- New house, new me.
- What's the, excuse me?
- Who are you?
- Oh, I'm the new owner, I just moved in, who are you?
- I'm the old owner,
I was just pulling up the floorboards before I head out,
how was the drive?
- The drivers was, I'm sorry did you say floorboards?
- Yeah, I figured I didn't really need the floors anymore,
since I was moving out.
- You can't leave me with a house with no floor.
- I mean, this is what the old owners did,
Who do you think took the roof?
- The roof?
- Yeah was gonna eventually fall in anyway.
So nothing much you could do about it.
Okay well, I gotta go enjoy the house.
Hey, so you're here because you care about climate change.
Great, me too.
Now what?
Feels like there's a lot,
one could do is recycling enough.
Am I recycling right?
Should I become a vegetarian vegan?
Should I just sell all my worldly belongings
and leave in a Yergin eat food from the land?
Or can I just post things
about the rain forest on Instagram?
How do I do the activism?
It can be kind of confusing
and even a little intimidating, I think.
But we have already done the first step.
We've started to really care about climate change.
So I'm gonna be there right with you
here take my hand, take my hand.
Okay, you know, you're holding your phone.
It's like we're holding hands.
We're good.
Okay, let's jump in.
We're gonna talk to an amazing
inspiring youth activists named Jamie Margolin.
- What do we do when our climate is under attack?
- Jamie Margolin is a community organizer
and climate justice activists from Seattle Washington.
She is the founder of zero hour
and international youth climate justice movement.
And recently released her first book youth to power
and she is going to talk to us about real steps we can take
in our community and beyond
there is still a lot to be done.
Hi, Jamie, I'm so happy to meet you.
- Thank you so much for having me.
- Jamie you talk about finding your why
when it comes to activism.
Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
- I've lived in the Pacific Northwest
practically my whole life.
I went from you, breathe in the air it's so crisp
to having some of the worst air quality in the world
during fire season.
And to be clear at Seattle is not on fire.
It's everywhere around us is on fire.
So then we get all the smoke from everyone,
from Canada, from Eastern Washington
from Oregon and California.
And so growing up in Seattle, you see both the beauty
and then you see also what is being destroyed.
- Let's assume that we have some new eyes
who care about climate change
but don't know how to start, but they have the caring want.
And what would you say is the first step?
- The first step to take action on the climate crisis...
I guess all of these personal changes that we've been told
about for our whole lives, they can be important,
but in reality what we need to focus on is systematic change
because 100 corporations caused roughly 70%
of emissions worldwide.
And the vast majority of this problem
is a problem of governments and corporations,
not a problem of the individual.
So we have to solve this systematically.
- Awesome, Jamie I hear so many different words.
Climate change, climate justice, global warming.
Is it important?
What language we use around it?
- I think it is important the language
you was around the climate crisis.
I think climate crisis, because it is a crisis.
Climate change is still perfectly.
It's a perfectly valid and normal
and completely scientifically accurate term to say.
However, I like to usually in different contexts say
climate emergency
or climate crisis, because that way it really emphasizes
that it's not just a change.
It's an emergency of the crisis.
It's a bad kind of change.
Climate justice is about the climate crisis
intersecting with other issues.
So it's about addressing the climate crisis
and the intersection of racial justice
of social justice, of all of these other issues.
So that's really what climate justice is.
It's talking about climate change
from a justice and humanitarian perspective.
- Yeah, climate crisis really does get at home
in a very specific way that makes it clear
the urgency that we're in.
There's so many interviews on the internet
that where you describe and discuss the zero hour.
So I'm just going to really encourage folks to follow up.
- This is zerohour.org yes.
- That is also another resource that you've created
that can connect people to different local organizations
and give so much information about
the mission of the organization itself.
I actually was listening to your book on tape
and it's really cool 'cause you read it yourself.
So I get to hear you talking.
- Yeah oh my God I'm so happy you're listening
to the audio book cause I lost my voice recording that.
So whenever someone's like, I'm listening to it.
I'm like, thank God if people are listening to that.
Cause I was so exhausting to record.
I mean, I'm really glad you like it.
- And I love hearing in your book use to power,
how you went from being a 14 year old who
is passionate and pissed,
how getting involved with community organizations
really inspired you and educated you
and got you on a great track.
- Finding the right space for your energy
is like trying on clothes.
You can wear a shirt as long as you need to.
And when it no longer fits
then try something new
- I'd love to hear a little bit about
your experience of writing the book
and why everybody needs it on their bookshelf.
- Yeah, so the, the process of writing
Youth To Power initially it was that
a lot of people really wanna get involved,
but don't know how.
Why isn't there a resource it's like kind of a guide.
And then I was like, maybe,
I've been at this for a long time
and I've learned so much along the way.
Why who says that I can't be the one to write that book.
So I wrote the book.
So if you're someone who is curious about taking action
on issues who really wants to no longer, you know
just watch what happens in the world,
but actively be involved in trying to
advocate for what you believe is right.
Then I highly recommend Youth To Power as a starting point.
And even though it's called Youth To Power
it is useful for anyone of all ages, not just young people.
- I have absolutely agree with that.
I do not identify as youth anymore.
And I was learning so much.
I've heard you actually talking a lot about climate anxiety
and I know that you are a student and a activist.
How do you manage your own climate anxiety?
- Climate anxiety is real.
And every so often with someone
something big climate disaster happens like the wildfires.
And I just see everything on fire.
It just hits me like a, like a bucket of cold water.
Like it shocks me and then suddenly I can't do anything.
I can't focus.
It's difficult to do anything.
Just those emotions are so strong, so raw.
And sometimes I just have to like
take a little bit of a break in a way
that I cope with my climate anxieties.
Yes, I take action.
And I'm an organizer.
I don't believe in just escapism for the sake of it.
You use escapism in little doses
to help recharge you to then get back in the fight.
I think the biggest antidote to despair is action.
So you should be activated.
You should be taking all the action you can
but whenever you're exhausted, then you should take a break.
But I think that everyone needs to be in this fight
in some way.
'Cause that action is the biggest antidote
to hopelessness and anxiety.
- Amazing, so what if I really care about
the climate crisis and other things?
How do I do both?
- Activism is not my...
I mean, I feel like it's a broad overused term.
It's difficult to even describe,
but for me like climate justice
and climate organizing is not what
I wanna do with my life.
I'm going to film school to make movies
and shows nothing to do with climate change.
It's just a passion that I have.
The climate organizers, climate activists
have other things in our lives
that we would much rather be doing
because no one wants to be fighting
a catastrophic impending climate disaster
but it's what we have to do.
So...
- So Jamie, you're a film student
I'm sure you've heard of the Alison Bechdel test.
- Yeah. I'm very familiar with it.
- So if the Bechdel test is assessing
the representation of women in fiction,
what would the Jamie Margolin test be assessing?
- So for me like the Jamie Margolin test,
I guess is really about LGBTQ plus inclusion
and centering not just inclusion,
but really centering our stories
centering what we need to say.
And just, there's so many stories
that need to be told in our community.
We're so much more than our oppression
we are so much more than a coming out story.
There's so many characters that we can be,
places that we can be, things that we can do.
Literally people are like, why are you going into film?
I'm like A cause I love it
B 'cause I really want to make stuff for cool women
that I never grew up seeing
that I feel like is one of the biggest focuses for me.
I mean everyone has to focus
on changing the industry however they can.
And for me that's with more LGBT representation
and inclusion.
- It's really exciting actually to hear
that you're interested in film
and I can't wait to see what you create.
So Jammie, are you ready for a game?
- I am ready for a game.
- I'd love to play true or false with you.
I'm gonna say some statements
and you can tell me if they're true or false
or somewhere in between.
- Alright sounds good.
- True or false climate and weather are the same thing.
- False, weather fluctuates a lot.
It's very sporadic.
Whereas climate is just the general trend.
- All right, another one.
If weather predictions can be wrong
can climate predictions be wrong?
- False.
A weather prediction is something super short term
super like Oh, it's gonna rain today.
Oh shoot It didn't like it very easily changed.
Oh the cloud blew the other way.
Oh nevermind.
Like it's something very quick.
Very, short-term very sporadic.
Versus with climate change,
people have had time to study it for decades
and all of that science over decades
has gone in one direction
has proved they've gone to the same conclusion.
- Alright and last question.
There's still time to save the earth.
- I'd say true.
The fact that I kind of help,
I was like a little bit hesitant.
Is that it really...
it's not that there's time for us to twiddle our thumbs
and do nothing.
I believe that if everyone takes action
if we have drastic political change
drastic action, then we can make it.
But I don't wanna be unrealistic.
Climate disaster is already locked into our atmosphere.
Like there was no...
we were already experiencing climate change.
So there's no preventing climate change
because climate change is already here.
What there is, is preventing even worse effects
and saving as many people's lives as possible.
That's what there's still time to do.
And so that's what we have to do.
- I really hear in everything that you're saying Jamie,
that from your love of the Pacific Northwest,
to your love of storytelling and fiction
and film and television, that what you are fighting for
and what motivates you is something
that brings you a lot of joy and have a lot of love for.
It makes a lot of sense
in how you are able to sustain yourself
and keep going and keep finding this.
- Thank you.
For anyone who's looking to get involved
in climate action might be some advice for you
is to do your research on the environmental injustices
and the intersection of environmentalism
and social justice issues and educate yourself on that.
And then join an organization
join a community that is already taking action.
There are so many great organizations
and community organizers out there
that you can just go on social media
or on a website
or however you'd like to get your information.
Look them up and contact them.
That's really honestly the best way to get involved
because then you can show up to a meeting
or show up to an action and be like,
I'm here to help.
And then your journey can start from there.
- As Jamie said, the best antidote to despair is action.
So let's start, let's pull up Google
and type in local climate justice organization.
You can find things like sunrise movement.
They have local chapters all over
and of course there's, this is zerohour.org.
And also if you have the means
you can consider donating to Arctic base camp.
Thanks so much for joining me.
I hope you're feeling as inspired and motivated as I am
and join me next week for another episode
with a different youth activists I'm Tessa Hirsch.
And this is now what.