The revolutionary anthropologist Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Mead’s words are never more true than today, for we face the greatest crisis of the twenty-first century: the climate crisis.
Climate activism is at the epicenter of all action on climate change. It is the basis of all solutions. If all of the activists, organizers, and leaders across the world were to suddenly stop beating down the doors of governments and big corporations, then I can guarantee you there would be no change in our world. Instead, we would rush forward to the worst future the IPCC could predict for us, destroying our own society. Climate activism is the way out. Climate activists are the ones shining the light at the end of the dark tunnel that we are in.
As young people, we are not climate activists because we want to be. We are climate activists because we need to be. We are climate activists because we have been forced onto this dangerous precipice by governments and corporations. We are climate activists because no one else is. All too often, I’ve heard the argument that “it’s not our responsibility,” and “shouldn’t others be fixing it?” And the sad fact is, that’s true. As youth, it should not be our responsibility to fix a problem that we didn’t cause. But governments, corporations, and climate deniers are acting against our future, so we have to get it back.
I have been lucky enough in my life to be presented with invaluable opportunities that kickstarted my climate career. When I was in the 5th grade, I was like many other youth are now: aware of the climate crisis, but unsure of what to do or how to act. Many might say “what could a 5th grader do in this global movement?” But when my fifth grade STEM teacher, Vicki Sando, was contacted to see if she would like to speak to the New York City Teachers Pension Fund Board of Directors to urge them to divest their funds from fossil fuels, she decided to have me speak to them instead, setting me on my path of climate activism.
A month later, when I delivered my speech, the Directors were quite surprised when a person who barely could see their chest stood up on a box at the head of their table. While I doubt they remember the content of my speech, I am sure that if there was anything from the enormous movement pushing them to divest that they remember, it was the miniscule fifth grader that spoke to them. That is why I continue to pursue climate activism as a youth. We have a unique opportunity to push away people’s assumptions based on our age, and instead astound them with our fierce action.
After that speech, I began working with the Human Impacts Institute, an organization dedicated to spreading climate information via art. There, I co-founded the Youth Advisory Council in early 2018. The reason that I continue to affiliate myself so much with the Human Impacts Institute is that I feel it is an incredible example of how creativity and ingenuity must take center stage in the climate movement. By communicating through art rather than facts and figures, it reaches so many more people, growing the movement much more than it ever could before.
I have also started doing some policy work. The point of climate activism, after all, is to create long-lasting climate change policy. This internship at the Center for Sustainable Futures is an incredible opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary way to address climate education policy coupled with creative techniques, like storytelling.
Yet my true passion lies in climate change education. I believe that education is the pathway to success. We cannot hope to create more activists without them being knowledgeable about the climate crisis. And even those who choose not to be activists must still understand climate change to survive in a society threatened by climate change. Though I do not believe everyone has to be a climate activist, everyone still must be knowledgeable.
That is why I founded Kids Fight Climate Change, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing accessible climate education, both youth and adults. Kids Fight Climate Change is a completely youth-led organization fostering creativity and excitement to build a generation of informed citizens. Kids Fight Climate Change is the crux of my climate activism, for it embodies the two parts of climate activism that I focus on the most: youth and education. Here’s why.
Youth are the future. We are the ones who hold a stake in it. It is our lives, and our future childrens’ lives, that are at stake. Unlike others, we are willing to do what it takes to secure this future. I sincerely believe that youth are the key to stopping climate change.
However, we can never be successful if we do not have climate education. To act on any issue, the climate crisis included, you must understand what you’re trying to stop and what you’re working towards. Climate education provides everyone with the know-how on how to be an activist, an informed voter, and environmentalists in their own careers.
Through my work, I hope to accomplish three things. First, as I’ve said over and over, I want to create an informed population. I can’t stress enough how important this is to my mission. I truly believe that education is the key to solving the world’s problems, and the climate crisis is no exception. I hope that through Kids Fight Climate Change and other similar organizations can show people that the climate crisis is here, it’s affecting every single person on the planet, and, most importantly, that we can fix it.
Second, I want to inspire and uplift. Too often, talk about climate change is about doom and gloom and only dark futures. But that is not productive. That does not provide budding young learners and activists with hope for their future. Instead, it turns them away from the movement. If we focus on stories of climate leaders around the world, highlight new and innovative solutions to the crisis, and communicate through creative and artistic means, then we can create positive and mobilizing energy. I hope my work will help to create this environment.
Third, I want to create lasting change. Even if we don’t see the fruits of our labors, I believe that investing in education and mobilization will create a new generation of activists and leaders to whom I can pass the baton. Mahatma Gandhi said “You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.” I hope that my work will create results, even if only my descendents can see it.
Indeed, I have hope for the future. I hope that the future will have no climate activists because we succeeded. I hope that the world realizes that we have a choice: to either quickly succumb to the fossil fuel industries as the world crumbles around us, or take the higher road and build our economies up. I hope that together, as a society, we can collectively stop not caring. That is why I am a climate activist.
Ajani Stella is a 10th grade student in New York City. Ajani is the President and Founder of Kids Fight Climate Change; he is Human Impacts Institutes Youth Advisor and Youth at the Center Fellow. Ajani shared his comments as part of the Youth and Climate Justice Activism in New York City panel during Climate Week NYC 2021. The panel was hosted by the NYC Department of Education Office of Sustainability and the Center for Sustainable Futures at Teachers College, Columbia University.