Meet these Amazing Climate Justice Activists
Autumn Peltier
When Autumn Peltier was just 8 years old, she attended a ceremony at a reservation where she saw a sign warning that the water was toxic, according to the CBC. At 12, she confronted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, telling him she was unhappy with his policies on controversial pipeline projects. Trudeau promised her he would protect the water. At 14, Peltier continues to fight for water conservation and indigenous water rights.
Learn more about Autumn’s journey.
Follow Autumn Peltier on Instragram
Jamie Margolin
Jamie Margolin is a climate activist in Seattle and a Colombian American student, author, and a co-founder of the youth climate action organization Zero Hour.
Jamie started Zero Hour after the response she saw to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and after witnessing first hand the difficulty in breathing in her community after the Canadian wildfires. She is also a plaintiff in the Aji P. v. Washington case, suing the state of Washington for their inaction against climate change on the basis of a stable climate being a human right.
Read more from Jamie Margolin.
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Jerome Foster II
Jerome Foster is the White House Climate Strike organizer, founder and executive director of OneMillionOfUs, a youth unifying voting organization that has created a collaborative effort of the five major youth movements of climate change, community/school gun violence, immigration reform, gender equality, and racial injustice.
Jerome is a founder of “The Climate Reporter,” The blog was created to give a platform to those affected by the climate crisis so they can share their stories. Read some of their experiences.
Ayakha Melithafa
“It’s very important for poor people and people of colour to go to these protests and marches because they are feeling the wrath of climate change the most. It’s important for them to have a say, for their voice and their demands to be heard.” – Ayakha Melithafa
Ayakha lives near the Eerste River and goes to school in Khayelitsha. Her mother owns a farm in the Eastern Cape’s eMonti area, about 45 minutes outside East London, and water shortages threaten their farm, and are a source of anxiety for her family and community.
Melthafa recently joined Greta Thunberg and 14 other climate activists from around the world in signing a legal complaint with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on 23 September.
Read more about Ayakha here.
Watch this video about Ayakha and her connection to the larger global climate crisis.
Children V Climate Crisis
Sixteen children from across the world are petitioning the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to hold five of the world’s leading economic powers accountable for inaction on the climate crisis. Read more about the defendants from Brazil, Argentina, France, Tunisia, Nigeria, US, Sweden, India, Palau, Germany, Africa, and the Marshall Islands.
Youth V Gov
21 plaintiffs suing the US Government. Their complaint asserts that, through the government’s affirmative actions that cause climate change, it has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources.
Learn more about the plaintiffs.
Artemisa Xakriabá
19-year-old Artemisa Xakriabá is an indigenous climate activist from São João das Missões in Brazil, whose aim is to stop environmental destruction across Brazil, and especially, the Amazon rainforest. She speaks to represent over 25 million indigenous and traditional people, the global alliance of territorial communities and those who have worked to protect over 600 million hectares of land worldwide for thousands of years. Watch her recent speech.
Read more about other Climate Justice Leaders
