Know Their Names
10 People Every Climate Aware Person Should Have Heard Of
We all want to do better in the fight against the climate crisis. And to start, it can be important to learn about some of the people on the front lines of the fight. Especially since the climate emergency is strongly intertwined with social injustices and the patriarchy and most activists are of minority heritages and often identify as female.
We all know of Greta Thunberg and Jane Goodall, but they are not the only ones in this fight, there are so many others. It is time we finally learn their names. Because doing better does not end with eating plant-based food.
Here are ten names you should have heard of if you consider yourself an environmentalist, climate activist, or advocate for sustainability.
Be aware that this list is very far from complete. It was very hard to narrow it down to just ten names, as there are so many incredible people from all around the globe. Feel free to add names in the comments.
Elizabeth Wathuti
Elizabeth Wathuti is a youth environmental activist from Kenya who has held an impactful speech at COP26. She speaks up for a country and a continent that is mostly ignored in this crisis, despite it facing severe consequences of our failure of saving the planet. She is also the founder of Green Generation Initiative (GGI).
Pınar Sinopoulos-Lloyd
Pınar Sinopoulos-Lloyd is a queer and award-winning Indigenous multi-species futurist, as they call themselves, with a lineage of Quechua, Turkish and Chinese. Together with their partner So Sinopoulos-Lloyd they have founded Queer Nature. They are a writer and activist, teaching survival skills and advocating for intersectional environmentalism.
Pınar is the founder of @indigequeers; founding Council Member of Intersectional Environmentalist; trans ambassador of Native Womens Wilderness; and a founding member of the Diversify Outdoors coalition.
Vanessa Nakate
She might be young, but that would never stop her. Vanessa Nakate is a climate activist from Uganda where she started the local Fridays For Future protests despite a lack of financial means or political power and the threat of punishment.
She is strongly connected to other youth activists and founded the Rise Up Movement. She has also published the book A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis.
Nemonte Nenquimo
Often called an environmental hero, Nemonte Nenquimo is not only the first female leader of CONCONAWEP (Waorani Organization of Pastaza Province), but is also one of the known faces of the Amazon Frontline movement.
In 2019, she and her people won a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian government to protect a half-million acres of rainforest. The fight is far from over, as the government plans to appeal the court’s decision, but this victory has been historic and has given hope to many indigenous people fighting similar battles.
Nina Gualinga
Nina Gualinga belongs to the Kichwa-speaking community of the Sarayaku. She and her family, specifically her sister Helena Gualinga and mother Noemí Gualinga, are all environmental activists on the front lines of protecting the Amazon. She attended COP26 as a part of Amazon Watch and she received the WWF International President’s Youth Award for her efforts in protecting her community.
Susan Chomba
Dr. Susan Chomba grew up in a small village on the slopes of Mount Kenya but has since then earned multiple degrees, including a Ph.D. in forest governance, and has led one of the largest projects of the research institute World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Regreening Africa. She works on climate change policies, land tenure, equity, vulnerability, and gender, and is a member of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).
Sumarni Laman
Sumarni Laman comes from the Indigenous Dayak village of Kampuri in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The region is tragically famous for its forest fires. As a consequence of seeing her home being devastated, she became a community coordinator for Youth Act Indonesia and leads their subprogram The Heartland Project, which raises awareness about deforestation across the archipelago. Since 2019, this project has helped to plant 8,000 trees across the islands of Mentawai, Bali, Lombok, and Papua, as well as in previously burned areas of Kalimantan.
She participated in events of the Women's Earth Alliance and educates people on plastic pollution and Dayak traditions and culture.
Cassidy Miligruak Kramer
Cassidy Kramer lives in Alaska and is an Inuk. She is a Climate and Indigenous Rights Activist and Member of the Generation Climate Initiative and was a speaker at the New York Times Climate Hub where she spoke about the future of biodiversity and living above the Arctic Circle.
Kamea Chayne
Kamea Chayne, who has a Hakka-Taiwanese cultural upbringing, is the founder of the Green Dreamer Podcast. In this podcast, she has interviewed over 300 guests, mostly of indigenous heritage to explore paths to collective healing, biocultural revitalization, and true abundance. She also offers the Uprooted newsletter, which focuses on sustainability and decolonization.
Veronica Mulenga
Veronica Mulenga is a youth activist from Zambia and the organizer of the Youth Climate Save in her country. She might not have a book published, received awards, or had broad media coverage as some of her colleagues, but she is on the way to making big changes. It is better to learn her name now, as she is and will be relevant for climate justice.
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Again, this list is far from complete. Please add to it in the comment section.
