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COMIC: How young people are taking action against climate change

Ashanti Fortson for NPR

This comic, illustrated by Ashanti Fortson, is inspired by an interview with climate activist Xiye Bastida from TED Radio Hour's episode Climate Mindset.

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/ Ashanti Fortson for NPR
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Ashanti Fortson for NPR

About Xiye Bastida

Xiye Bastida is a climate justice activist based in New York City, and one of the lead organizers of the Fridays For Future youth climate strike movement. She sits on the administration committee of the Peoples Climate Movement, where she brings the voice of youth to existing grassroots and climate organizations. She is also a coordinator for the Re-Earth Initiative.

In 2018, she was invited to the 9th United Nations World Urban Forum to speak about indigenous cosmology. She received the "Spirit of the UN" award in 2018. For the March 2019 climate strike, she mobilized 600 students from her school. Since then she has taken a citywide leadership role in organizing climate strikes and speaking out about climate justice issues in rallies and town halls. Bastida has also launched a youth activism training program to expand the climate justice movement and is a member of Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion.

Bastida was born and raised in Mexico as part of the Otomi-Toltec indigenous peoples.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Ashanti Fortson
Christina Cala is a producer for Code Switch. Before that, she was at the TED Radio Hour where she piloted two new episode formats — the curator chat and the long interview. She's also reported on a movement to preserve African American cultural sites in Birmingham and followed youth climate activists in New York City.
LA Johnson is an art director and illustrator at NPR. She joined in 2014 and has a BFA from The Savannah College of Art and Design.
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