Fall 2024 - Digital Issue

Supporting the Youth Climate Justice Movement

Fall 2024: Volume 31, Issue 3

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Print version of the Fall 2024 issue.

• Welcome

• Being Outside: The Importance of Centering Black Leadership in the Climate Justice Movement

  “It is a huge responsibility to be an advocate for the environment. This vocation becomes even more complicated when your proximity to the environment has
  been systemically erased and you have been historically excluded from recreation outdoors. Many Black climate activists are healing the trauma of what we and our
  Ancestors have had to endure, while simultaneously advocating for a better world.”

  by Gabby Treadwell

• Stewards of the Earth: Centering Young Leaders of Color in the Face of Climate Crisis

  “We always have been and always will be the stewards of the earth. Children and young people are filled with wonder and reverence for the natural world and are imparted with the hope of the generation that brought them here. Thus, young people who have maintained that tie to our planet are crucial for this movement.”—Murphy Barney, 2023 Young Climate Leaders of Color cohort member
  

  by Radiah Shabazz Harold and Nyasha Harris

• Navigating Climate Justice: Empowering BIPOC Youth with Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing

  “The climate crisis is an urgent and pervasive threat, and it disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities.... Despite [this], there is a significant underrepresentation of individuals from these communities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—fields that design and use tools to understand, predict, and mitigate the impacts of climate change.”

  by Daja Elum

• Nature Is a Right, Not a Privilege: Environmental Education as a Catalyst for Youth-Led Climate Justice

  “Growing up in Prince George’s County, MD, I was used to my family cautioning me, ‘Amarachukwu, apu. na n’ìló’ (do not go outside). This guidance came despite the reciprocal relationship I had watched my grandfather cultivate with the natural world, which is what first piqued my environmental interest. Looking back, I now recognize my family’s fear as that of many Black folks who view the outdoors as a place of historic and continued violence.”

  by Amara Ifeji

• Bringing Climate into the Classroom: New Hampshire Students Push for Increased Climate Literacy

  “Between December 2023 and March 2024, the state of New Hampshire, along with the rest of the contiguous US states, saw its warmest winter on record. From historic high temperatures to intense coastal flooding and below-average snowfall, the state is seeing extreme effects of climate change. As observable as these effects may be, New Hampshire teenagers claim that their schools have left them with little to no education on climate change.”

  by Callie Patteson

• Imagine a City in Which Youth Are Accounting for Youth! Power Mapping the Possibilities

  “I am incredibly proud to be part of a community that has continued to organize in an inclusive, solutions-oriented way. I know that we will continue to move with intentionality toward dismantling the root causes and resulting upstream issues of the health disparity fissures in our communities.”

  by j. nyla ink mcneill

• Bridging for Environmental Justice across Space and Time: Cambodia and the US South

  “When communities and movements talk about climate and environmental justice, solidarity is often at the center of the conversation. But the question
  becomes: How do we achieve global solidarity when the scales are so unbalanced, the challenges are separated by so much space and time, and time seems so fleeting? I believe it starts with seeking to bridge the gaps of space and time through community building across geographic boundaries.”

  by Mazzi Ingram

• Changemakers, Disruptors, and Protectors of Our Earth: Young Women and Girls of the Global Majority Leading Climate Justice

  “Global Majority women and girls face significant and multifaceted climate challenges that amplify— and are amplified by—already existing gender
  inequalities. This is especially true for marginalized groups like women and girls who are Indigenous, Afro-descendent, of the LGBTQIA+ community, differently abled, and/or on the move.” 
  

  by Yasmina Benslimane

• Legislating the Future: European Youth Climate Activists at the Policy Table

  “European youth organizations are at the forefront of advocating for climate policies, demonstrating that a greener future is attainable. As young people, we have the opportunity to engage with and contribute to shaping our future. Initiatives such as Generation Climate Europe, ClimaTalk, and Youth and Environment Europe are working tirelessly to amplify our voices in environmental policy shaping.”

  by Talía Jiménez Romero

• A Letter to Philanthropy: Saviorism Will Not Save Our Ecosystems

  “As heads of state continue to make speeches and wealthy donors continue to make multimillion-dollar pledges, youth are refusing to settle for the grandstanding diplomacy disguised as cooperation, and instead are organizing to build a future of deep solidarity and coconspiratorship.”

  by Senowa Mize-Fox

• Ancient, Powerful, and Particularly Feminine: Righting Our Relationship with Mama Earth

  “Cultural reparations are critical for living in a restorative and balanced future. Youth climate activists are embodying the way. We understand that we can no longer view nature as a means to an end. Our natural resources must be revered as sacred—a part of us and a part of all.”

  by hunter jones and Ubuntu Climate Initiative

• If I Weren’t an Activist

  “Growing up, I loved to paint, to make nothings into somethings. To sit outside and color, and reimagine a world where the sun was beaming down on my skin.
  Art made me feel like I could escape reality and be in my own world. I felt at peace. Not how I feel when fighting for basic human rights. That doesn’t feel peaceful. That feels draining, that feels exhausting, that feels tiresome. It feels like I am fighting to be seen. Fighting for the basic necessities of life. The things that feel like they should be a given.”

  by Diamond Spratling-McGinley

• ENDPAPER
  The Mermaid and the Narwhals