For young climate activists, the pandemic is the defining moment for action Laura Parker © Photos (Clockwise from top left): Victoria Will, Thomas Jamieson, Rebecca Hale, Thomas Jamieson, Tho. Portraits of climate activists. Clockwise from Top Left: Alexandria Villaseñor, Ghslain Irakoze, Kehkashan Basu, Mayumi Sato, Rosie Mills, and Felix Finkbeiner
Of all the trauma of the past year, one moment stands out for Alexandria Villase̴̴nor, a teenage climate activist, as the bellwether of what’s in store for the planet: It was last summer, when toxic wildfire smoke spread through northern California as the coronavirus prompted a lockdown.
“Businesses weren’t open or allowing people inside because it was unsafe,” she says. “But the air quality index was like 300-plus outside, which wasn’t safe either. It was, like, what mask do I wear for wildfire smoke and COVID? How can I stay safe from both threats?”
For young climate activists, the pandemic is the defining moment for action
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灼熱の舞台 をお届け、4都市で開催のフラメンコライブ「Golpe」に今井翼（コメント / 動画あり）
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3 Youth Climate Activists on How COVID-19 Has Shaped Their Work
Perspectives from a young journalist, organizational head, and NGO worker.
Earlier this year, on a Friday morning in Curitiba, Brazil, 28-year old journalist Rafael Forsetto sat in his office, mulling over his workplan. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, his next project was to document the work of the Indigenous communities of the Xingu River Basin, whose lands are under threat due to the deforestation, illegal logging and small-scale “garimpo” mining. But Brazilian Indigenous populations have been decimated by the virus, so Rafael decided that for the health safety of others and of himself, he would find other stories to pursue.
Coronavirus forcing more and more women into poverty Dec. 15, 2020 06:59 am JST Dec. 15, 2020 | 06:59 am JST TOKYO
Early this year “Mikako Masuda” (a pseudonym, like all the names in this story) quit a low-paying job and went back to school. She was 31 and tired, after eight years of irregular, precarious and meaningless employment, of going nowhere in life. Her heart was set on change. She would become a nurse, she decided. She’d be of use to society, while at the same time steadying her own finances.
Working part-time at a café and a supermarket, she earned 150,000 yen a month, enough for nursing school tuition and the necessities of daily life. Then in spring came the emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her hours were shortened, her earnings halved.