Sophia Kianni, the word to the youngest about the climate

To return to see the stars again, everyone must be able to understand what is happening to the planet. At only 21, Sophia Kianni is so convinced of what has become a mission for her since she was a child, that she never stops. Because there is no more time to stem the climate crisis. Without stopping, he passes from one conference to another, from an interview to the world’s main media to the rooms of the UN, from charitable collections to university classrooms up to the incessant publication of data, figures, reports that tell the story of climate collapse and, above all , of how the poorest and least responsible countries for emissions pay the price.

It is always guided by hope, the words of the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and a mission: to translate the necessary knowledge into all the languages ​​of the world so that anyone, anywhere, can understand the gravity of what is happening to our Earth hotter and hotter.

Born in December 2001 in Washington DC, Sophia Kianni is a climate activist of Iranian-American origin and is the youngest representative of the Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change of the United Nations. Today she lives and studies at Stanford but her commitment to raise public awareness of the devastating effects of the climate crisis comes from the past, from the times of sixth grade, when she first heard of global warming.

Soon after, on a trip to Iran to say goodbye to her grandmother during the summer holidays, Kianni says she was impressed by the amount of air pollution: “I couldn’t even see the stars”.

As a teenager he thus began to read and document himself first on temperatures and climate change in the Middle East, which increased to more than double the global average, then on the effects of intense weather phenomena on the various populations of the world.

She told her parents what she had learned, pouring all her worries about the future on them, but she realized that something was wrong. “When I spoke to them, they basically just stared at me with blank stares… they’d never even heard words like ‘carbon dioxide emissions,'” Kianni told Voguemagazine with which he collaborates. That moment – followed by a work together with her mother to translate and make understandable many of the terms used today to narrate the climate crisis – was a starting point for the young and future activist.

A first arrival, she will later say, will instead be what she is committed to now: translating into over 100 languages ​​- thanks to the association she founded and called Climate Cardinals – the information on the why of global warming triggered by man and its effects on peoples, biodiversity, economies and ecosystems, so that anyone can understand its dramatic significance.

“For the first time I truly realized the power of climate education. And that I, as a young man, could make a difference for my loved ones and beyond.”

Growing up, the next step – inspired by Greta Thunberg – was to get closer to the Fridays For Future movement, which was also expanding in the States, to then take part in the great Black Friday 2019 climate strike at just 17 years old , in which he spoke in front of thousands of people. From strikes led alongside Extinction Rebellion to sit-ins in front of the White House, Kianni’s public engagement has steadily grown until the pandemic hit which forced her to move her battles to social media and video conferencing, until In 2020, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, decided to appoint her along with seven other climate leaders as “adviser” on action for the climate crisis. Sophia was the only one to represent the States and also the youngest of the group.

The next step, which as for another young activist – the Ugandan Vanessa Nakate – was crucial in making herself known to the general public, was in September 2021 her participation as co-president in the Youth4Climate event in Milan, considered a pre-COP26 of young people. On that occasion, together with the Climate Cardinals she founded, Kianni contributed in collaboration with the Italian government to translating the Youth4Climate Manifesto into several languages. Today, as she lectures around the world, she studies Climate Science and Health Policy in California at Stanford University.

Despite a horizontal attempt in the climatic narration by the young people of Friday For Future, in which the problem of overheating must emerge and not the single individuals who talk about it, like other “colleagues” Kianni has chosen a communication strategy different from that of Greta Thunberg. The young champion of the Swedish environment, from which the green wave known all over the world was born, after the first years of celebrities and interviews has often chosen to appear less and less also – according to her – to make room for other activists (especially those of the Mapa countries, the most afflicted by climate change).

For Kianni, on the other hand, the tool of covers, television interviews, collaborations with newspapers and even the constant use of social networks, in which she publishes both her own photos and scientific data on the climate crisis, has been central.

The moment in which she became more known in the eyes of the world was for her speech at Cop27 in Egypt with which she earned the front pages of many newspapers. Also speaking as a young UN adviser, Kianni then decided to quote Secretary Guterres, reiterating a key concept for climate policies: that “enough lies” aimed at global leaders, capable of many blah blah blah but few actions in stopping the use of fossil fuels and emissions.

Then, the global media began to define her as a “new Greta”, a title however far from Kianni’s wishes. In her speech on stage in Sharm El-Sheik, addressing above all young people, the activist recalled that “there is not a single country that has made commitments compatible with the achievement of the 1.5°C goal. Meanwhile, over 7 Millions of people die prematurely each year from the toxic air they breathe from the burning of fossil fuels.”

Just on the sidelines of that meeting and after the subsequent developments of Cop27, the first conference of the parties on the climate in which the discourse of loss and damage was tackled head-on, the losses and damages of the most vulnerable countries and least responsible for the climate crisis , Kianni had confided her thoughts to Green&Blue.

“The creation of a Loss and Damage fund is a historic victory. But we still need to keep pushing to ensure that the fund’s money actually materialises. phase-out of fossil fuels”.

Reflecting, for Kianni “climate change is a health emergency, but it is also an opportunity. Because reducing climate pollution will translate into immediate and long-term health benefits. However, if we want to avoid catastrophic outcomes, we must reduce drastically and immediately greenhouse gases, especially methane”.

But to do so, we can no longer waste time: “If our leaders acted to meet WHO air quality guidelines, we would save millions of lives: every day about 93% of the world’s children under 15 ( 1.8 billion children) breathe air so polluted that it puts their health and development at serious risk. With $8 trillion we would save them and lead real climate action. So what are we waiting for?” is the question Sophia asked herself.

This information, these data that Kianni chews with confidence and which are always “the fruit of science”, as well as the knowledge we have on the anthropic impact which for the IPCC scientists is responsible for the worsening of global warming, according to the activist Americana must be able to be understood by anyone.

This is why Sophia is the director and founder of Climate Cardinals, a non-profit that has nine thousand volunteers in over 40 countries around the world. The aim, as can also be seen from the site’s home page with writings in a multitude of different languages, is to translate information on climate change into 100 languages.

As the young environmentalist recalled, most of the scientific literature today is written only in English, which creates an alarming knowledge gap for the 75% of the world who do not speak it. As a result, it is difficult for many people to take action or take part in the struggle to change something they do not understand. Climate Cardinals thus aims to make the climate movement “more accessible” even to those who do not speak English.

“We aim to educate and empower a diverse coalition of people to address the climate crisis. To date, this international movement spans forty-one countries and has reached over 500,000 people with over 750,000 words of climate information translated.” As Kianni recounts, the idea of ​​translating these words came from her personal experience when she was trying to give information on global warming to her relatives, who are now all involved in the same struggle as her, for example by reducing car use and making sustainable purchases .

Also through the commitment of Climate Cardinals, the other great battle carried out by Kianni, as well as by all the Fridays For Future and by the activists committed against inaction to stem the climate crisis – is the one against fossil fuels. Sources, the fossil ones, which by dint of being burned have impacted the quality of the air everywhere.

“I want to be clear this air pollution is caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas. A fossil fuel, the latter, which continues to be presented by some, even at COP27, as a way to lift people out of poverty. But How can you lift people out of poverty when you’re literally poisoning them? Fossil fuels are killing us.”

Therefore, according to the young UN representative, a green revolution made of clean energy is essential to reduce emissions and air pollution. In a recent tweet, Kianni also recalled that it is now an issue that concerns everyone: “Over 80% of the world’s population is affected by climate change and this justifies an emergency-type response” she stated, specifying that we should deal with the climate such as the emergency from Covid-19.

In addition to treating it as an emergency, however, we also need an education that starts right from the schools to help young people understand the ongoing climate collapse. “Climate change is neither taught in school nor considered a subject that needs to be treated as a priority, even though this is the existential problem that defines our time,” explained the 21-year-old, adding that she has also started a project to provide young access to therapy that treats their echo-anxiety.

And his final message, his personal advice, is also addressed to young people. He suggests that peers (and others) start taking a local interest in environmental issues, look for solutions and, of course, “get involved in influencing political change. That’s why I always urge people to get involved in local politics or organizations basic – he told the media – by voting for a candidate who believes in climate justice and making sure their voices are heard”.

How to spread the rumors? “With social media. I strongly encourage other young people who want to make a difference in their community to use Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok or whatever they prefer to try to reach as many people as possible and create real change.”