Kent's very own Greta Thunberg, 10-year-old Lily Winter from Horsmonden Tunbridge Wells
Published: 13:34, 08 August 2019
Updated: 17:41, 08 August 2019
A 10-year-old girl stood up and spoke at a full council meeting to share her fear of climate change.
Kent's very own Greta Thunberg, Lily Winter, is pressing "we need to act now" to save the planet from irreversible damage.
She began her speech at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council with: "I love the environment and believe every living thing deserves a life."
The young activist suggested using less petrol, renewable energy and reducing plastic packaging during her two-minute talk.
She said: "We need to act now to make a positive change to our climate and reduce pollution so my generation has a better quality of life going forward."
The Horsmonden Primary School pupil spoke in front of more than 100 people.
Making quite the impact, Lily got a standing ovation.
Her passion for climate change awareness is similar to that of Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old from Sweden who began protesting outside the Swedish parliament last year, and has since spoken at political and environmental events across the globe.
But this isn't the first time Lily has made her mark on the town.
The Lamberts Place resident recently met with MP Greg Clark to discuss several issues including building work harming animal habitats.
She also spoke at a Horsmonden Parish Council meeting about creating a community garden, which was approved.
This led to Lily being invited to speak at the full borough council meeting by Cllr Jane March, who also chairs the parish council.
Lily's mum Rebecca said: "I am so proud of her for speaking at the meeting and of her passion for the environment.
"She did the speech all off her own back, she's very bright. I see her having a future in politics."
After speaking at the meeting, Lily said: "I felt a bit nervous but I'm glad I stood up in front of the council and spoke about climate change because something needs to be done about it."
Besides her keen interest in the community, the 10-year-old enjoys making clothes, spending time with her family and looking after their guinea pigs and kittens.
Lily was the last of six speakers who spoke about environmental issues before the council voted on a climate emergency motion.
Much to Lily's delight, the motion was passed.
Read more: All the latest news from Tunbridge Wells
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Rebecca Tuffin