Interview with a youth climate organizer in her 20’s in Nevada.

What brought you into climate work and the climate movement?

My kid and I began our journey in climate activism in the summer of 2021. She watched the news over my shoulder hearing awful stories about the east coast flooding that summer. People stuck in their garden level apartments and whole areas being swallowed up. She was 7 then. She asked me if the flooding was caused by covid-19. She saw covid as this huge thing creating such an impact on everyone and saw this flooding event also creating havoc so thought they were related. I have always been passionate about the environment since I can remember. I watched An Inconvenient Truth by Algor as a kid and it devastated me. I used cloth diapers with my youngest (second) kid and stressed the importance of avoiding over-consumption to my family. I have been filled with crippling climate anxiety since I could remember. My dad would even say it was in my school report in kindergarten worrying so much about environmental disasters. I didn’t want my 7 year old to develop this fear too. My parents taught me about the issue but did nothing to try to live a better lifestyle or how to engage in activism to make our leaders do better. So I sat my 7 year old down and we watched the documentary I Am Greta. I thought it would be good for her to hear about this from another kid. After the movie ended she cried. I asked her what she’s feeling and she said, “I’m disappointed in the adults”. I knew exactly how she felt and I wanted to do better than my parents. So I thought let’s turn our climate anxiety into climate action and why not start with Fridays for Future. We had our first protest during the Global Climate Strike in September 2021. 

How would you describe your approach to organizing and mobilizing young people on climate?

Honestly, it’s been so difficult. We go to so many events around town, have protests, park cleanups and so on trying to get other youth involved. We really are aiming for other young families but open to anyone. Everyone is so busy with their day to day lives. Alina and I and some other members of FFF US started Fridays for Future US Kids to make climate activism more accessible to younger kids but it isn’t doing as well as we’d hoped. But we’ll keep on trying to encourage others to get involved. 

Do you see any differences in your approaches based on age? 

Considering I am 28 and my kid is 10 in a week, yes we approach it differently than say other FFF local groups. 

Thinking back to before the pandemic, pre-March 2020 – what did you consider the most effective way to engage and mobilize young people on climate? 

As I said before we began in 2021 so in the height of the pandemic. I did speak to so many people about what it was like before the pandemic and I’ve heard it was HARD. For example, the Las Vegas Climate Reality group grew from something like 20 people to 200 after the pandemic. People had time and they wanted to take action. 

During the pandemic, what were the primary ways that your organizing and your job changed? 

And do you feel that positively or negatively impacted your ability to achieve your goals? 

I find it much harder to organize people in person so online works best for us.

How has the transition to online organizing impacted your confidence in the movement’s effectiveness?  

I think it’s allowed us to connect more with people around the globe but mainly within the US. I can hear about their challenges and accomplishments and do zoom calls with all sorts of people at convenient times for all of us.

Do you think it’s important to build a sense of collective confidence or efficacy among peers? And is that more difficult to do with online organizing and activism? 

I find it much harder to organize people in person so online works best for us.

Do you see any parallels between the ways in which the U.S. govt has handled covid and the way that it could address climate change?

I believe they delayed taking action on covid and many more people died. The biggest issue I see was/is the spreading of misinformation. Covid and the climate crisis shouldn’t be a party thing but everyone thing. Politicians have weaponized these crises.

Similarly, do you see any parallels between the ways in which the U.S. public has handled covid and the way that it could address climate change?

Absolutely, people have eaten up this disinformation. It makes sense though. Thinking about the climate crisis is depressing and makes you feel hopeless, if you let it. Similar thing with covid. It feels better if you downplay the severity of these issues because it makes you feel safer and more in control. 

How do you feel about the Biden-Harris Administration’s approach to climate action, and any actions they’ve taken thus far?

I think they haven’t done nearly enough. They talk about the climate then sell lands to big polluters. Their achievements are a great start, besides what i just said, but it doesn’t go far enough. Our leaders are letting us down ultimately, not just the Biden-Harris Administration though. All of our representatives are too worried about their public image and not worried enough about the state of our planet. Lots of empty words. They should be ashamed and concerned, I don’t know how they sleep at night.

How do you generally feel about the state of the youth climate movement and our prospects for progress? Are we moving in the right direction? 

I feel conflicted. I see we are building but we need more. We are moving in the right direction but it needs to be moving faster. We need more people to get involved instead of getting swallowed up in their lives and despair. It feels uncomfortable to lead a march or give a speech or even do these interviews but its short lived discomfort. The discomfort of our dying ecosystem will be much more painful if we let it. We don’t have time to wait. You don’t need to do everything but just something. Have conversations about it with as many people as you can, join an environmental movement in your area, go to a protest, give an interview, write to your representatives often, just do SOMETHING. 

Anything else you would like to share?

I would like to speak about kids and the environment. Ultimately, It was my 7 year old that inspired me to be a climate activist. She enjoys going to our state capital and speaking to our representatives. She enjoys going to boring events and listening to people speak. She’s met the Vice President and was jumping with joy after speaking with her. She’s given speeches at rally’s she has helped organize and enjoys the feeling of accomplishment afterwards.  Adults don’t give kids enough credit and limit what they are capable of. Discuss difficult topics with your kids. Read books about tough things with your kids. My kids favorite book is, Malala: My Story of Standing Up for Girls’ Rights. It was a scary but inspirational book that my kid admires. She’s upset that her school has a mural of her on their library walls but her teachers wont discuss her story because its too violent. She’s expressed how she feels their are tokenizing inspirational people like her but wont tell their stories. So at recess she tells her story and the kids love to hear about it. She discusses the climate crisis and things they can do on her own time at recess with kids that will listen, and many do. Don’t limit your kids to what you think they should think or be. They will surprise you.

In solidarity, Winona Freed