Words by Smiley Team
You're reading Patrons of the Planet, a weekly series where we hear from climate heroes of the global south and the world’s indigenous communities.
After hearing youth campaigners Vanessa Nakate and Greta Thurnberg speak about the climate crisis, I understood how critical the situation really is. They inspired me to follow in their footsteps, to learn what I could about climate change, to help spread awareness and become a climate activist.
Since joining the climate movement, I’ve fallen quickly into various roles. I work for Fridays for Future as an organiser and for The Rise Up Movement as a graphic designer. My work involves organising online campaigns from schools and workplaces that happen every Friday with fellow climate activists for Friday’s for Future.
[Read more: ‘The more people speak up, the more hope we have’]
My greatest hope is that I can educate people on the realities of the climate emergency - why it’s happening, the consequences that are already unfolding and the possible devastation that could happen if things don’t change. But most of all I want to promote the solutions - the steps we can take to mitigate these future catastrophic climate disasters.
I also want to help empower my fellow Ugandans to act by asking and telling our political leaders to make sustainable changes that will help end this climate crisis and allow our country and everyone living here to thrive.
What helps keep me motivated is being connected to many other people, young and old, who are passionate about the climate and doing what they can to help solve this crisis and stop it from escalating. When people give me feedback, such as saying what I’ve posted has inspired them to take action and learn more about the climate crisis, I am also inspired to keep going. In addition, knowing that my younger siblings can have a good, sustainable, and equitable future, also gives me hope because I care about them and want the best for them.
I’m also driven by firsthand experience of how bad the climate crisis can affect us. As has been the case for many in Uganda, my family had to move into a bigger city because of the climate becoming more unstable over the past couple decades. The erratic climate patterns where we lived caused the lands to become unfarmable and posed risks for human life because of devastating flooding and landslides.
[Read more: 'Losing our mango orchard inspired me to protect our planet']
During my lifetime, I have witnessed the amount of flooding increase dramatically here in Kampala, and how this flooding continues to ravage the city, its people, and the environment. Deforestation has also become increasingly popular. Investors will hire people to cut down the local forests so they can plant sugarcane monocrops. This upsets the ecosystem and hurts the wildlife. The protection that native forests gave us is no longer here and this devastates the local climate, making the temperature hotter and the soil less absorbent to rains, which causes catastrophic flooding.
So I want to encourage anyone who follows me to go into their local communities and help educate the younger generations about sustainability and the importance of caring and conserving the earth – the youth are the future.
I am on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, in which people can help share and amplify my voice, along with others who are also advocating for a better world that is more sustainable for everyone, now and for the future.
Patrons of the Planet is a weekly series to amplify the voices of heroes on the frontline of climate campaign work, as told to Blyth Brentnall. Every Tuesday, we meet individuals from the global south and indigenous groups who have risen above increasing adversity to support their communities, conserve nature and protect the planet for future generations.
