As a Ugandan Climate Change Activist, Vanessa Nakate is just one incredible woman to turn to when you want to gain inspiration from what individuals can do for our planet.
Early Actions For Our Climate
In January 2019, Nakate started a lone strike against inaction on our climate crisis. She protested independently outside the Parliament of Uganda's gates for several long months. Finally, other youth started to respond to this woman's calls on social media platforms for other individuals to help create awareness of the plight of the Congolian rainforests. She also became the founder of Youth for Future Africa and the Africa-based Rise Up Movement.
Nakate's Awards
For her fantastic contributions to our planet, Nakate earned the Haub Law Environmental Award in 2021, recognizing her citizen diplomacy in raising the voice of her young generation to worldwide environmental campaigns and the inspiration of activism she emitted concerning the climate. More recently, in 2022, this inspirational woman won the inaugural Helmut-Schmidt-Future-Prize for her responsible actions concerning climate justice.
Other Recognition
She also became honored by the Young Activists Summit in 2020, during a discussion on our post-Covid world, and made it onto BBC's list of 100 Women in the same year. Nakate also made Time100 Next's list, published by TIME magazine in 2021.
The World Economic Forum
At the start of the year 2020, Nakate found herself amongst twenty other youth climate activists from around the globe, ready to publish a letter to the World Economic Forum's participants in Davos. Together, they called on businesses and governments to stop subsidizing fossil fuels. Arctic Basecape invited this woman and four other international delegates to camp in Davos whilst the World Economic Forum took place. Later, the delegates participated in a climate march on the Forum's last day.
2020 Action
In July 2020, Nakate partook in an interview with Angelina Jolie, hosted by TIME magazine. In this, she discussed the authority and significance of African voices within the climate justice movement. Later in the summer, this woman joined ex-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Forum Alpbach, discussing the vital topic of climate activism.
October 2020 brought us Nakate giving a speech at the Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture. Here, she urged global leaders to pay attention to climate change as a growing crisis, linking it to other issues, such as hunger, poverty, conflict, and disease.
Key Takeaways
- Firstly, it's evident that humans do have the power to raise awareness of significant issues. While Nakate is only one woman, she became dedicated to spreading the word about the climate crisis.
- Next, we can learn that the climate crisis really is a huge issue. With Nakate putting so much effort into this cause, it's apparent that the problem must be more severe than you first might consider.
- Finally, the key takeaway is that you can make a difference in this world. No matter how insignificant you think your actions are, Nakate has shown us all that one individual can stand against climate change and better our world.
