to address specific environmental issues and work toward reaching carbon neutrality by at least 2040,” he said. “In addition to activism at the city level, all the local campaigns across the state will ultimately unite in a string of rallies in Springfield, where we will deliver petitions to our state legislators and to the governor, urging their support of the Illinois Clean Jobs Bill.”