AI, the environment, and debating: The many facets of Joshua Wang

By Cerys Gibby, Youth Press Gallery, Youth Parliament 2025

Photo Caption: Joshua Wang, Youth MP

Joshua Wang is an outgoing person. He’s talkative and a prolific debater, sure, but he’s also the type of person to enjoy hikes and other typical nature-based activities, making him “out-going” in the most literal sense possible.

He’s also one of 123 rangatahi/young people selected to take part in 2025 Youth Parliament and will be representing his East Coast Bays community. He’ll be intertwining his passion for economics and the environment in his work with the Biodiversity Credits Parliamentary Working Group.

In interviewing Wang, it was rather difficult to get his list of debating achievements out of him. Gloating felt unnatural, however he admitted to an impressive history in the extracurricular.

Recently, he attended the New Zealand debating championships in Wellington and was a part of one of only two Auckland teams. He was also named Top Speaker in the 2024 Auckland Premier Junior Division, which was surely no easy feat.

Wang attributes his success to a senior student that introduced him to debating. He hasn’t looked back since. Debating is actually what led Wang into Youth Parliament.

“Naturally, debating sort of filtered me into politics. When I saw my local MP send out the application, I knew it would be a great experience,” Wang says.

Debating isn’t the only way that Wang has found his way into New Zealand politics. In preparation for his local community’s 2025 ANZAC day ceremony, he and other young passionate individuals interviewed veterans of war through the RSA. As a group, they asked the men questions and got the chance to hear their stories. “They were really funny, bright people. It was awesome to hear about what training was like in the military”.

Clothes swaps

Volunteering in his East Coast Bays community has been an important part of Wang’s journey, and it hasn’t been limited to just one area. He’s been engaging with some environmental events, too. Collaborating with a local Youth Council, Wang has been involved with clothes-swapping events. Clothes-swap events involve people donating old clothes in favour of throwing them away, for other people to then pick up instead of buying from fast-fashion companies.

Not only is it a fun way for people to get new clothes, but it also encourages sustainable fashion practices in a world where overproduction and overconsumption is rife. The clothes swaps in East Coast Bays began when the local youth council found themselves with a seemingly insurmountable collection of donated clothes.

“One of our members was sorting through the pile, and there were mountains of clothes. We thought ‘Why not swap it?’” So far, two clothes-swap events have taken place in Wang’s community, one in a library, and one in a youth centre.

Tree planting, beach clean ups and biodiversity credits

Wang has also participated in various tree-planting initiatives. With some friends and like-minded rangatahi, he embarked on a trip to Papakura for a day of tree-planting fun (while also doing something good for the environment). As his tenure as Youth MP continues, Wang plans to organise beach clean-ups to address the decreasing biodiversity in his community.

Biodiversity is a passion of Wang’s that is coming to fruition in his role as a member of the Biodiversity Credits Parliamentary Working Group for Youth Parliament 2025.

“I really like exploring forests. I remember after a football game driving past a mountain and seeing all the trees cut down, and biodiversity being lost. I’m also really passionate about economics, so when I saw that there was a chance of using economics to tackle this issue, I got really excited.”

Alongside ten other Youth MPs, he’ll be consulting with his community on the potential of using economic tools for environmental change. “Our climate is slowly deteriorating, it is slowly dying, and it’s within everyone’s best interests to do something about it.”

Development of AI and it’s environmental impacts

Wang’s passion for the environment is interlinked with his curiosity regarding the development of AI.

“I’m not that well versed or experienced in AI, but I am interested in it. I’ve been following the news about how it has become more and more useful, but also more and more dangerous. As our environmental issues get worse and worse, AI has the potential to help us save our planet, but also destroy it with misuse. It’s interesting, but it’s also scary at the same time.”

Most people have a hard-and-fast, black and white opinion on the use of AI, but Wang chooses to take a more nuanced approach.

“I think when we were first introduced to this technology, we relied on it a bit too much.” He doesn’t think that it shouldn’t be used at all, but he does think this volatile innovation should be used with caution.

So, what else is there to know about Joshua Wang? The main thing is that he’s willing to hear the voice of anyone. He likes to argue, but he’s also open to new ideas. Most of all, he’s ready to help his community and his environment at Youth Parliament 2025.