I grew up in a predominantly Black and Latine community where gang violence was common. My parents grew up in El Salvador, and when they took me to v… - Yessenia Funes

My greatest hope is the youth. They see the issue for what it is. They see it through this racial lens. They understand all the ways it's set to impact their lives, their futures, the world.

Climate justice is racial justice. The climate crisis has always been an issue embedded in systemic racism. Where can we find fossil fuel infrastructure? In communities of color. All the pollutants and toxins those refineries and power plants emit harm the Black and brown communities nearby. Black people, in particular, have borne an unfair burden from the drivers of climate change. Changing this isn't simple. It's not something we can just snap our fingers, and it'll be gone. Solving this will require a complete transformation of social policies. All that money cities and counties spend on their police departments? They can invest it in Black communities to build public transit infrastructure, bike lanes, clean energy projects. That'll take some serious political will. While it's growing, it's not growing nearly fast enough to save the lives of the people climate change is set to harm first and worst.

My fear is that we won't act quickly enough to leave a habitable world for the youth working so hard to save it. After all, it can't be all on them. They inherited this mess. The adults in the room created it.