Catching up with climate news, it’s impossible not to hear about Greta Thunberg. She who started her climate strike as a 15 year old is sometimes described as a “teenager who should work on her anger management” by people like Former President Trump.
These types of statements stem from the belief that young people aren’t politically active or that we shouldn’t be because of the idea that we lack sufficient knowledge or awareness. But at other times Greta is characterized as an inspirational, powerful, global climate leader.
So with all this attention from the media, politicians, and the public, some questions are posed. In what ways can young people join the political conversation? How are youth climate activists portrayed in the media and what needs to change? Do the voices of young people have an impact? In this episode, we’ll be answering these questions, joined by youth climate activist Sarah Goody.
Sarah is the founder of an environmental organization called Climate NOW that focuses on youth climate education and equipping young people with resources to be environmentally conscious. Sarah is the Chair of the Corte Madera Climate Action Committee, she is making history as the youngest person to Chair a committee in her town. She is a published author, with work in Teen Vogue and The San Francisco Chronicle. In 2020 Sarah received the Princess Diana Award, the highest accolade a young person can achieve for social action or humanitarian efforts.
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Guest: Sarah Goody
Hosts/Reporters: Juju Lee, Marissa Sims, Sadie Dunne
Producer: Katherine Li
Audio Editor: Katherine Li
Music: Cali by Wataboi, embrace by Wataboi
TRANSCRIPT:
KATHERINE:
Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of Operation climate, the podcast made by students for students, where we talk about climate change topics through conversations with cool people, and learn about how we as young people and students can take action in the climate movement. Today's episode was created by three high schoolers from across the US their names are Juju, Marissa and Sadie and they are all really really awesome high schoolers who are super passionate about climate action and climate education and climate communication. And they have brought to you in episode all about youth activism in the climate movement. Without further ado, let's get to the episode.
JUJU:
Catching up with climate news, it's impossible not to hear about Greta toon Burg, she who started her climate strike as a 15 year old is sometimes described as a teenager who should work on our anger management by people like former President Trump.
MARISSA:
These types of statements stem from the belief that young people aren't politically active or that we shouldn't be because of the idea that we lacked sufficient knowledge or awareness. But other times Greta is characterized as an inspirational, powerful global climate leader.
SADIE:
So with all this attention from the media, politicians and the public, some questions are posed. How are youth climate activist portrayed in the media? And what ways can young people join the political conversation? Do the voices of young people have an impact? In this episode, we'll be answering these questions.
JUJU:
Hi, I'm Juju. I'm a senior at Oakton High School in Vienna, Virginia.
MARISSA:
Hi, I'm Marissa. I'm a senior at Fairview High School in defiance Ohio.
SADIE:
Hi, I'm Sadie. I'm a senior at Hoggard High School in Wilmington, North Carolina.
JUJU:
Joining us today is 16 year old youth climate activist Sarah goody. Sarah is the founder of an environmental organization called Climate now that focuses on Youth Climate Education and equipping young people with resources to be environmentally conscious. Sarah is the chair of the quarter Madera Climate Action Committee. She is making history as the youngest person to chair a committee in her tap. She is a published author with work in Teen Vogue in the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2020, Sara received the Princess Diana Award, the highest accolade a young person can achieve for social action or humanitarian efforts.
MARISSA:
We're so excited to welcome Sarah to the show.
SARAH:
Hi, everyone. My name is Sarah goody. I'm a 16 year old youth climate activist from the San Francisco Bay Area. And I'm the founder of climate now, which is a youth led organization that works to educate young people about the climate crisis, and provide them with the key tools and training to go out into their communities and make a difference on rising carbon emissions. And the main way that we do this is through directly speaking to students at elementary, middle and high schools across the world. So far, we've spoken with over 10,000 students at 70 plus K through 12 schools ranging from places like Tanzania, in Africa to India, to of course, back here in the United States. Outside of that a lot of the work that I do kind of fits into the ranges of politics and the political kind of atmosphere going out. And speaking with representatives, I started a Climate Action Committee in my own town in 2019, which works and oversees climate action happening in our town and is working really hard to reduce our carbon emissions. I also am really passionate journalists and avid writer. So I've been doing a lot of writing with different publications like Teen Vogue, and Forbes to really put out information about climate activism and about the power of youth. And then I sit on a lot of advisory boards overseeing the ways in which foundations and organizations are making moves and taking action to help the global climate movement.
KATHERINE:
That was awesome. And remind me again, Sarah, how old are you?
SARAH:
I'm 16.
KATHERINE:
that is awesome. Wow, hats off to you. That's so amazing to see how how you have achieved so much at such a young age. Now, I think we were curious about your organization climate now. So Marissa, do you want to go ahead and ask Sarah,
MARISSA:
What prompted you to form a youth led organization and what were the steps in creating climate now?
SARAH:
The kind of first time that I noticed something like climate now needed to be started was when I was in, I want to say eighth grade. I had been involved in the climate movement for about two years at that point, and was really kind of taking off in climate strikes. In 2019, I visited the United Nations with an organization that I was working for at the time called greening forward. While I was there I met this girl Alexandria VAs and your who at the time had been on our 18th week striking outside of the United Nations and really prompting climate action in our community and really drilling the United Nations to stand up and take more action on this issue. So I joined her out there for 18 weeks striking and that's where I really learned about the Friday's for future movement about Greta tune Berg. And I decided to bring that idea of striking and the Friday's for future movement back to the San Francisco Bay area. So when I came back, I started doing strikes outside of San Francisco City Hall and the San Francisco Ferry Building. And I was trying to get other young people to come with me and join me for the strike. So I would go back to my school, and I talked with my friends and my peers, and I tried to tell them, you know, and convince them to go join me for a strike, you know, one day a week outside in San Francisco. And, you know, I would be like, it's okay, if you just come once or if you come for an hour or two hours, and just really trying to get them involved with the work that I was doing.
But when I was going around having these conversations, I made two key discoveries. And the first was that a lot of students my age, didn't know what climate change was or didn't understand just how relevant it was. In our society. A lot of people when they think of climate change, they just think of the environment and they think rising carbon emissions. But that's about the the entirety of their understanding of the climate crisis. And it boils down to so much more than that it's really an issue that's impacting every aspect of our life. So I thought it was really concerning that young people like me, were the ones that were going to be most impacted by this crisis. Yet, they were the ones that didn't understand that this crisis was even happening in the first place. So that was really the first discovery that I made. And then after making that discovery, I also noticed that of the kids who didn't understand what climate change was, and did understand why it was important to be taking climate action, they didn't have the confidence in themselves, they didn't have the resources, or skills or knowledge to go out and to be a leader in their community and to take action, they really didn't feel like they a 12 or 13, or 14 year old, could make a substantial difference on this issue. So I started climate now as a way to really bridge those gaps. And to start off locally in my community, providing young people with the education and knowledge of climate change, as well as giving them resources and giving them ideas of how they could give back to their own communities.
SADIE:
So you've had a lot of experience showing your voice as a youth, climate activist and media outlets. How did these opportunities come about? And why do you think that it's important for Youth Climate Leaders to have their voices heard on national and international stages?
SARAH:
Well, to start off, it's important that our voices are heard in these media outlets. And in that we're in the public eye, because us speaking up gives other young people the power and the confidence and the excitement to speak up as well. I know when I first started reading about climate change, I, you know, started reading about different young activists and just getting to learn about these other young people and seeing that I wasn't alone and getting to see myself represented on a TV screen or in an article that was really formative for me and made me feel like, oh, I can do this too. I'm not alone. And that's why really shining the spotlight on different young people who are taking these actions. And not only young people, but putting diversity into that and showing so many different perspectives. And so many different youth who are getting involved in this issue is so drastically important because one, it's giving young people the power and the confidence to speak up and to go take action. And to I mean, we're the generation that's most impacted by this. This is something that's impacting us right now. And young people have so many unique, exciting stories to tell them, it's important that we're showcasing that, and really making that public public issue and something that's getting a lot of public attention.
And in terms of the media attention, I've got, I've seen that it's really helped. Unfortunately, it's really helped me build credibility. And I think that's something that, you know, is kind of needs a focus on in the climate movement is that it wasn't until I was starting to appear on national television. And it wasn't until the media started paying attention to me that other adults and other activists in my space started to look at me and say, oh, you know, maybe I'll listen to what you're saying. It wasn't until I started getting that attention that politicians and business leaders and corporations started to actually take what I said, who you know, not just with a grain of salt, but really look at me and consider what I was saying. Oftentimes, as a young person in this movement, especially when I was first getting started, people would just look at me and see a 12 or 13 year old, so getting to build that credibility. I really gave them I think something something else to think about which is really sad to see and is really a tough thing to think about, but it's something I also want to bring up when it comes to the way that media portrays climate activists and the effects that that has on our activism.
MARISSA:
So going along with how young activists are portrayed in the media, how well do you think that the youth climate activists are being portrayed? And how could it be improved?
SARAH:
Currently? Yes, there are young people being highlighted in the media. But I think it's very concentrated to, you know, a small group of people. And there are so many young people taking climate action right now, there's so many young people engaging in so many different projects all over the world. And I think that we really need to bridge away from either just focusing on Greta or just focusing on a group of people, and really making this diverse, really shining the light on diverse perspectives, and really giving multiple people and more sources the opportunity to speak up and to share their stories with the general public. So I think that's something that could be really improved upon when in terms of media's reporting on youth, climate activism is just increasing and diversifying those sources that they're interviewing and that they're reporting on.
SADIE:
Yeah. So do you see differences in how people like you were portrayed in the media? Versus like, how an activist who's older, like young activist versus the older activist, you see a difference than that at all?
SARAH:
I do. I think that, as a young person, people would assume you know, I don't have a degree in environmental science. I haven't gone to college. I haven't even graduated high school yet. So sometimes when I'm doing interviews, or when I'm talking with media, it seems like they're dumbing things down a lot. And it seems like they're just not even focusing on the issue, but just giving very general basic generic questions, you know, why are you doing this? Why is this important? You know, what can other young people do when, in the same realm, you'll see an older activist who's being asked specifics about a bill who's being asked specifics about something happening in Congress and ask specifics about, you know, their activism. So I think there's kind of a little bit of inner difference in interactions between reporters and media stations and younger activists and media stations, and older activists, and, you know, also from journalists all the time, I've heard Oh, my gosh, like, had them comment outside about no college? And why are you doing this and really implying that there's a passion there that stems from something other than just wanting to help the planet where I don't? I don't know if that resonates the same with older activists who are out of high school or out of college?
MARISSA:
What do you think is unique about having a younger perspective on global issues such as climate change,
SARAH:
there is there's a lot of unique perspectives and a lot of unique aspects to being a young person getting involved in a social justice issue and a social justice movement, like the climate movement, one thing that I would touch on is that, you know, we still have so much room to grow and oftentimes have an experience maybe as much as some of the older activists. So we have this kind of different energy and this different kind of, we're willing to try anything, and we don't put up guards right away, when something seems like it might not work, we're willing to really go for it, even if there's a potential failure. And I think some of the older activists are very much set in their ways. And very much either this will or won't work, where I think a lot of young people are kind of in between and willing to compromise more and willing to really look at an issue and a solution from all different angles without just shutting it down right away. Another thing that's really unique about young people is that we are able to relate to them, we're able to connect to a huge population of people. I mean, there are so many children and teenagers and young people on this planet. And oftentimes within activism, it's geared towards what can adults do? What can people who have the privilege to vote, what can they do? So as a young person working in this space, I think it's been a really unique getting to focus on what can young people do and targeting this audience that oftentimes goes ignored?
SADIE:
Yeah, so to kind of add on to that, Were there times that you thought your age was an obstacle for your activism? Because you've met with numerous politicians and adult leaders? What do you feel is the best way to communicate with them and get your point across?
SARAH:
I do feel like my age has been a barrier. And I remember talking to different politicians and different corporations and business leaders who kind of listen to what I said and then went on a completely different topic. And I've had people come up to me and say What do you know about this issue, go back to school, this, you know, this isn't in your hands, this isn't something that you have the right to be speaking up about, or that you have the information and education to speak up about which just to me is like, what, who, what, you know, I have my own story I have, I may not know every single thing. And I don't think that anyone knows every single scientific detail and every single fact about the climate crisis and about these issues. And it's really just about the different perspectives and different stories that we bring. So I think really translating things more to that personal side of things, and away from, you know, it's just science 24/7 has really helped me connect with other leaders and connect with older and more authoritative figures.
MARISSA:
So, coming into a little bit of a different topic. Burning out is common with being an activist, have you ever burned out? And if so, how were you able to get back up? Or how do you keep yourself from burning out?
SARAH:
Burn Out has been a really large maybe one of the largest obstacles that I faced as a climate activists. And I think that's because I am someone who gets so, so passionate, especially when it's something as urgent as the climate crisis, it's hard for me not to just put myself completely and devote myself into the solution and into taking action. And something also off that topic. When I first got involved in climate activism, I was really struggling with depression, with suicidal ideation and a lot of mental health issues. And I found that taking action and feeling like I was playing a part in something really helped alleviate those those symptoms and really helped me grow mentally, and kind of get out of that deep hole that I was experiencing at the time. So I started to kind of associate taking action with feeling better and guilt combined with this passion and determination and motivation, I had really led me to burnout because all I was doing 24/7 was activism, all I was thinking about 24/7 was, what am I doing to help the planet and to reduce my carbon emissions and to inspire others and to educate others, which is great, but once you're going out that for days than weeks than months, then years, it can get really tiring. And I started to see that I wasn't setting aside time to do anything that wasn't focused on climate activism, you know, I stopped going to my dance classes, I stopped hanging out with friends, I stopped kind of getting involved in school events. And it just was this realization that I've kind of put myself into this, you know, 24/7, where it's not as meaningful. And the actions I'm having and taking are as meaningful just because I'm so burnt out. And I've worked myself to, you know, endless capabilities and to the point where it's just so tiring and draining. And I've dealt with that a few times where I'll go from being burnt out to having a surge of passion, and going full force and then burning out again, and, you know, kind of back and forth.
But in the past year or so, I think ever since COVID, I've really learned how to balance that. And that's by really setting limits for myself and setting boundaries, knowing when is too much, even when I am passionate, and I'm feeling, you know, really fueled still cutting myself off at a point and saying, you know, I'm setting aside an hour a day, no matter what, no matter how, you know, eager and excited, I'm feeling to do something for myself that has absolutely nothing to do with activism. You know, I've really prioritize getting out into nature. And, you know, at points, especially during COVID, I just lost touch with what I was fighting for. And I got so into everything I was doing that I forgot, you know, why am I doing this in the first place? And what is the world around me, so really getting to go out. And I know that's not something that everyone can do, but really trying to go out into nature and reconnect and spend time, you know, looking at other hobbies and other passions that I have. Because I think, you know, the same can be said about activism, as can be said for any other thing that you're passionate about when you go full force 24/7 It's just burnout is kind of prone to happen. But I think the reason why so many young people have been burnt out in specific, you know, specifically leading climate activism is that the climate crisis is something that's so urgent, so a lot of people feel like they need to be going full force. And now, you know, not in a duration that's, you know, spans over a few years, but everything needs to be happen happening now. And that's because there is an urgency and I think that urgency is really increasing the burnout that young people are facing.
SADIE:
So you mentioned that that was a big challenge for you. But what do you feel like your biggest challenge was that you faced in your career and activism and how did you overcome it? And maybe that was that I just wanted to ask.
SARAH:
I think that was definitely one really difficult time and challenge that I faced another challenge was with COVID was pivoting from going and having all these in person actions and communicating with people and meeting new people and traveling to being stuck in a room on Zoom, you know, all day, every day having school, my social life, and activism online 24/7 Not only did that, you know, lead to more burnout, but it just, I think left a lot of young people feeling isolated, it was a lot harder to take action, it was all happening, you know, just weeks before earthday, when a lot of young people were planning really big actions in their own community. So I know in San Francisco, we had been meeting for actually like months at that time planning a huge strike in downtown San Francisco. And then all of a sudden, we had to pivot to a virtual format and things were changing. And a lot of people were putting so much hope on Earth Day 2020. I mean, it was the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and everyone was so excited. So have all of that happen, right then was just kind of a big letdown. And I think, left a lot of people feeling a little more hopeless than usual. So a really difficult challenge was dealing with COVID not only dealing with kind of that, hopelessness, but also just trying to figure out how to work in to focus on the climate crisis, when our whole entire world is kind of in a state of panic. And in a global pandemic, which is something that you know, none of us saw coming.
MARISSA:
What is your biggest activism related accomplishment? In your eyes? What do you feel most proud of?
SARAH:
I'm most proud of the interactions and the experiences that I've had with young people working with climate now getting to go into schools and talk with students and hear their stories and hear their perspectives about climate activism and about the climate crisis has truly been the most rewarding part of my social justice career. I've had, you know, students come up to me afterwards and tell me their ideas and how excited they are to take actions. I've had people who come up and they're like, why, you know, so angry, they're like, Why did I not know about this, this is insane. I can't believe that this is happening. So giving other young people that, you know, really formative experience and hopefully starting them on their path as social justice activists, as you know, the greatest accomplishment that I could have ever asked for, and I've, you know, followed a lot of these young people as they continue on their path and seeing as a get involved with different organizations as they come back and work with climate now or as they go off, and they you know, get involved in their schools, environmental clubs. So getting to really see the impact that we've had and how these young people interact with the work that we're doing at climate now, I think has been the most rewarding
SADIE:
To go on to a different subject now, kind of, did you have any specific role models or people that you looked up to whenever you first began your activism journey? And how did they affect your path?
SARAH:
Oh, my gosh, I've had so many role models. Across the past, however, five, six years that I've been getting involved in climate activism, there are so many incredible adults and young people who are taking action who are getting involved. When I specifically when I first started getting involved in activism, I had one kind of mentor and one real big inspiration. His name was Charles organ, and he's the founder of cleaning forward. And he founded that when he was 12 years old, I went on to eventually work with greening forward as a youth council member and then as the youth council liaison, but I met Charles when I went to a camp called Youth empowered action camper. It's called a camp for short, which is a week long summer program for young people who want to make a difference and want to learn what activism is and how they can do it. So I attended that summer camp. After learning about the climate crisis, I, you know, randomly came about it. And from there met Charles and got involved in greening forward and I just found it so inspirational to see, you know, this other, you know, young adult and young person who started something, you know, it eventually, in the beginning greening forward was just a blog that he started as a way to talk about his feelings about different environmental issues. And then people started reading it from all over the world, and then eventually it formed into this global international organization. So learning his story, getting to hear from him was one of those really formative activism experiences that I had.
MARISSA:
For our final question, to young peers who feel like they can't make an impact on the world, what would you tell them?
SARAH:
Your voice is so powerful, just understanding that your story has meaning and your story is impactful. And that someone else can learn from that and someone else can grow from what you've experienced, I think is the first step in becoming an activist is understanding that you have something important to say that other people want to hear it and other people should be hearing it and that they can grow from that. I really encourage you to just start getting involved start taking action, that's really the first step. And the hardest thing to do is just decide, okay, you know, I'm going to apply to intern here, I'm going to apply to be a volunteer here, I'm going to go write about climate change and send it over to my local newspaper, just deciding to take that action. And really having that conversation with yourself is the first start in your activism journey. And I just encourage you that no matter what if you face opposition, if you don't know, continue going Never doubt that you can't do this because you really can. And there are so many other young people who are working on these issues. So I really just encourage you to reach out to them to hear their experiences to get their advice. You know, you can find me on social media or you can you know, search on my website, Sarah dash goody.com and send a message to me, I'm always happy to help out to answer any questions that you might have. And I know there are so many other youth activists who are in the same position and would love to hear from you and just help you on your journey.
MARISSA:
For our young listeners, remember that your voice and perspectives matter. As Sarah said, understanding your impact on the world as the first step to taking action and getting involved. We encourage you to engage in conversations about what you're passionate about with the environment, and finding a balance between activism and your personal life.
SADIE:
For listeners that want to get further involved in the climate movement, great job because you've already gotten involved by listening to this podcast. To get even more involved, try joining a local youth climate organization in your community, like Sunrise movement, or earth uprising.
JUJU:
If those organizations don't exist in your city yet, you can get together a group of friends and establish your own chapter or club, get your classmates friends and family involved. There's so much that you can do becoming an activist starts with taking action and believing that your voice is important and can help guide so many others.
KATHERINE:
Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Operation climate. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on our socials we are @Operationclimate on Instagram, at @opclimate on Twitter and @operationclimate on tiktok and to our dear listeners, we want to hear from you. So go to Apple podcasts and give us a rating and review that would be amazing. And for a full transcript of this episode with citations and links that you can explore to learn more about this topic that we covered today. Head to bit.ly/operationclimatepodcast.