NOT A HERO’S JOURNEY

HORIZONS CAUGHT UP WITH JESSIE STEVENS, CLIMATE ADVOCATE AND FOUNDER OF ‘PEOPLE PEDAL POWER’ - A CLIMATE MOVEMENT WHICH SAW HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE CYCLING TO THE COP26 CLIMATE SUMMIT.

Back in 2020, the Covid pandemic pushed COP26 - an annual international climate summit which, for it’s 26th sitting, was set to held in Glasgow - forward into 2021. Jessie Stevens, who was 16 at the time, saw this as an opportunity. With widespread disruption to school and daily life, Jessie started to think about how she could attend the summit and bring the collective voice of young people across the country with her. But, with train fares proving unattainable, car travel proving inaccessible and flights far too environmentally damaging, Jessie started to look at cycle routes.

Fast forward to October 2021 and Jessie was preparing to pedal nearly 600 miles to Glasgow from her home on the south coast of Devon. On the way she would engage with community groups, encourage as many people as possible (with an emphasis on young people) to join her for a few miles of the journey and aim to give a platform to underepresented voices in the climate movement through the production of a feature length film. Not only did she achieve all of this, but she acted as a youth ambassador at COP26 and attended the full two weeks of the conference which was dubbed the ‘last chance to save the planet’.

Fresh off the premiere of her award winning film ‘Not a Hero’s Journey’ at Kendal Mountain Festival, we caught up with Jessie to talk about her experience.

Hey Jessie! Tell me about yourself.

This is something that’s changed a lot over the past few years as I’ve found my place in the climate movement. I’ve gone from a young person grappling with climate anxiety, to an activist, and in the past year, a Climate Advocate. For me, Climate Advocacy takes many forms: public speaking, writing and grass-roots organizing. This work has also brought me into adventure media and inclusivity in the outdoors.

In 2021, you cycled from your home in Devon to Glasgow to attend the COP26 climate summit. How did the experience affect you?

The experience affected me greatly. In the lead up to the event, my work was very much focussed on the politics of climate change and processes behind it. During my time in the COP26 ‘Blue Zone’, I quickly learnt that so much power comes from community organising and connection. I found COP26 to be a sterile environment full of empty promises and gatekeeping. In contrast, the streets of Glasgow were full of joy, hope and real action. This experience really changed where I put my energy and how I campaign in the future.

Community is such an important part of being in the outdoors. What role did community play in your journey to COP26?

Community was such a huge part of the journey. We had so many people join the movement from all walks of life. I quickly learnt that the bike is such a wonderful way to facilitate connection, tell stories and share joy.

You were a youth ambassador at COP26. Tell us about your experience as a young person at COP26. My experience within COP26 itself wasn’t a very positive one. Young people were excluded from meetings and there were limited options for collaboration. Not to mention the huge amount of greenwashing and lobbying by fossil fuel companies throughout the conference. I went into the summit as a YRE (Young Reporter for the Environment). In this role I had the pleasure of speaking to so many amazing organisations and individuals who were fighting for change, within each meeting and event. This definitely brought me a lot of hope.

What’s next for you, Jessie?

I am really interested in the power adventure and nature connection has on climate action and community mobilisation. I’m not yet sure how, but I would like to bring these elements together through mediums such as media production and outdoors guiding. After all, if you can’t see what you need to protect, how can you? p

FANCY A FILM NIGHT?

Not a Hero’s Journey, winner of Best Environment Film at Kendal Mountain Festival, is now available to watch online on the Alt. Film House YouTube.