Tomorrow sees the start of the third annual Be the Change conference in London. It aims to provide delegates with ideas about what they might do to combat the pressing issues of our times, in particular global warming. This year’s conference celebrates the launch of a book telling the stories of 28 of the most inspiring individuals connected to Be The Change, 12 of whom are featured in today’s Independent.

And they are amazing men and women, all of whom are completely inspirational. Clive Stafford Smith, for example, is a human rights lawyer who specialises in defending inmates on death row in the US, and detainees in Guantanamo Bay. Craig Kielburger founded an organisation when he was 12 for his classmates called Free the Children to tackle child labour, which is now an international charity.

But it’s worth filing away the names of the women that are mentioned, as role models for the teenage girls you are working with, and maybe for yourself as well.

Jo Wilding took a travelling circus to the streets of Iraq in 2004, performing wherever they could find children – on the streets, in schools, orphanages and children’s centres.

Wangari Maathai has spent decades campaigning for democracy and environmental issues in Kenya and began the Green Belt Movement, which aims to provide her countrymen with food and firewood. In 2004, she received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Katie Alcott founded Frank Water a couple of years ago. Every litre of Frank Water sold in the UK provides 200 litres of clean water in the Third World. More than 20,000 people have benefited from its work.

Hafsat Abiola-Costello founded the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (Kind), which works to empower Nigerian women. Her father won the country's presidential election in 1993, but was jailed. He died in prison just before his release. Her mother was assassinated in 1996 after campaigning for her husband's release.

Gill Hicks was on the Tube in London on 7 July 2005 when a suicide bomber blew up her carriage. She lost both legs. She left a high-flying career to become an ambassador for the charity Peace Direct.

Read the Independent article or Google their names to find out more.