Youth Activists Archives

ACE INTERVIEW: Jazmine Alcon on Mental Health in the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

Victoria Whalen, ACE Fellow

Jazmine Alcon (she/her) is a Filipinx mental health advocate whose goal is to provide and help nourish collective healing among the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. She is one of the co-founders of the API Mental Health organization, which was started as a way to build a community for API identifying individuals to redefine the mental health conversation.

ACE INTERVIEW: Franziska Trautmann on Glass Recycling

Franziska Trautmann is a 24-year-old from a small town in Louisiana. She co-founded Glass Half Full (GHF) in New Orleans to recycle glass into sand for disaster relief and coastal restoration. After growing up in Louisiana, a state that is losing land at an alarming rate and faces more and more intense hurricanes, Franziska became empowered to take action to address the climate crisis.

Representation Matters: AAPI Creators You Should Follow

For too long the climate movement has not reflected the leadership of those who represent the communities most affected by environmental degradation. This is both a disservice to the movement as a whole and these people and communities. Representation matters. This AAPI Heritage Month, here are just a few AAPI climate creators that should be on everyone’s radars.

Asian and Pacific Islander Activists You Should Follow

These six climate activists are tired of the inexcusable lack of action to preserve a habitable planet for all. Here they speak about how their identities impact their climate work and what it means to them to be a climate activists from the Asian and Pacific Islander community.

Representation Matters: Youth Scientists and Eco/Climate Communicators to Follow

Victoria Whalen, ACE Fellow

Representation is the key to empowering future generations. To see someone that represents your identity overcome their own challenges can ignite a deep passion for change. Not only that, representation brings together communties of likeminded individuals who now have the support and ressaurance that they need to continue their passions. As the climate crisis rages on, we can take solace in knowing that youth scientists, activists, and climate communicators are advocating for change alongside us. Read through this blog and check out each content creator’s social media platforms. Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, and leave a like on their posts!

ACE INTERVIEW: Talulah Juniper on Youth Voices in Politics

Talulah Juniper is a 17-year-old Junior at Sonoma Academy in Sonoma County. She started doing climate action work when she was in about 6th grade because it seemed to be the only logical step for her after hearing about the climate crisis and seeing the direct damage it had inflicted around them.

ACE INTERVIEW: Nithya Mooli on Combating Climate Misinformation

Nithya Mooli is a 16-years-old climate advocate based in Pennsylvania. She is currently in her third year at Great Valley High School where she is a member of both the Girl Up organization and ACE. Mooli describes Girl Up as “an amazing feminist activist club” at Great Valley High school and ACE as “the climate justice organization that we all love.” She is particularly interested in combating climate misinformation within the larger climate action movement. This is her story.

Earth Month: Youth Scientists & Climate/Eco Communicators You Should Know

Victoria Whalen, ACE Fellow

In honor of Earth Month, we asked five Youth Scientists and Climate Communicators about how their identities inform their climate and advocacy work. Read their responses below, learn more about them, and follow!

ACE INTERVIEW: Bobby Zimmerman on Addressing Community Needs through Community Action

Bobby Zimmerman is a 16-year-old student activist located in Malvern, Pennsylvania (Southeastern PA). He works with his schools’ Environmental Enthusiasts club to clean up sites in their community which are heavily affected by pollution, fundraise for local organizations, like The Philadelphia Environmental Justice Initiative and national initiatives like Tree-Plenish, and educate his peers on pressing environmental issues. He is passionate about the power of local community action and the ways in which, together through collective action, we can all create profound change, starting at the grassroots level and growing to the national and international stage.

Representation Matters: Women Creators to Follow

Representation matters. There is something so insatiably empowering in seeing people who have faced the same kinds of adversity that you have faced in life overcome their hardship and achieve success nevertheless. It is inspiring, comforting, and necessary to see and know these people because it gives us reassurance in times of doubt that we too can achieve success despite the adversities that we each face. Moreover, representation builds community and nothing is more powerful than what we can do when we join forces.