Xiye Bastida: How Are Young People Making The Choice To Fight Climate Change?

Part 3 of the TED Radio Hour episode Climate Mindset

For some youth, being part of the solution means focusing their entire lives on the climate crisis. For Xiye Bastida, a 17-year-old climate justice activist, there is no hope without action.

About Xiye Bastida

Xiye Bastida is a climate justice activist based in New York City, and one of the lead organizers of the Fridays For Future youth climate strike movement. She sits on the administration committee of the Peoples Climate Movement, where she brings the voice of youth to existing grassroots and climate organizations. She is also a coordinator for the Re-Earth Initiative.

In 2018, she was invited to the 9th United Nations World Urban Forum to speak about indigenous cosmology. She received the "Spirit of the UN" award in 2018. For the March 2019 climate strike, she mobilized 600 students from her school. Since then she has taken a citywide leadership role in organizing climate strikes and speaking out about climate justice issues in rallies and town halls. Bastida has also launched a youth activism training program to expand the climate justice movement and is a member of Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion.

Bastida was born and raised in Mexico as part of the Otomi-Toltec indigenous peoples. [Copyright 2020 NPR]