Youth Staff

Alexandria Villaseñor is a 14 year old climate activist from the USA and founder of Earth Uprising. Alexandria began her own solo weekly school strike for climate in front of United Nations Headquarters on December 14, 2018 inspired by Greta Thunberg. Alexandria has been on strike ever since. Soon after she began striking, Alexandria became a national and international Fridays for Future organizer for the global climate strikes that have occurred in the past year. For her activism, Alexandria was awarded the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival's "Disruptor", the 2019 Rachel Carson Award for Environmental Service and Politico identified her as one of the top 100 people influential in climate policy. Alexandria continued her activism, on September 23rd, Alexandria, alongside Greta Thunberg and 14 other children from all around the world, filed an international complaint with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child alleging that the largest polluting nations on the planet are violating the human rights of children everywhere. Alexandria will continue her activism until she sees efficient action on the climate crisis.

Ale Reyes is 18-years-old from Sterling, Illinois. Earlier this year, she started the Environmental Council at her school, where she teaches people about environmental issues and how to become eco-conscious. She has been vegan for four years and has been trying to go zero-waste for three. She is interested in films, fiber art, and photography. Ale always purchases clothes second hand. She enjoys thrifting and see what she can make into art or fashion. She would like to become a park ranger one day.

Anisa Nanavati is a 16-year-old climate activist that was born and raised in Tampa, Florida. She is currently a sophomore in high school. As a result of living in a frontline community, Anisa has seen the direct results of climate change. The temperatures are always reaching record highs, the displacement of many because of rising sea levels is increasing, the number of deadly storms that endanger her community is surging, and the threat of losing her only home is looming. The mangroves and trails, the rich biodiversity, and Tampa’s signature beaches are all threatened by the climate crisis. These reasons compelled her to become a part of Earth Uprising. Anisa’s activism includes plans to educate members of her community about the threats of the climate crisis and promote understanding among all. She has helped organize and has spoken at climate strikes in the Tampa Bay Area and plans to do much more in the future.

Ciara Lonergan is a junior at East Bridgewater Junior/Senior High School in southeastern Massachusetts. At school, Ciara maintains honors and partakes in extracurriculars such as DECA, Tri-M music honors society, and was elected by her student body to be the student representative on her town’s School Committee. In her environmental work, Ciara is the Boston City Coordinator as well as the Logistics Coordinator for Earth Uprising. Through Earth Uprising, Ciara has presented one of Earth Uprising’s campaigns at the United Nations Youth Climate Summit and has developed Earth Uprising’s internal structure. As someone who is heavily interested in meteorology, the catastrophic effects the climate crisis has had on Earth’s weather system, and the resulting extreme weather motivated Ciara to take action.

Jean Hinchliffe is a 15-year-old school student and climate activist. As a lead organiser within School Strike 4 Climate, she campaigns for legislative action against the sourcing and usage of fossil fuels, along with pushing for Australia to become fully carbon neutral. When she isn’t trying to save the world, Jean works as a professional actress and has recently wrapped her first television show!

Kevin Mtai is 23 years old and lives in Eldoret, Kenya. He has a Diploma in Medical Laboratory Science and is passionate about protecting the environment, especially as it applies to human health. He was in high school when floods, a catastrophe spurred on by the climate crisis, destroyed his home and properties. This fueled him to be a climate activist in order to create awareness in his community about the effects of climate change. After seeing other activists strike solo every Friday, it opened his eyes to be involved in environmental saving activities like planting trees, educating people in his society about the importance of protecting the environment, water cleanups, and Friday striking.

Tehontsiiohsta (Meadow) Cook is a 16-year-old indigenous activist from the Akwesásne Mohawk Territory. She works with her people to connect indigenous ideas with activist organizations and is an environmentalist and speaker within her community. She has been heavily involved with the #IdleNoMore movement and is currently a part of the fight against the Enbridge Pipeline. She hopes to expand her reach beyond the reserve and act as a voice for the Kanien’kehá:ka.

Mohammad Ahmadi is 16 years old and was born in Iran but currently lives in the Chicago-area in Illinois, USA. From a young age, Mohammad was passionate about the environment. When he started learning about the climate crisis and its devastating impacts on our planet and future, he knew he couldn’t remain silent. Currently, he is the Communications Coordinator for Earth Uprising and the City Coordinator for Chicago, the Illinois Climate Strike Ambassador for his high school, and the Founder and President of the Hinsdale Climate Coalition. He believes that by educating more people about the climate crisis and the continued pressure on politicians and corporations, we will be on the right path towards solving the climate and ecological crisis facing our generation today.

Ritvik Janamsetty is a 16-year-old climate activist from Las Vegas, Nevada, but is originally from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Being raised on three different continents, he has seen the impacts of the climate crisis first hand from extremely inclement weather and high amounts of unbreathable pollution in India to the lowering of water in Lake Mead the elixir of life and the ever-intensifying burgeoning summer desert heat in the United States’ fastest-warming city. He fights for those in his home country of India who lack the means to evade the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, unlike him. He is deeply interested in the science behind the climate crisis. As a burgeoning engineer, he seeks to engineer the future to prevent total ecological breakdown. Last year, he created a cheap, clean biomass stove that vastly limited the number of harmful pollutants produced from biomass burning in developing countries. As he goes into the future, he seeks to serve as a bridge between academia and activism to bring upon a new green era. He is currently serving as the digital coordinator for Earth Uprising. He has spoken at the UN Youth Climate Summit and has served as one of the media leads for the United States for the September and November/December climate strikes.

Sofía Hernández is a 21 years old feminist, climate and human rights activist based in Costa Rica, currently is in her fifth year of political science starting the thesis on climate migration. Hernández is the one of organizers of Fridays For Future Costa Rica, Coordinator of the Youth and Climate Change Costa Rican Network and Partnership Coordinator of Polluters Out. At the University of Costa Rica, is part of a feminist collective “Me pasó en la UCR” and of the Environment Commission. She is one of the first youth representatives in the Costa Rican delegation to the COP and, in addition, Sofía is doing a university volunteering with migrant and refugee populations in the NGO CENDEROS.

Supriya Patel is a youth climate organizer from Northern California. She’s also Partnerships Coordinator at Earth Uprising and is passionate about environmental justice and the power of youth-driven movements. She first became concerned about the climate crisis when she traveled to India, where her family is originally from, and learned that citizens were forced to breathe toxic air. Now, she turns her climate grief into action and has organized climate strikes in her hometown.

Wendy Gao is an Asian American climate activist from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. In high school, she was the president of her school environmental club, where she led campaigns in her school community and volunteered at local elementary schools to educate students about the environment. She also led a coalition of students to convince the Fairfax County School Board to move forward in installing solar panels on Fairfax County Public Schools and has worked on numerous policy agendas for clean energy in the Virginia General Assembly. While most of her climate work has centered on environmental legislation, Wendy has organized direct actions. She played an essential role in financing the Washington, D.C. Climate Strike on September 20, 2019, for which she was a core organizer and speaker. Wendy has won numerous awards and scholarships for her environmental championship and spoke at the 2019 United Nations Youth Climate Summit with an Earth Uprising delegation. She is currently a first-year at the University of Virginia, where she plans to study politics and environmental policy.

Yasmine Mabene is the Social Media Coordinator of Earth Uprising. She is a senior in high school and is extremely passionate about making a difference. She organizes events within her school and community to bring awareness to the climate crisis and advocate for change. In addition to direct action, she aims to drive change through education by speaking with her peers and using social media. Yasmine finds online platforms to be a critical part of youth organizing and a way to not only share information and fight for issues but to uplift voices of those most affected by climate change.