Kayla Ling

Kayla Ling is a freshman at Harvard College, hopeful to study Environmental Science & Public Policy and Art, Film, & Visual Studies. She is driven by the belief that climate change does not just present a daunting crisis to mitigate, but also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve climate justice internationally. Some of Kayla’s previous environmentalism work includes developing No Waste Nation, a youth social media project to connect and fund youth waste reducers around the world; winning and working with the National Geographic Slingshot Challenge to support other youth changemakers; leading two youth climate groups in San Mateo, California; and working in Stanford’s Paleobiology Lab to document biodiversity history in marine environments. 

Kayla is also passionate about storytelling for climate justice and beyond. As a filmmaker and former Editor-in-Chief of her high school’s Pacemaker-winning newspaper, she has spent years developing multimedia and print articles about topics including California criminal justice, international climate policy, undocumented immigration in the Bay Area, WWII’s Japanese American soldiers, the challenges facing disabled adults, and San Francisco’s disappearing fog. 

Beyond CSSL, Kayla is involved in the Harvard Undergraduate Marketing Group, the Harvard Undergraduate Association’s Social Committee, and The Crimson. In her free time, she enjoys cooking Taiwanese food and watching Marvel movies. Kayla is honored to be working with CSSL this year, and she can’t wait to learn about contributing to sustainability at Harvard!