Young people must amplify their voices and employ their passion for combating climate change in order to spark change, according to Caroline Usman.
“Their passion is a warning—and it almost needs to be—because they are so young,” Usman said. “If [young activists] lacked this passion or lacked this positivity, they would not nearly get the same response.”
The Boston College Office of Global Education and McGillycuddy-Logue Fellows program hosted a panel and discussion about young female leaders in the climate justice movement on Nov. 16, featuring Usman, Claire Bromund, Kelsey Lonergan, and Liz Schwab, all McGillycuddy-Logue fellows and MCAS ’25.
Each of the fellows presented the story of a young female leader in the climate justice movement. Bromund introduced the story of Nohora Alejandra Quiguantar, an Indigenous leader from Colombia whose efforts focus on empowering young women and girls.
“She’s passionate about promoting a space for Indigenous women and girls,” Bromund said. “Her activism is deeply rooted in the Colombian armed conflict, during which women and girls were disproportionately affected.”
Lonergan shared the story of Ayisha Siddiqa, a Pakistani American climate justice activist and human rights advocate. Siddiqa was a delegate to the United Nations Climate Conference in 2022 and was named one of Time magazine’s 2023 Women of the Year, Lonergan said .
“She uplifts Indigenous and marginalized groups, and she is also big on establishing accountability among companies and then also on the state level, people that are contributing the most to pollution.” Lonergan said.
Schwab presented on Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist whose work focuses on building climate equity and fighting environmental degradation. According to Schwab, much of Thunberg’s campaigning success comes from her ability to unify young people.
“[Thunberg] does a great job of highlighting the idea of disproportionate responsibility,” Schwab said. “These older generations are emitting a lot more fossil fuels … and younger generations have to deal with past actions that have been put upon them.”
Usman shared the story of Fatou Jeng, an activist from Gambia who focuses on empowering young people to take on climate issues.
“She focuses heavily on not only educating young people, but getting young people’s voices out there,” said Usman.
The event concluded with a discussion about what BC students can do to support the climate justice movement. Eckhardt said that college students have an obligation to continue educating themselves and others about climate issues.
“I think we do have a social responsibility as educated college students to … continually educate ourselves but also hold ourselves and our friends and our families accountable,” Eckhardt said.
According to Schwab, anyone—regardless of academic major or background—has the potential to create change, including young women.
“I think another really important thing to note is these are all super influential women and they’ve done amazing things, but change can also happen on a really small level,” Schwab said. “There’s a lot of different lenses that we can approach this from, and one of them is gender.”
