The second season of our Young Climate Stories series will premiere at the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF)—the world's largest film festival devoted to architecture and design—which returns to New York from October 12-17, 2026.

Three short documentary films from the new season will be shown during two separate screenings as part of the festival. These films each follow a participant in Cycle 02 of the Young Climate Prize, a unique award program organized by The World Around, and explore their work to improve life in their community in the face of the climate crisis. Find out more details about the films below.

Each of the two screening sessions will following a conversation with The World Around's Beatrice Galilee, YCP alum Dayana Blanco Quiroga and her mentor Sebastián Acampante, who are the subject of the film How To Plant A Lake.

Tickets are available for both screenings, and we'd love to see you there! Select your preferred date below.

Thursday, October 15, 2026 – 6:30pm @ Village East by Angelika

Saturday, October 17, 2026 – 4pm @ Village East by Angelika

How to Plant a Lake

How To Plant A Lake follows Dayana Blanco Quiroga, age 25, who has witnessed first-hand how Bolivia’s Uru Uru Lake has become dangerously choked with mining runoff and industrial waste, severely impacting the future of seven Indigenous communities and the 76 bird species that call its wetland shores home. Alongside her mentor, Argentine curator Sebastián Acampante, and her Uru Uru Team, the Aymara climate leader is fighting back by building floating rafts of totora reeds—a native plant her ancestors knew as a natural purifier—to draw the toxins out of the lake. 

A Garden in the Desert

Set in the desertic refugee camps of Algeria, A Garden in the Desert follows Mohamed Salem Mohamed Ali, a young Sahrawi refugee and farmer, as he confronts the challenges of food insecurity and water scarcity in one of the driest places on earth. With input from his mentor Brendan McGetrick, Creative Director of the Museum of the Future in Dubai, Mohamed has created a resourceful and water-efficient garden that offers a model for resilience, regeneration, and hope in the face of climate injustice.

THE ONLY WAY FORWARD

The third documentary follows Carlos Ayvazian, a young Lebanese entrepreneur, and founder of Wasted Treasures, an initiative that turns organic waste into high-calorie biomass products to provide a cost-effective, eco-friendly heating solution. Developed in response to Lebanon’s intertwined energy and environmental crises, the project reduces reliance on wood and fossil fuels while helping households cut heating expenses by up to 60%.

The World Around presents Young Climate Stories

Made possible by MillerKnoll

Young Climate Stories is an ongoing multimedia series that follows the young people at the forefront of climate action. Each story centers a different participant from the Young Climate Prize, exploring how the next generation is working to build a livable, equitable, and sustainable future. Alongside their mentors, these young innovators bring into focus the urgency of the climate crisis and share how they are using their voices, ideas, and designs to reimagine what's possible for communities and the planet.