Today, ACE Action Fellow Victoria Barrett will speak on a panel at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The panel, Youth At The Forefront: Bridging the Gap Between Climate Change and Climate Action, will feature the youth perspective on climate action in the lead-up to the Paris Climate Talks later this month.

Victoria is a youth climate leader who is not afraid to take action. In addition to taking part in local climate activism in New York, Victoria has stepped onto the national stage by joining as a plaintiff in a ground-breaking lawsuit brought by young people across the country against the United States government for not taking fast enough action on climate change. According to Our Children’s Trust, the group that has helped to organize the suit, “the Complaint alleges the Federal Government is violating the youth’s constitutional rights by promoting the development and use of fossil fuels.”

By supporting something that is detrimental to the environment, they are putting us, the youth, at risk.

—Victoria Barrett on why she joined a lawsuit against the federal government over climate change

Why take the climate fight to court? “We want them to acknowledge the fact that the U.S. government has been supporting fossil fuels, and fossil fuels are detrimental to our environment…By supporting something that is detrimental to the environment, they are putting us, the youth, at risk,” Victoria explained in an interview with the Weather Channel earlier this year. With the Paris Climate Talks just a few weeks away, the time for youth around the world to raise their voices for climate action is now. The United Nations panel today will give Victoria and the other youth participants and advocates a chance to raise their voices on an international stage.

Learn more about Victoria’s incredible story as a youth climate champion from her interview in VICE magazine.