Page 113 - Vogue - India (January 2020)

view

JEAN HINCHLIFFE
, AUSTRALIA

Jean Hinchli e, founder and lead organiser
of School Strike for Climate in Sydney and
the sustainability director of Operation
Period, credits the UN Report that gave
us a 12-year deadline to avert the worst
impacts of the climate crisis as the tipping
point that sparked her generation to take
charge. “Seeing my government’s inaction
on the climate crisis (I had watched them
push back the emissions and reductions
targets while continuing to actively support
and fund new coal mines) motivated me
to act.” Hinchli e has gone on to lead
one of the largest mass demonstrations in
Australian history—this past September,
3,50,000 people gathered to protest.

RIDHIMA PANDEY
, INDIA
At age nine, she fi led a complaint against the Indian Government with the
National Green Tribunal. Her petition was dismissed, but Ridhima Pandey’s work
had only just begun. “I was scared by the devastation of climate change (the
Uttarakhand fl oods, rising pollution levels, and so on). Our politicians keep playing
the blame game. Look at the Delhi air pollution crisis. Haryana blames Delhi and
Delhi blames Haryana, but nobody is taking responsibility. The only way to create
change is to do it yourself, so I became responsible.” She’s keeping her word—last
year, she and 15 other youth activists fi led a UN Human Rights complaint on
climate change, against fi ve countries. As discussions proceed, so does her fi ght.

HELENA GUALINGA
, ECUADOR
“Indigenous people protect more
than 80 per cent of the world’s
biodiversity. Ensuring their rights and
their rights to land would make sure
that our forests stay untouched and
fossil fuels are kept underground,”
says Helena Gualinga. The Amazon
is her home, where she grew up
in a community “fi ghting big oil”,
and is one of the leading advocates
for climate justice and a voice for

indigenous people in the region. ■

www.vogue.in VOGUE INDIA JANUARY 113