Ajani Stella

What a great 2022! I was so honored to be speaking with , , and NYC Audubon, co-located in .

Climate Week is always a unique event. Designed to promote public-private partnership, it brings together transnational politicians, world leaders, and corporate chiefs to try and solve the . Yet while it has the potential to be a huge solutions event, too often it becomes a platform for high-level greenwashing and empty promises.

For the first time, we saw climate conversations taking center stage at the UN, and real action from some industrialized nations. But we also saw small nations, bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, being sidelined, their stories only being told by activists and advocates like those in .nyc.

This week was also an incredible learning opportunity for me. In particular, listening to the , I gained more insight into how we as a movement can stand in solidarity with BIPOC communities as we combat climate injustice, especially with what we gave away in the . We need to center these narratives in our conversations as we continue into the 77th session of the United Nations and COP 27.

I leave Climate Week with a sense of hopefulness, definitely more than I did last year. But I retain a sense of heightened urgency that carries me on to the next task, the next hurdle for us to overcome. But I still believe — or hope — that we can.

I am so honored to have been given this award by the North American Association for Environmental Education - NAAEE recognizing my climate education work, particularly Kids Fight Climate Change. During these times of crisis, it's easy to think that we're alone in this fight. The NAAEE's amazing work helps us remember that we aren't. So excited to be part of the cohort!

Check out my bio and the other amazing awardees' here: https://naaee.org/our-work/programs/ee-30-under-30.

Thank you .eco for inviting me to Regis High School! I was honored to speak to your school about climate action.

It was truly inspirational to see how engaged the audience was. I think we just created 200 new climate activists!

A great bake sale to raise funds for Kids Fight Climate Change! Together with our amazing volunteers, we managed to raise over $700! Thank you to them and our generous new supporters for their contributions.