What was your “wake-up moment” when climate issues started to feel real for you?
My “wake-up moment” for the climate crisis happened shortly after I went to college. I was at a Fridays for Future protest at UC Berkeley. Leading up to the protest, I was very excited. I made signs with my friends and stayed up until 4am completing them. I already felt like I was part of something larger than myself. Berkeley had a reputation for protesting, so it seemed like fun to take part in that tradition. When we arrived at the protest, the turnout was huge. Hundreds of people gathered in Sproul Plaza with beautiful, impressive, and shocking signs. There were several speakers, but looking back there was only one that mattered. It was a class of third-grade students. They walked onto the stage in a line, holding their tiny signs. A few of them spoke into the microphone. I could hardly comprehend the bravery of speaking to such a large crowd at such a young age about such a piercing issue. One child asked us, “How could you adults leave us with a world like this?” In that moment, I realized that I was now the adult in the situation. I figured that if there was ever a good place to get involved in environmentalism, it was UC Berkeley. Sure enough, I found meaningful volunteer and leadership opportunities at environmental nonprofits in the Bay Area. I also chose to major in Society and Environment, where I learned a lot about U.S. climate policy. I even created a website to advocate for sustainable lifestyle choices and market sustainable fashion to Gen Z. From these experiences, I now have a depth of knowledge about climate change that I bring to my current role as a California Climate Action Corps Fellow at Butte Environmental Council. That “wake-up moment” at the Fridays for Future protest changed the course of my life, infusing its major decisions with the perspective that we must preserve our Earth for future generations and take action now to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.
How have your thoughts or feelings about climate change changed over time?
I first learned about climate change in my third-grade textbook. I remember seeing a diagram of the Earth with gases being trapped in its atmosphere. Nearly 2 decades later, we still haven’t solved the climate crisis. In fact, with the decisions of the current president we are trapping ourselves further into a fossil fuel future that will torch the planet and its people. I was always aware of climate change, but it didn’t become personally important to me until college. After attending a Fridays for Future protest in the fall of my freshman year, I was inspired to center my life around what I felt was the most urgent and existential threat facing humanity, climate change. My connection to nature started in childhood, and over time I have gotten more and more deeply involved in environmentalism and climate activism. I studied the climate crisis at a high level in college, and meanwhile I volunteered my time with environmental organizations making a difference. Over the years, I have experienced a range of powerful emotions about climate change, from anxiety, to grief, to hope and inspiration. I have found this issue to be deeply motivating to become the most powerful and effective version of myself. However, it was a struggle to balance the darkness I was learning about while keeping up with school. These days, I employ coping mechanisms such as exercise and creative expression to keep myself grounded. I no longer feel overwhelmed by the climate crisis, instead I feel encouraged to connect with my community and take care of myself first.
