19 youth climate activists you should be following on social media | Earth Day
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Climate Action
Around the world, young people are mobilizing by the hundreds of thousands to demand greater action on climate change. Driven by the understanding that the action that leaders take — or do not take — in the next decade will determine life and livelihoods for generations to come, these young people are striking from school and taking to the streets for a transformational change for people, planet and our shared prosperity.
More than a million young people have turned out for global student strikes that are also driving home the connections between climate change and social injustice, economic inequality and human rights. Young climate leaders around the world are rising to the challenge, seizing the opportunity of these strikes to raise their voices in a collective call for greater ambition in defense of the vulnerable and at-risk communities most impacted by unchecked climate change.
Unimpressed with political soundbites and platitudes, these young people are refusing to settle for anything less than transformational change, informed by recent scientific reports that find that we have just over a decade to halve our global greenhouse gas emissions.
Feeling inspired? Us too — Here are some of the top young climate activists you should be following on social media:
Vic Barrett | USA
“The journey of looking at myself and my identity… made it clear to me that something had to be done. How could you not when people are dying?”
Vic is from low-lying land in New York and has felt firsthand climate impacts in the form of Hurricane Sandy. Vic is a Fellow with the Alliance for Climate Education, spoke at the COP21 U.N. Conference on Climate Change and spoke at the U.N. headquarters in New York City. After marching in solidarity with more than 400,000 people at the People’s Climate March in New York City, he organized his peers in local frontline climate campaigns. Vic is now an undergraduate student at UW-Madison and is also among 21 youth activists who are actively suing the government to take action on climate change.
Follow Vic on Twitter @vict_barrett and Instagram vicbarrett_
John Paul Jose | India
“India should declare a climate emergency. The rich biodiversity and culture are under direct threat from our climate crisis.”
22-year-old climate activist, writer, and global peace ambassador John Paul Jose provides a commentary on our environmental crisis through an Indian lens. From discussions on the impacts on India’s iconic forests and trees, to examinations on the connections between climate action and sustainable development, water and food security, and more, John Paul
Follow John Paul on Twitter @johnpauljos and Instagram @johnpauljos
Leah Namugerwa | Uganda
“Most people do not care what they do to the environment. I noticed adults were not willing to offer leadership and I chose to volunteer myself. Environmental injustice is injustice to me.”
As a 14-year-old member of Fridays for Future Uganda, Leah Namugerwa strikes every Friday for climate justice. Leah was inspired by Greta Thunberg but was truly moved to act after seeing the famine caused by drought and landslides from climate change. Despite the Ugandan government’s harsh response to strikers, Leah continues to fight for change. Currently, she is demanding a Ugandan plastic bag ban, and her petition can be found here.
Leah talked with us about what it’s like to climate strike in Uganda, and how she ignored the critics who called her strikes ‘weird’ — read the full post here.
Follow Leah on Twitter @NamugerwaLeah
Jerome Foster II | USA
“Adults take note of this message: Young people like myself should not have to take on this burden, this is supposed to be your job but now we have to go on hunger strikes, meet with government officials, and start a global movement for you to even notice.”
Jerome Foster II is no slouch — he’s a climate activist, author, National Geographic Explorer, Smithsonian Ambassador, and Founder and Editor in Chief of The Climate Reporter. And did we mention that he’s 16? Recently, Jerome hosted the Washington, DC youth climate strikes at the White House for the May 24 global strike movement, and spent the summer striking at Harvard University in Massachusetts.
Follow Jerome on Twitter @jeromefosterii
Eyal Weintraub | Argentina
“We have reached a point in history when we have the technical capacities to solve poverty, malnutrition, inequality and of course global warming. The deciding factors for whether we take advantage of our potential will be our activism and our international unity”
18-year-old Eyal recently organized a protest in front of the national congress in Buenos Aires, with fellow activist Bruno Rodriguez. Eyal understands that his generation has the potential to solve this issue, but it will take cooperation and activism in order to make it happen. He is a member of Jóvenes Por El Clima Argentina, an organization of youth climate activists in Argentina.
Follow Eyal on Instagram @eyalwein
Alexandria Villaseñor | USA
“You have to listen to the science and the facts because climate change isn’t an opinion”
Alexandria is a 14-year-old activist who strikes outside of the United Nations in order to bring attention to climate change. She is an organizer of FridaysForFuture, an organization of students striking every Friday around the world. She is also the founder of Earth Uprising, a nonprofit where youth around the world rise up against climate change together.
EDN interviewed Alexandria in May 2019 — read the full interview here.
Follow Alexandria on Twitter @AlexandriaV2005 and Instagram @alexandriav2005
Greta Thunberg | Sweden
“Yes, we are failing, but there is still time to turn everything around — we can still fix this. I want you to act as if the house was on fire. Because it is.”
It could be argued that without Greta Thunberg, there would be no youth climate strike movement. The 16-year-old Swedish climate activist has been striking outside of the parliament building in Stockholm since last August, and is the founder of the Fridays for Future youth climate strike movement. Her impassioned speeches have left politicians speechless and millions of young people inspired around the world. “Our house is falling apart and our leaders need to start acting accordingly because at the moment they are not,” Greta demanded of Members of the European Parliament and EU officials in Strasbourg in April.
Greta’s bravery and relentless dedication to strike has been credited by young climate activists around the world for inspiring them to take up the mantle in their own cities, including Alexandria Villasenor in the USA and Leah Namugerwa in Uganda. Through her example, Greta has helped to galvanize a global youth strike movement that has brought more than 1.6 million young people into the streets around the world to demand greater protections for our planet.
As Greta said in a 2018 COP24 address to world leaders that cemented her status as a bold and fearless force for change, “I’ve learned you are never too small to make a difference. And if a few children can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school, then imagine what we could all do together if we really wanted to.”
Follow Greta on Twitter at @GretaThunberg and on Instagram at @gretathunberg
Originally published at https://www.earthday.org on June 14, 2019.
