I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is. ~Greta Thunberg 2019 World Economic Forum
Climate Warriors Unite A Call to Action by Sandra Yeyati
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n November 2018, one of in New York City. We are the the worst fires in Califor The fire changed Villaseones we’ve been ñor’s life. “I was very upset, nia history overtook the waiting for. town of Paradise and surand I wanted to understand rounding communities, kill~Solemi Hernandez why these fires were happening 88 people and destroying ing,” she says. “I started to more than 18,000 buildings. research climate change and Alexandria Villaseñor, who was visiting wildfires, and began to see the scientific family 100 miles away in her hometown of connection between the two.” Davis, experienced the suffocating effects Awakened by personal concerns of the smoke: Every breath was difficult for and ignited by emerging role models, the asthmatic teen who is now 14 and lives activists of all ages are learning how
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to become effective climate warriors. Watching Greta Thunberg speak soon after the California disaster to world leaders at COP 24, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poland, empowered Villaseñor to take to the streets and protest. “Greta gave permission to students all around the world to make their voices heard,” she says of the Swedish teenager whose school strike initiative—Fridays for Future—has become a worldwide phenomenon. On December 14, 2018, Villaseñor began her own Friday vigils outside the U.N.—sometimes alone, other times with friends she’s inspired to take action; she also helped organize the 2019 Global Climate Strike in New York City, attended by more than 300,000 people, and founded Earth Uprising, a nonprofit global youth movement. She’s one of 16 youngsters, along with Thunberg, that filed a legal complaint with the U.N. demanding that France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Turkey curb their carbon emissions. “There are so many ways that young people can get involved,” says Villaseñor. “They can give presentations about climate change in their classes and communities. Go out with a sign and protest, or lobby politicians. Have clear demands of what you want your city or town to do. I’ve seen local action influence action nationally and internationally.” Dianne Rhodes, 76, of Saskatoon, Canada, began her activism in 2006 after seeing Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth. “It was shocking what we were doing to the environment, our
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green living
