April 2025
Kal Glanznig is a youth ocean and climate advocate, filmmaker, water polo athlete, and Councillor at Sutherland Shire, NSW. He’s the director of the documentary Rising Up, co-founder of the Blue Minds program and Plastic Free Cronulla, and a former World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council member. Kal represented young Australians at COP27 in Egypt and COP28 in the UAE, bringing a passionate voice for climate action to the global stage.
Kal’s connection to nature began early. While still in high school, he led a campaign that secured state government funding to install a 93-kw solar panel system at his school—a $100,000 project. His success inspired other schools across Sydney to follow suit, and the initiative was later adopted by his local council as the Solar My School Program, helping nearly 20 schools install solar.
Before university, Kal noticed how polluted his local bay had become. In response, he co-founded Plastic Free Cronulla with the local Chamber of Commerce. The initiative supports local businesses, schools, and merchants to cut back on plastic use through a gamified ‘Plastic Free Champion’ program. Plastic Free Cronulla also coordinated letters from over 300 local businesses to the NSW Cabinet, successfully advocating for a state ban on single-use plastics, which came into effect in NSW in 2022.
After returning from COP27 at the end of 2022, Kal began a new chapter—filmmaking. His 2024 documentary, Rising Up, explores the growing marine plastics crisis and aims to inspire young people grappling with climate anxiety to take action. The film features voices from around the world, including Grace Marley from Tuvalu, whose powerful story of climate loss moved Kal deeply.
It was a really powerful story that she was able to share,” Kal said. “It’s an encouragement for people watching the documentary and for Australians to join the amazing work that our neighbors in the Pacific are doing when it comes to fighting climate change.”
Through documentaries like Rising Up, Kal hopes to shift perceptions and promote empathy by highlighting the challenges faced, alongside the beauty of the cultures and natural environment of the Pacific Island nations. He believes storytelling is key to breaking down barriers and sparking action—especially among young people.
With recent research showing that 67% of young Australians feel anxious about the negative impacts of climate change, Kal has turned his focus to solutions that build hope and resilience. He co-founded the Blue Minds program with Cooper Chapman (founder of Good Human Factory) and Surfers for Climate, delivering free, expert-led workshops in high schools, TAFEs and universities. The program supports young people to manage eco-anxiety, develop skills to lead change and generate solutions.
It’s super important to find ways to get young people to have self-belief,” said Kal. “My generation and Gen Z has a crucial role to play in building the movement and creating the change that the world needs.”
In 2024, Kal ran as an independent candidate and became the youngest councillor elected to the Sutherland Shire. He sees the rising political influence of Generation Z and Millennials as a turning point, and encourages young Australians to use their voices at the ballot box.
Your individual vote, your individual action, your individual conversation, will all make a huge difference,” said Kal.
Kal’s journey shows what’s possible when passion meets action—and how young Australians can turn climate anxiety into meaningful change.