Boulder, CO, event on Oct. 15th features international and local youth speakers
(BOULDER, Colo) – October 8, 2015 – In the lead up to the U.N. climate change talks in Paris, Global Greengrants Fund and 350.org are kicking off their #YouthOnClimate Road To Paris activities with a “Climate Change and Youth Voices” event on October 15th in Boulder, Colorado. Click here to RSVP.
Details:
Thursday, October 15
Boulder Public Library
5 p.m. – 6 p.m. Library Garden – refreshments
6 p.m. – 7 p.m. Canyon Theater – talk and video screenings
Speakers will include:
- Nnimmo Bassey, award-winning environmental activist from Nigeria and Global Greengrants board chair
- Nurul MohdReza, CU-Boulder student and energy pioneer
- Liz Gangware, CU-Boulder student and member of Fossil Free CU
The event will showcase a series of videos from Kenya, Philippines, and Ecuador in which youth leaders around the world speak out about the threat of climate change in their communities. One such video features Ekai Nabenyo, a 21-year-old activist in northern Kenya, who has organized a program to educate his village about climate change and their rights when oil and gas companies want to drill on their land.
“Young people here in Boulder and across the planet will inherit the climate change chaos. As we head to the U.N. climate talks in Paris, we are bringing youth voices forward so that world leaders know why they need to take immediate action,” said Terry Odendahl, CEO of Global Greengrants Fund. “Greengrants believes the power to make change lies in grassroots action and solutions. The powerful examples of youth taking action in Kenya, Philippines, Ecuador—and here in Boulder—must be heard in Paris.”
Earlier in 2015, Global Greengrants Fund and 350.org entered into a strategic grantmaking partnership to fund grassroots youth in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and beyond to address the threats of climate change in their villages and communities. Greengrants and 350 will bring a delegation of these youth leaders to Paris so that their demands and priorities can be heard at the international level.
“350.org has helped create a global movement to fight climate change,” said Micah Parkin, Director of 350 Colorado and a co-sponsor of the event. “Scientists and policymakers have been unsuccessfully urging the world community to act for two decades, and now these new young voices are stepping forward to dismantle the fossil fuel apparatus and take their message to the Paris climate talks.”
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MORE ABOUT GLOBAL GREENGRANTS FUND: Solutions for lasting change come from people who face challenges to their environments and rights every day. Based in Boulder, CO, since 1993, Global Greengrants supports community-based projects that address climate change and make our world safer, healthier, and more just. As the leading environmental fund that supports grassroots action on a global scale, Global Greengrants, a 501(c)3 public charity, has directed more than $45 million in grants to grassroots initiatives in 165 countries. Visit greengrants.org/youthonclimate.
MORE ABOUT 350.org: 350.org works in almost every country in the world on campaigns like fighting coal power plants in India, stopping the Keystone XL pipeline in the U.S, and divesting public institutions everywhere from fossil fuels. All of our work leverages people power to dismantle the influence and infrastructure of the fossil fuel industry, and to develop people-centric solutions to the climate crisis. Visit 350.org.