Mariam AlSaad on Global Warming and Youth-Led Climate Action in Kuwait

Mariam AlSaad, a 27-year-old Kuwaiti civil and structural engineer, launched one of her nation’s first environmental advocacy organizations, AlManakh, meaning “The Climate,” in 2021. 

At the time, she had just completed her master’s degree in sustainable cities at the University of Leeds and was working in the design department at Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works. “I was really frustrated because there wasn’t a lot of attention to the topic of sustainability,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Okay, there has to be someone to start some kind of conversation about this in a very serious way.’”