The most well-known climate activist is arguably Greta Thunberg however, many other young people are helping to spread awareness of climate change. Some young activists have potentially taken inspiration from Greta whereas others may have different reasons for why they decided to become activists for climate change.
Katie Eder
Katie is a 22/23-year-old climate change activist. She is the executive director of the Future Coalition which was founded in 2018. Future Coalition involves 40 youth-led organising groups.
Katie also created the U.S. Youth Climate Strike Coalition. This got hundreds of thousands of people to participate in the September 20 strikes as part of the Global Week for Future. As well as this, Katie was involved in the March 15th 2019 climate strikes.
The groups that Katie founded have many demands for the government including a new green deal and some justice for the communities uprooted due to the climate crisis.
Xiye Bastida
Xiye is a 20-year-old climate crisis activist. Xiye was forced to leave her hometown in Mexico due to floods that prevented her from going to school and she had to move to New York where she learned about Hurricane Sandy. At this point, Xiye realised climate change is a global issue.
Xiye works as a Fridays for the Future NYC organiser and ambassador for Y on Earth. This allows for her to spread information on sustainability to others which may help them to change their ways and make more sustainable actions.
Xiye was involved in the first climate strike in 2019 where she got 600 students from her school to take a citywide leadership role in organisation climate strikes by leading the students out of school and into a busy traffic circle where they help up traffic and signs. As well as this, she helped to organise the September 20th Global Climate Strike in New York City.
Alexandria Villaseñor
At the age of only 17, Alexandria is one of the world's leading youth climate activists. She is the founder of Earth Uprising which was one of the organisers of the September 20th Climate Strikes.
There are many ways in which Alexandria contributes to tackling climate change. She skips school on Fridays to stand outside of the United Nations headquarters in New York City and strike. Alexandria also filed a legal complaint against five major countries for their contributions to climate change. This is a huge move towards holding world leaders accountable for the climate crisis.
Alexandria's overall mission is currently to get a 50% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2023.
Vic Barrett
Vic Barrett lost power within his home and could not go to school due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy. This arguably may be where Vic's need for change was created.
Now, at the age of 22/23, Vic is a well-known climate crisis activist who has done much to help to spread awareness of how the climate is changing. Vic was one of the activists who, through Juliana vs. United States sued the government for their central role in encouraging the climate crisis. This is due to the government supporting energy systems that emit huge amounts of greenhouse gases.
Vic travelled to Paris to speak at the COP21 UN Conference on Climate Change. As well as speaking there, he also spoke at the UN headquarters for the High-Level Thematic Debate on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Isra Hirsi
Isra Hirsi is a 19-year-old climate change activist and the executive director and co-founder of the U.S Youth Climate Strike. Isra led the organisation of hundreds of strikes across the United States on March 15th and May 3rd of 2019 for the School Strike. This was where students did not go to school on Fridays to participate in demonstrations and protests in order to raise awareness of the long-term effects of climate change.
All of the work Isra partakes in ensures that she can make as big of an impact as she possibly can. Problems such as droughts in her parent's home country and air pollution in her hometown were a push for her to communicate the impact of climate change. Isra attended a climate strike in Washington DC where she was able to speak about her experiences and educate others.
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