FALMOUTH — Young adults throughout Maine are innovating, organizing and leading efforts to connect and address the most pressing social and environmental issues we face, and many have garnered statewide, national, and international recognition and accolades, according to a news release from Maine Audubon.
Many of these young activists have joined together to organize an online monthly series of talks called Future Focus. The talks and discussions will highlight Maine’s youth climate justice activists and their stories. Each one-hour session will focus on a different individual and the intersectional leadership work they are doing in their community and beyond.
• Tuesday, Oct. 27, 4:30-5:30 p.m.: Anna Siegel — “Becoming a Youth Activist”
Anna Siegel Contributed photo
A presentation and discussion with Anna Siegel, 14, a climate activist from Yarmouth who is the co-organizing director of ME Strikes, a core organization in the statewide coalition Maine Youth for Climate Justice. She is also an avid birder and photographer. In conversation with fellow youth activist Ania Wright, she will discuss her path to becoming an activist and a radical naturalist.
• Tuesday, Dec. 1, 4:30-5:30 p.m.: Amara Ifeji — “Using Education to Mobilize”
Amara Ifeji Photo by Phoebe Parker
A presentation and conversation with Amara Ifeji, grassroots development coordinator with the Maine Environmental Changemakers and JustME for a JustUS. Her work and talk focuses on using education as a tool to mobilize the youth climate justice movement, shifting the narrative around the climate crisis from a political issue to a social one, and framing the climate crisis as an issue that disproportionately impacts marginalized communities. The conversation will be moderated by Anna Siegel.
• Tuesday, Jan. 5, 4:30-5:30 p.m.: Sirohi Kumar — “Facing a Climate Emergency”
Sirohi Kumar Contributed photo
A conversation with Sirohi Kumar, 16, a climate activist in Bar Harbor. As a founding member of the Climate Emergency Action Coalition, she helped pass a Climate Emergency Declaration in Bar Harbor and is serving as the youth representative on the Bar Harbor Climate Emergency Task Force. She is also a racial justice organizer and directly contributed to the formation of the AOS 91 Anti-Racism Task Force, upon which she serves as a student representative. The conversation will be moderated by Amara Ifeji.
To register for these free online programs, visit maineaudubon.org/futurefocus.
Brought to you by Maine Audubon, Maine Climate Action Now, Maine Youth for Climate Justice, MEAA Changemakers, Southern Maine Conservation Collaborative.
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