#COP27 — Four female climate activists who #FlipTheScript
As world leaders gather at #COP27, hear insights into the realities of the climate crisis from four incredible changemakers.
The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated that the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) must be the place to reconstruct trust and reestablish the spirit needed to avoid pushing our planet over the climate cliff:
“We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator. Our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. We need urgent climate actions.”
The power and participation of youth were evident at COP27 through youth-led side events, workshops and activities, with a continuous stream of creative and collaborative actions that emphasized the critical role of youth in climate action.
Our inspiring climate activists highlight that we must flip the script on climate for bold and transformative action as the United Nations calls on governments to accelerate their ambition to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, combat deforestation, protect biodiversity and achieve net-zero carbon emissions.
Mitzi Jonelle Tan
National and global leaders need to take the climate crisis into account!
We need everyone on board to put pressure on their national and global leaders to take the climate crisis into account. We need to make sure that carbon dioxide emissions are counted properly. We need to make sure that Global North countries are transitioning out of the fossil fuel industry /…/ put pressure on their governments to have that climate finance from the Global North to the Global South.
— Mitzi Jonelle Tan, SDG Action Talks
Mitzi Jonelle Tan is a full-time climate justice activist based in Manila, Philippines. She is the convenor and international spokesperson of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP), the Fridays For Future (FFF) of the Philippines. She is also an organizer with FFF International and FFF MAPA (Most Affected Peoples and Areas), ensuring that voices from the Global South are heard, amplified, and given space. A strong voice on anti-imperialism, anti-colonization, and the intersectionality of the climate crisis, she is committed to changing the system and building a world that prioritizes people and the planet, not profit, through collective action. Follow Mitzi on Instagram and Twitter.
Rebecca Prince-Ruiz
COP27 needs to be about action and holding the business and the fossil fuel industry to account!
The next COP has to be different. Unless we make significant changes by 2030, we will not tackle the climate emergency. So, the next COP can’t be about aspirations, and it needs to be about action and holding the business and the fossil fuel industry to account.
— Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, SDG Action Talks
Rebecca Prince-Ruiz is the founder of the ‘for-purpose’ Plastic Free July Foundation. This not-for-profit organization brings the public and businesses together with the vision of a world without plastic waste. Rebecca has 25 years of experience in environmental and waste management, community engagement and sustainability behaviour change. She has participated in plastic pollution research expeditions in Queensland, Cocos Islands and the North Atlantic Ocean; and worked alongside internationally renowned organizations during a recent Churchill Fellowship. One of Rebecca’s current projects is helping to structure the Western Australian plastic bag ban, which came into effect on 1 July 2018, working with the Boomerang Alliance, the State government’s community co-design partner. Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn.
YOUNGO
Amplify youth actions with a vision of bettering ourselves and our communities!
We are one united constituency, and our whole goal is to amplify the climate goals at COP27. We continue to amplify youth actions with a vision of bettering ourselves, bettering our communities, learning and adapting to becoming more resilient, we are in a climate crisis, and the climate reality is here, and we are ready. We will mobilize our youth actions in a way that we can create a sustainable future.
— Jessica Li, SDG Action Talks
YOUNGO is the Youth Constituency of the UNFCCC. It comprises many youth-led organizations, groups, delegations, and individuals working in climate change-related fields. YOUNGO runs various Working Groups focusing each on specific aspects of climate change within the UNFCCC negotiations and events to ensure that the perspectives of young and future generations are taken into account in the multilateral decision-making processes. Besides that, YOUNGO members observe and report on climate negotiations and the implications of their outcomes. Follow YOUNGO on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
The Natural History Museum
Find new solutions and mitigate and adapt to climate change!
When it comes to the climate crisis, it’s so hard because it feels like there are so many challenges in front of us. There’s already been such severe loss of life, people displacement, and insecurities because of the climate crisis worldwide. In other places, we know we are running out of time to find new solutions and mitigate and adapt to climate change. People who are in positions of power, who can drive change, just aren’t doing or aren’t doing it quickly enough.
— Camilla Tham, SDG Action Talks
The Natural History Museum in London is one of the largest natural history museums in the world. It is one of three museums on Exhibition Road in the London borough of South Kensington. It is housed in a Romanesque-Byzantine style building from 1860. The museum exhibits, together with the Geological Museum, want to make the connections in nature clear and show how people depend on the earth’s resources. Follow Natural History Museum on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Share climate actions
Share your climate actions on the SDG global map and on social media — tag us at @SDGAction and use the hashtags #FlipTheScript and #Act4SDGs.
