Meet the young climate activists fighting for our planet’s future
As a sea of suits twiddle their thumbs and pick at their grey hairs trying to work out how on earth to save the planet from destruction at COP26, a new generation of fresh-faced activists are taking matters into their own hands. Their mission? To deliver a sense of purpose to people feeling downcast about combatting the seemingly irrevocable impacts of climate change.
This is a generation which has grown up against a backdrop of raging bushfires, biblical floods, devastating earthquakes and typhoons. But instead of getting caught up with the “end of the world is nigh” doomsayers, young activists from India to Peru, Mexico to Uganda, Germany to the UK, are attempting to transform downcast eco-anxiety into upbeat eco-activism.
So, as papers and websites continue to fill their pages with depressing statistics and photographs of snoozing statesmen, let us instead turn to the impressive work being accomplished by young activists across the globe who are championing both online and offline activism to fight for the future of our planet.
The climate activist from India hasn’t even lived for a decade, but she has already addressed world leaders at the United Nations Climate Conference in Madrid in 2019, given TEDx talks at least six times, and travelled to 32 different countries to give speeches and raise awareness.
Living in India’s north-eastern state of Manipur, the nine-year-old began fundraising for victims of the powerful and deadly earthquake in Nepal in 2015. But it was after attending a UN disaster conference in Mongolia with her father in 2018 that she felt the push to become an activist. Since then, she has been pushing for new laws to curb India’s high pollution levels. She also argues climate change lessons should be mandatory in schools.
Kangujam has set up “The Child Movement”, a young, global climate justice organisation that aims to raise awareness to “protect the planet by tackling climate change and natural disasters.”
“I want all leaders to do more,” said Kangujam “otherwise our future will die soon. They must act now, to save our planet and our future.”
Jack and Finn Harries and Alice Aedy (UK)
Jack and Finn, the 26-year-old twins, who rocketed to fame through their YouTube channel JacksGap, have turned their digital stardom into environmental activism. The pair have launched a new media venture called Earthwise Studio, which aims to educate viewers about the ongoing climate crisis. Along with filmmaker Alice Aedy, Earthrise Studio hosts content from scientists, journalists, storytellers and other environmental experts to take action on climate change.
Earthwise – which now has over 213,000 followers on Instagram – spotlights personal stories with a positive bent. Alice Aedy told the Evening Standard, that the purpose of this angle was to intentionally counter the eco-anxiety and doom-and-gloom narratives caused by overwhelming and fatalistic discourses.
The long-term plan for the trio is to include nationwide live events, talks and workshops to “activate a huge group of young people who maybe hadn’t yet engaged in climate [issues].” Aedy added: “We’re saying we’re not experts. We’re not scientists, we’re young people, and we’re inviting you to join us on our journey as we dive into these issues that are really really complex.”
Luisa Neubauer (Germany)
The 25-year old climate activist is often dubbed “the German Greta” for being one of the main organisers of the “Fridays for Future” movement in the country, which organised the school strikes before the pandemic.
Born in Hamburg and now residing in Berlin, Neubauer is one of the many students who has become a leading voice in the battle to tackle the climate crisis, advocating for a climate policy that complies with and surpasses the outdated Paris Agreement.
She has previously campaigned for the University of Göttingen to stop investing in fossil fuels, as well as educating and endorsing policies such as degrowth. Neubauer is now a member of the German Green Party and its youth wing to continue her campaigning.
“I dream of a world where geography classes teach about the climate crisis as this one great challenge that was won by people like you and me,” says Neubauer. “This is not a job for a single generation. This is a job for humanity.”
Leah Namugerwa (Uganda)
The 17-year-old climate activist is based out in Kampala, Uganda and is on a mission to replace the forests of her country through her #BanPlasticUG campaign.
Starved patches of land are a ubiquitous sight in Uganda, and forest cover there has depleted from 24 per cent to just 8 per cent since the 1990s. Namugerwa first became aware of the impact of climate change when watching local news about prolonged drought and landslides in her country.
So every birthday, Namugerwa plants hundreds of trees and uses social media to encourage other youngsters to plant their own trees as they celebrate their birthdays. She has told young people to “speak out,” adding, “if we don’t, our future is not guaranteed. The current leaders will be gone, but we shall be there to suffer the consequences of their inactions.”
Xiye Bastida (Mexico)
The 19-year-old is one of the most visible young activists in Mexico. After witnessing first-hand the severe impacts of climate change when extreme flooding hit her hometown of San Pedro Tultepec in 2015, Bastida began to campaign for more aggressive global climate action by governments and for greater indigenous and immigrant visibility within climate activism.
Bastida is now one of the lead organisers of the Fridays for Future in New York City, the co-founder of Re-Earth Initiative, and she also sits on the administration committee of the People’s Climate Movement.
Ella and Amy Meek (UK)
At the ages of 10 and 12, Ella and Amy Meek began their mission to encourage individuals, businesses and schools to adopt a “plastic clever” approach to reducing single-use plastics.
After learning about the UN’S 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development during home-schooling, the sisters decided to do something for the future of marine wildlife. “The wasteful production of single-use plastics is so interconnected with the consumption of fossil fuels and global warming, and learning about these problems really opened our eyes,” Amy told The Guardian.
To put the wheels in motion, the sisters founded their child-led campaign Kids Against Plastic, and in April 2018, they presented their first TEDx talk. Since then, they have picked up more than 100,000 pieces of single-use plastic all across the country, launched campaign initiatives with over 1,000 schools and over 50 cafés, businesses and festivals and in 2020, and they have even published a book called Be Plastic Clever.
Fionn Ferreira (Ireland)
The 21-year-old scientist, anti-plastic pollution innovator and activist is best known for his invention of a method to remove microplastic particles from water using a natural ferrofluid mixture.
Ferreira spent much of his childhood paddling around the coasts of Ireland in his kayak. Outraged by the amount of plastic he saw littered on the beaches, he began organising beach cleaning operations, and built a machine to quantify and collect plastic pollution. After hearing about microplastics, Ferreira decided to develop a method to remove microplastics from water. Many failed attempts later, he finally made a device that uses a magnet-based method to remove the particles with surprisingly high extraction rates.
This masterful invention left scientists weak at the knees, and he was named the Grand Prize Global Winner of the Google Science Fair in 2019. Since then, the Forbes 30 Under 30 listee has founded Fionn & Co, LLC and is currently working with engineers to fine-tune and scale up his invention.
Mitzi Jonelle Tan (Philippines)
The Philippines is one of the least safe places to be an environmental activist. A 2020 report from Global Witness found that over half of murders of environmental and land activists took place in Colombia and in the Philippines. Yet, this will not stop 23-year-old Mitzi Jonelle Tan from standing up to oil and mining companies and fighting for the environment across the globe.
Tan decided to fully commit her life to activism in 2017 after meeting with the Lumad indigenous leaders of her country, who pushed her to realise that collective action and systemic change is what is needed for a greener society.
When she is not participating in on-ground activism, Tan is filling her social media feeds with climate-justice Twitter threads, TikTok videos, and in-depth Instagram guides full of information and resources.
“With everything I do, I see it as one movement—the people’s movement coming together from different approaches,” Tan says. “We need to use every tool available to us, and online communication is one of the best tools we have.”