An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities". An environmentalist is engaged in or believes in the philosophy of environmentalism or one of the related philosophies.
The climate movement is a global social movement focused on pressuring governments and industry to take action addressing the causes and impacts of climate change. Although its roots stem from the broader environmental movement, climate activism gained significant momentum in the 2010s, particularly following the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016. The movement has recently been characterized by mass mobilization and large scale protest actions such as the 2014 People's Climate March, 2017 Global Climate March and September 2019 climate strikes. Youth activism and involvement has played an important part in the evolution of the movement after the growth of the Fridays For Future strikes started by Greta Thunberg.
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
Luisa-Marie Neubauer is a German climate activist. She is one of the main organisers of the school strike for climate movement in Germany, where it is commonly referred to under its alternative name Fridays for Future. She advocates a climate policy that complies with and surpasses the Paris Agreement and endorses de-growth. Neubauer is a member of Alliance 90/The Greens and the Green Youth.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg made a double crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 2019 to attend climate conferences in New York City and, until it was moved, Santiago, Chile. She sailed from Plymouth, UK, to New York, United States aboard the racing yacht Malizia II, returning from Hampton, Virginia, to Lisbon on the catamaran La Vagabonde. Thunberg refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions of the airline industry and the trip was announced as carbon neutral. As a racing sailboat, the Malizia II has no toilet, fixed shower, cooking facilities or proper beds.
Catarina Lorenzo is Brazilian climate activist from Salvador, Bahia.
Xiye Bastida is a Mexican climate activist and member of the indigenous Otomi-Toltec nation. She is one of the major organizers of Fridays for Future New York City and has been a leading voice for indigenous and immigrant visibility in climate activism. She is on the administration committee of the People's Climate Movement and a former member of Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion. She is co-founder of Re-Earth Initiative, an international not-for-profit organization that is inclusive and intersectional “just as the climate movement should be.”
Vanessa Nakate is a Ugandan climate justice activist. She grew up in Kampala and became a celebrity in December 2018 after becoming concerned about the unusually high temperatures in her country.
Isabelle Axelsson is a Swedish climate activist from Stockholm.
Ridhima Pandey (2008) is an Indian environmental activist from India who advocates for action against climate change. She has been likened to Greta Thunberg. When she was nine years old, she filed a suit against the Indian government for not taking enough steps to combat climate change. She also was one of the complainants to the United Nations, along with several other young climate activists, against several nations' failure to take action against the climate crisis.
Sophia Kianni is an American climate activist specializing in media and strategy. She is the founder and executive director of Climate Cardinals, an international youth-led nonprofit that works to translate information about climate change into over 100 languages. She represents the United States as the youngest member on the United Nations Secretary-General's Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change.
Haven Coleman is an American climate and environmental activist. She is the co-founder and co-executive director US Youth Climate Strike; the nonprofit organization is dedicated towards raising awareness and demanding action concerning the climate crisis. She established it together with youth activists Alexandria Villaseñor and Isra Hirsi. She also writes for Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Leah Namugerwa is a youth climate activist in Uganda. She is known for leading tree planting campaigns and for starting a petition to enforce the plastic bag ban in Uganda. Following inspiration from Greta Thunberg, she began supporting school strikes in February 2019 with fellow Fridays for Future Uganda organizer Sadrach Nirere.
Yola Mgogwana is a South African climate activist from Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
Disha Annappa Ravi is an Indian youth climate change activist and a founder of Fridays For Future India. Her arrest on 13 February 2021 for an alleged involvement with an online toolkit related to Greta Thunberg and the 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protests gained international attention. The Indian government alleged that the toolkit, a standard social justice communications and organizing document, providing a list of ways to support the farmers' protests, fomented unrest and a form of sedition. The arrest was widely criticized both within India, and internationally.
Mitzi Jonelle Tan is a Filipino climate justice activist. She lives in Metro Manila, Philippines.
Immaculate Akello is a Ugandan social entrepreneur, climate change activist, Human rights activist and lawyer whose main aim is to transform the lives of rural women in northern Uganda. Akello is the founder of Generation Engage Network, a youth led organization that focuses on environmental rights and environmental democracy in Northern and Central Uganda. Through this organization, she represented Uganda at the Vijjana Assembly in 2018 in Arusha, Tanzania and she was the speaker of the 2018 National Parliamentary youth moot in Uganda.
Dominique Palmer is a British climate justice activist, student and leading U.K environmentalist. She spoke at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference, and began her activism as a prominent figure and one of the U.K’s most high profile youth activists in the School Strike for Climate Movement.
Evelyn Acham is a climate justice activist from Uganda and national Ugandan coordinator of the Rise Up Movement, which was founded by her friend and fellow organzier Vanessa Nakate.
Eric Damien Njuguna is a climate activist from Kenya.
