Chanting for Change

     Please take a moment to watch Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner bring an entire room of world leaders to their feet. Chosen from 500 applicants, this woman speaks from a perspective I've never heard from before, which just makes it that much more compelling, and the ending... Well, you'll have to see!

     As I'm sure many of you have  noticed, this issue has been steadily rising over the last few weeks. The people are once again taking a stand against climate injustice, and I'm beginning to find that this time, the rest of the world is ready to listen.

     There are a few things about this video that really bring it home for me:

1) Yes, Leonardo Dicaprio beat her to the punch, but this woman is not a "celebrity." She's a mother, much like my own. She cares about her child, like any mother would, and what she's fighting for is "the most important race of all, the race to save humanity." This video shows the difference one person can make, a person just like you and me.

2) This year, I'm living with two second-year YAVs, one of which just spent the last year in the Philippines. Hearing the stories Mallory tells and the pictures from her time there, make this place more real to me. I'll be honest, before I applied to the Young Adult Volunteer Program, I thought very little about this area, but being that it was a location I was interested in spending this year, I learned a lot from Dessa Palm (one of the site coordinators) about its history. "We've seen waves crashing into our homes and our breadfruit trees wither from the salt and drought." Especially after the typhoons that have happened recently, there is no way we can continue ignore this issue.

3) What I might consider the most exciting point on this list is that I am the proud sister of a one who participated in, to quote the man himself (Ben Evans), "the largest climate march in history (400,000 people committed to climate justice!!)" Of course her speech made a difference, and if it simply stood alone, I'm sure it would still cause these world leaders to second guess themselves, but pair that with each protest, speech, and video coming to light in the recent weeks, they have no choice but to notice and take action. "And there are thousands out on the streets, marching hand-in-hand, chanting for change NOW. And they're marching for you, baby. They're marching for us."

"The people united can NEVER be defeated!" - Ben Evans