Our land: new mexico’s environmental past, present and future | on the environment: sofia jenkins-nieto | season 5 | episode 22

Nieto: MY NAME IS SOPHIA JENKINS NIETO. I AM 21 YEARS OLD. I AM IN MY FOURTH YEAR OF UNDERGRAD AT UNM. I STUDY ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY STUDIES AND AM ALSO PART OF THE

STUDENT STEERING COMMITTEE FOR UNM LEADERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION AND FORESIGHT ALSO CALLED UNM LEAF. WE ARE A GROUP OF STUDENTS, STAFF, FACULTY, RETIREES AND UNM COMMUNITY MEMBERS TRYING

TO PUSH UNM TO USE THEIR POWER AS A RESEARCH 1 INSTITUTION AND FLAGSHIP UNIVERSITY OF OUR STATE TO ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE. WHEN UNM (INAUDIBLE) ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE -- BECOMING A CARBON AND

WASTE FREE CAMPUS AND ENCOURAGING THE UNM FOUNDATION TO DIVEST THEIR ENDOWMENT FROM FOSSIL FUELS AND REINVEST IN RENEWABLE ENERGY. I HAVE BEEN AWARE OF CLIMATE CHANGE MY ENTIRE LIFE, EVER

SINCE I CAN REMEMBER. I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO SOLVE THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND MY WHOLE LIFE RESOLVES AROUND THIS. IN CLASS I LEARN ABOUT THE SCIENCE AND POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND THROUGH MY

WORK WITH LEAF, I TRY TO GET PEOPLE TO LISTEN TO ME. TO UNDERSTAND THAT NOT ONLY IS CLIMATE CHANGE A REAL THREAT THAT WILL DESTROY OUR FUTURES BUT IT IS ALREADY DISPLACING PEOPLE AND

DESTROYING ENVIRONMENTS ALL AROUND THE WORLD. I AM TOLD BY ADULTS THAT I AM SO YOUNG, I HAVE MY WHOLE LIFE AHEAD OF ME, THAT I HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD. FOR PEOPLE MY AGE THAT FUTURE

IS UNCERTAIN, BECAUSE OF THE THREAT CLIMATE DISASTERS POSE TO OUR LIVELIHOODS. I WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR OUR PLANET BUT I ALSO WANT TO SEE MY 30'S AND MAYBE HAVE KIDS SOME DAY. SO

THAT I CAN SEE THE WORLD AND HAVE IT NOT BE ON FIRE. THIS SEEMS SIMPLE TO ME. I AM FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE. MY LIFE IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR. THE LIVES OF MY GENERATION AND GENERATIONS TO COME

ARE WORTH FIGHTING FOR. OUR PLANET IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR.