In November 2022, Santa Clarita eighth grade student Ismachiah Oduwole, 12, took two soccer balls along to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup. His simple idea was to get as many people from different countries, who were wearing the jerseys of their respective countries, to sign what he called the climate ball and have them pledge to do more when they all got back their respective homes. Fans, locals, tourists in Qatar, some football officials, traders and many others from 28 different countries, signed the ball.

Corporate America has now taken notice of Oduwole and his climate and sustainability awareness initiatives. The CEO of Hawaiian Airlines – Peter Ingram, has signed Oduwole’s climate ball at the company’s headquarters at a simple but elegant event in Honolulu.

“When I learned about what you were doing at such a young age, I was pleased to invite you and make the time to sign your climate ball,” Peter told Oduwole at the event. “Here at Hawaiian Airlines, we are doing away with single use plastic, and are introducing aluminum instead of plastics, for our water supply to passengers on all our flights, as part of reducing the pollution of non-degradable plastics in our world.”

He was presented with an appreciation gift by the Hawaiian Airlines CEO, after the ball signing.

Oduwole now looks forward to meeting with more CEO’s in the US and possibly North America to hear their commitments to reducing the effect of climate change so he can share these with young people in America and the rest of the world to inspire them do more around sustainability in their daily lives.

Hawaii Airlines CEO Peter Ingram after signing Ismachiah Oduwole’s climate ball in Honolulu

Hawaii Airlines CEO Peter Ingram signs Ismachiah Oduwole’s climate ball in Honolulu

Hawaii Airlines CEO Peter Ingram welcomes Ismachiah Oduwole to Honolulu