Yukon's Climate Change Youth Ambassador on COP21

Sabrina Clarke hadn't been at COP21 inParis long before she had what she describes as a "fan-girl" moment. Green Party leader Elizabeth May was sitting right behind her at a policy briefing.

"I couldn't believe it, Iwas so excited," said Clarke, who was in Paris as Yukon's Climate Change Youth Ambassador. "She's one of these bad-ass ladies that I've always looked up to in the political world."

It was a reminder to Clarke that she was in the thick of it learning and talking about climate change, and how policy is negotiated.

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"Honestly, my last few days have been, like, 14 hours of talking about climate change, then falling asleep and [then] doing the same thing," she said from Paris.

Clarke, 21, is an aspiring chemical engineer, so she tried toabsorba lot of the discussions about policy and energy and emerging businesses.

"Ican bring people a lot closer to the process," she said of her role as youth ambassador.

"My main job here at [COP21]has been to try and facilitate information-sharing about the process that goes into international agreements."

She didn't botherto try and squeezein anysight-seeing. It was her third visit toParis, and "I got to do all that and see stuff before."

The other Yukoners

Even as the negotiations in Paris continue into overtime, Yukon's delegates are either back home nowor on their way.

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"Icertainly have tried to take advantage of every opportunity during this week to learn more," said NDP leader Liz Hanson said before leaving Paris.

Liberal leader Sandy Silver agreed, it was a worthwhile trip.

"It was an eye-opener to see how many different smaller jurisdictions are really paying attention to climate change, and also it was great to see allthe different initiatives," Silver said.

Premier Darrell Pasloski said one thing was clear Yukoners have a role to play on the global stage.

"Sharing our experience helps out the world, because there's still a lot of people that just talk about climate change, but don't really realize the consequence or the severity of the changes that are occurring," Pasloski said.