When hundreds of thousands of students walked out of New York City schools five years ago as part of climate protests around the world, Xiye Bastida called it “a moment where everything felt possible.”
“And when anything feels possible, you are encouraged to dream, dream about a future that is not just the apocalypse that they tell us about, but positive futures,” Bastida, a climate justice advocate and one of the walkout organizers, said yesterday during Devex’s The future can’t wait summit held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Bastida, who is co-founder of the Re-Earth Initiative, urged the audience to not just talk about today’s youth, but actually talk to them, especially because decisions are being made that will shape their future.
About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
