No Planet B, No Chill: Gen Z’s Climate Crusade

Gen Z climate activists near and far have been tirelessly working to make their voices and dreams heard. And it’s working. The 2026 EarthDay.org theme of “Our Power, Our Planet” has been a theme engrained in these activists’ mentalities for years and they show us what we can achieve when we truly use our power to invoke climate attention and action. 

Three activists: Vanessa Nakate, Xiye Bastida and Sophia Kianni, come from all corners of the globe and are brought to the environmental crisis for various reasons. Fueled by community, identity and language, they are sparking a global movement to dismantle climate injustice and tackle the climate crisis. While the impacts they are making may seem impossible to match or come close to, their efforts boil down to simple, powerful tactics that use their voice to show change is not just necessary, it is entirely possible. 

Vanessa Nakate: The Climate Fight Starts on Your Block  

Frequently, countries that are facing the most severe impacts of climate change are underrepresented in the international sphere. Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan native, has discovered community-based initiatives as an excellent method to address this and create intersectional representation in the climate movement.

While Africa faces some of the most harsh and tangible effects of climate change like intense water stress, increased heat-related deaths and crippling impacts on agriculture harvests, they are frequently excluded from the climate change conversation. Nakate has directly experienced this injustice. In 2020, at a Switzerland climate summit, Nakate was photographed alongside a group of white climate activists but was cropped out of the photo when it was published. In identifying a way to have an intersectional dialogue in the climate discussion, she founded Rise Up Climate movement to amplify voices of activists from Africa by giving them an online platform to tell their stories. 

Nakate exemplifies what it means to address challenges in ones own community by turning her attention to classrooms in Uganda. Despite facing the brunt of the climate crisis, rural schools in Uganda, and many other nations, are still heavily dependent on fossil fuels such as charcoal to make their classrooms run. In response, Nakate started the Vash Green Schools Project, an idea rooted in community and climate which ended up implementing solar on 75 rural schools while hoping to expand to homes. 

And a community extends well beyond the people who exist in it: it includes the world that we call home. With this in mind, she used her social media presence to promote the tagline “Save Congo’s Rainforest” in hopes of getting attention on the issue and protecting Congo’s rainforest from deforestation. In just two weeks, it was an internationally successful movement when it was given online recognition by Greta Thunberg.

Nakate shows us that a community-based approach has the power to bring local issues to the international stage. Since her efforts began, she has become a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and made powerful strides across the globe, bringing the attention back to those who need it most. 

Xiye Bastida: Loud, Proud, and Proven

Hailing from San Pedro Topiltepec, a town of less than 500 in Oaxaca, Mexico, Xiye Bastida shows us that no matter if one comes from a big city or a small town, everyone has a voice and deserves to be heard. 

In her hometown, she observed the direct effects of climate change through water contamination and increasing floods. And when her family moved to New York in 2015, she decided to take action. Starting at the young age of 13, she found power in her voice as a way to bridge the gaps between indigenous communities and international organizations of power. Bastida has been able to develop this relationship via climate strikes and speaking on the large, public stage. She has captivated audiences through her TedTalk, “Your inner fire is your greatest strength” which has nearly half a million plays. 

These efforts to speak up and speak loud have not gone unnoticed, especially on an international scale. In 2021, she spoke at the UN Leadership Summit on Climate, at the White House for the Biden administration, and has won international awards, like TIME 100 Next honoree, Forbes Changemaker, and UN Spirit Award, in recognition for her efforts. 
She is also no stranger to climate action and protest. Partnering with Greta Thunberg in 2019, she has gathered hundreds of thousands of high school students and led massive protests down the streets of New York to show the importance of the fight against climate change and the importance of indigenous voices. Bastida understands that this issue is a time-sensitive one and is hoping the world is listening.

Sophia Kianni: Climate Action as a Universal Tongue

90 percent of internationally recognized climate journals are published in the United States or the United Kingdom but at least 6.5 billion people in the world cannot speak the English language. As a result, the number of people who have access to climate science is incredibly limited. Bridging the gap between language barriers is a huge aspect of environmental activism and Sophia Kianni cracked the code.

Similar to the local experiences of Vanessa Nakate, Kianni observed the language barrier of scientific journals when visiting family in Iran and on a school trip to the country. What she struggled to understand was how her relatives there didn’t realize the scope of the climate crisis happening in their backyard due to the lack of translation of climate science. She took matters into her own hands, translating for her relatives before they started to realize the degree to which climate change was impacting their direct world.

By taking her love for family into the application of language, Kianni has grown this into an international movement with her company, Climate Cardinals. What started as a simple care for her community and the environment they live in transpired into a worldwide movement. Climate Cardinals now has 19,000 volunteers in 185 countries and she’s given a TedTalk with 2.5 million plays. Speaking up about the social injustices that result from climate change has led her to be a recipient of Forbes 30 Under 30, the Muhammid Ali Humanitarian Award, TIME’s 100 Next, National Geographic Young Explorer and many more. 

From Bystander to Builder of Change

What a privilege it is to live at the same time as such impactful and inspirational climate activists who have harnessed their passions to achieve monumental results. But if you’re like me, you’re probably overwhelmed by their achievements and wondering how on Earth you could come close to them. 

The good news is that you don’t have to amount to the same level. Use these stories as inspiration and sign up to be a volunteer with EARTHDAY.ORG. From local community action to individual action, we have a plethora of toolkits to help get you started. In line with the 2026 Earth Day theme, you truly have the power to change our planet. Earth Day falls on April 22nd and there are volunteer events around the country with opportunities to activate your power and take the fight against the climate crisis into your own hands. 

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