Marie sits down with Anna Siegel - a 13-year-old middle school student and climate activist. She is the lead for ME Strikes, the Maine Chapter of US Youth Climate Strikes (USYCS). With the ME Strikes team, Anna organized the September 20th global climate strikes, which had over 2,000 youth in attendance at the Portland rally. Right now, she is preparing for Earth Day actions. Along with activism, she is deeply passionate about wildlife and birds. Anna is a symbol of our future and that future looks bright regardless of the doom and gloom that seems so popular right now. Young people like Anna symbolize hope – and hope is what makes us believe we can change things. Beliefs are what urge us towards action. To Quote JFK – “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” When we have hope and believe we can do something - that’s when the magic happens.
Marie sits down with Anna Siegel - a 13-year-old middle school student and climate activist. She is the lead for ME Strikes, the Maine Chapter of US Youth Climate Strikes (USYCS).
To learn more or find out how you can support Anna's efforts:
To Connect:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/climatestrikeme/
Intagram: @climatestrikeme
Maine Strikes Email: maine@youthclimatestrikeus.org
To watch Anna's TEDxDirigo Talk:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sWYCE5SpOnM
To Donate:
[00:00:00] Anna Seigle is a 13 year old youth climate activist currently at the Friends School of Portland. She is the lead for Maine Strikes the Maine chapter of U.S. Youth Climate Strikes acronym U S Y C S with the Maine Strikes Team. Anna organized the September 20th global climate strikes, which had over 2000 youth in attendance at the Portland rally. Right now, she is preparing for Earth Day actions along with activism. She is deeply passionate about wildlife and birds. I had the pleasure of meeting Anna and seeing her speak at Ted X Dirigo. I was immediately captivated by her stage presence and calm, yet compelling demeanor on the stage. Hard for anyone to pull off an even more impressive for someone of her age. Of all the incredible changemakers I saw on the stage that day, Anna stuck with me the most as I was pondering. Why, besides the obvious, it hit me that she is the essence of a burgeoning daughter of change. Seriously, if she is this confident, passionate and capable now imagine the amazing thing she'll do. Anna is a symbol to me of our future, and that future looks bright regardless of the doom and gloom that seems so popular right now. Young people like Anna symbolize hope, and hope is what makes us believe we can change things. Beliefs are what urge us towards action. To quote j._f._k children of the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future. When we have hope and believe we can do something, that's when the magic happens. Never underestimate the power of what your voice and your passion can accomplish.
[00:01:50] Welcome to the Daughters of Change podcast. I'm your host. Solar. Each week we'll be bringing you stories from around the globe of the women and girls who are changing the world, each in their own unique way.
[00:02:14] Anna, hello and welcome to the Daughters Achange podcast. I'm so happy to have you here today.
[00:02:19] Hello, Maria. Thank you for having me here. It's a pleasure.
[00:02:22] Yeah, you are quite impressive. And as I said in the intro, I'm seeing you up on that Tadek stage and hearing your passion and hearing your story. It it really gave me so much hope for the future. And so you've done some amazing things already. You are. How old now, Anna? I am 13, 13. And I have to say, I know I've said this to a million times, but the best line of the entire Tadic's X conference is when you said people ask me what I'm going to do next.
[00:03:00] And I tell them I don't even know where I'm go to high school next year. So, yeah, I really.
[00:03:05] But it puts that into perspective. Right. So you're doing something now. You're not waiting. So you've said that you're passionate about conservation and animals, particularly birds. So that all ties in, obviously. But what was it inside of you that made you want to get involved with the climate strikes?
[00:03:29] So it really started as my with my deep love of animals and concern over animals, because I was a kid and I was reading World Wildlife Fund reports, in fact, sheets on animals. I would just like constantly Google random things about like how fast does a cheetah run? And eventually, when you are going through that kind of material, you stumble upon really what's happening to animals. And when you look at things like vulnerable or least threatened and critically endangered. And it tells you why, then you really realize what's going on. And then so I really wanted to be involved. And I didn't know how this was around 6th grade, but in seventh grade it was dark. Tober twenty eighteen IPCC report that all brought it home for me. And that's when I really got into it because that report connected climate change to people. For me, it was not just about the lions in Africa and the pandas in Asia and the tortoises in the Galapagos Islands. It connected it to real people in the United States and around the world who would be suffering because that was 12 years apart is what it's commonly called. It said that we have 12 years to basically. Deal with our current emissions, mitigate further emissions. So we don't reach a certain threshold. So if we reach that threshold, there is no going back. And now it is 10 years as of 2020. And that's just what really brought the point home.
[00:05:20] So that was an impetus, that's when you really started, you know, beyond your love for conservation and animals, you were seeing a larger magnitude of a potential problem here and you could relate it to the world at large and also to your own backyard. Right. And so so you have your obviously your well read in the subject. You you keep up with this. This is a passion for you. What was the impetus that that got you to actually say, OK, now I'm going to go and do something about it? Was it was it a whole bunch of different things that happened or what was that kind of aha moment for you?
[00:05:59] Well, I was kind of late on the train of the whole IPCC thing. Like other people had already connected climate to like environmental racism and economic impacts and climate migration. And I was still like, no, at that point, I was just still thinking about wildlife. So what? What the impetus for really getting involved was when I was introduced into how it affects people. And then I saw what other people had already done. Like the youth versus govt court case where twenty one youth plaintiffs were suing the United States over violating their right to a livable planet, right to live happily on this Earth and in America. And I was learning about that. I was learning about the marches for science and seeing what other people had already done, had already made that connection between climate and people. That was really what spurred me saying, I want to do that, too. How do I do that? How do I get there?
[00:07:02] And so you were you were seeing other youth that were out there doing things, and that must have made it feel doable. Yeah. You're seeing you're seeing that there were other people in your age group that were out there doing some pretty big things. And so that is that's a really important, important point that I just want to bring up, because when we have. People that are forging ahead of us that we can relate to, right. It makes it it makes it easier to to want to do something. It's somebody that you can relate to vs. looking at somebody it's already won a Nobel Peace Prize or, you know, that seems kind of unreachable. But you were seeing other youth that you can identify with just like yourself that were out there doing things. Exactly. And so how did you how did you actually get involved with with the marches and the strikes in Maine?
[00:07:58] So it was really through my teacher. And so my teacher introduced the whole class to get us work and gratitude for striking. OK. And then really encouraged me to reach out to us if climate strikes and Sunrise and other Youth and Climate Justice Organization. And so I reached out to us these climate strikes. And this was probably this was February twenty nineteen. So it hasn't. Oh so just this year. Yeah. It hasn't even video. This was seventh grade. I'm in eighth grade now. And wasn't that long ago. It feels like a million years. But I reached out to them and we talked about this and I talked about how I want to get my school involved because the global climate strike was coming up. It was the first one ever. It was sparked by Grétar Tinbergen organization Fridays for the future. OK. And it was meant to be a day when youth worldwide walked out of classes and showed their solidarity with the Fridays for the future movement. And U.S. youth climate strikes was making that happen for our country. And so I reached out to them and I talked about it. And March 15th, which was a big global strike day, wasn't that far away. This is February. OK. So you like a bad baby? Yeah. If even that. Yeah. And I think I think I looked it up at one point in it and it was like twenty seven days or something. But so I. And then so I call them and we're talking about this and we're talking about March 15th and at the end of the call they send me this big file full of documents like strike organizer, press organizer, like all these sorts of different toolkits. And then they're like, oh, how fun with this.
[00:09:54] Like like, go, go, go and do it. And I was like, oh, OK. That I thought I was leading my school.
[00:10:02] But then it turns out I was supposed to be leading Maine. So I was like, oh, wow, that's nice.
[00:10:07] It's like you go to the bathroom, you come out, you're the president. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty wild. Yeah.
[00:10:13] And I I think this was like 10:00 at night. And I'm just like scrolling through all these documents, like how to do an art build and like picking speakers for your event and like just all this random stuff. And I'm just like, I remember being completely overwhelmed. And then the next day going to my teacher and being like, so this is happening. What do we do now? And so at first I connected with 350 main, which is now which is an adult ally organization that supports Maine strikes and also has been doing work.
[00:10:50] And really important client work and policy work in Maine. And.
[00:10:57] So so I talked to them and I and I had been going to some of the meetings because that was one where as plugging in. And then there was something that's coming out, F-250 main was main use for climate justice, which had just been starting at that time. But the intent was to have a youth coalition of groups anywhere from like, you know, Socko Middle School, Earth Club to like the Maine chapter of Sunrise or USCF climate strikes. So I connected with the coordinator of the early version of Maine Youth for Climate Justice, and I was working with 350 Maine. And somehow in those 20 something days, we scrapped together an event from March 15th.
[00:11:44] And now you mentioned you thought you're going to have a couple of hundred people. Right, like you were. This was I think you said this when you were doing the TED talk. You anticipate a couple hundred. What was the result of this? This. Twenty seven days of, you know, starting with getting this overwhelming packet of material, which must have made you feel like you needed to, like, you know, go breathe into a paper bag, write anxiety attack. And then but then the thing I love is you just you kind of suck that up. And then you said, OK, we're doing this. And so you anticipated a couple of hundred people. What ended up happening?
[00:12:18] Yes. So a few days before the Portland police chief called me and was like, hey, do we need to have like Marshalls, like, well, we need to block off the street. Let us know what's happening. And I was like, I don't think so. I think we're gonna have like three hundred kids there. It's the day of and there's like 200 kids from one school. It's like it's. It eventually builds up to eight hundred thousand students. Wow. At the strike. Wow. Yeah. So.
[00:12:48] So they you know, they could've had some marshals, but I'm sure they was right. Yeah.
[00:12:55] And I just remember after that being like.
[00:12:59] I.
[00:13:00] There were some many emotions around it and it was the first action I'd ever worked on.
[00:13:06] And I'd worked on it with so many fantastic people and it was so much. And then afterwards it all went out. Yeah.
[00:13:18] It's interesting how that happens, right, when you take part in something like that or you have a large event, did something that you've been working up to, especially if you're doing something in a short amount of time and and then, you know, you're you're moving every minute almost that you're awake. And then there's almost a little bit of a letdown like after not a letdown, like don't let down. Like it didn't go well. But like, oh, wow. Leya almost misses. It's like when you put out a really good book and you missed the book. You know, it's that same type of feeling. So you put you with in that you've still been involved in doing some work. And I know that I talked to I think it was a couple of Fridays ago a lot. Was it last Friday? But you had just been involved in another. You called it impactful. It was impactful and intentional. Activism. Is that I saying that properly?
[00:14:11] I think I think you're referring to the December 6.
[00:14:15] Yes. Yes. So I really loved the way you framed that. That was about impact as much as about numbers. So talk about that a little bit, because I like to. I really like that whole philosophy, maybe going back a little bit more.
[00:14:29] Yes. So after March 15th, the next. So main strikes we worked on building. So because from March 15th, it was me. And then some other youth volunteers and some adult ally helpers. And so from March of chance, I really worked on building the team. And then the next global climate shake was September 20th. So the following. Okay. So there was another one. Yeah. So this is only a few months ago. And September 20th, it was the same situation we weren't expecting very much. I was expecting fewer numbers than March 15th because we had been organizing over the summer and summer. Organizing can be difficult. These people aren't often like checking their email, are in tune with what's going on. Same thing happens. We get there. We're like, oh, okay. Like, we'll see how this goes. And it's like over 2000 people. We've doubled the number has doubled it. Yeah, impressive. And September 20th, by then, we had built up the strikes team. It wasn't just the rally in Portland. We also had actions in Bar Harbor, Bangor and Farmington.
[00:15:38] So you actually had this statewide at this point? You know, even though you were doing this for the state and for people that aren't familiar with Maine, we're pretty large state. And I mean, and our population is spread out in sort of these D sections where you actually have, you know, a city or a town. So to be able to do that, is it as easy maybe as someplace else? So you had right across the state. So there were 2000, more than 2000 in just Portland alone. Yeah, correct. Yeah. And then you had some decent numbers in the other locations.
[00:16:11] Bingo or Bar Harbor and Farmington. It was their first actions for each area average around like 200 to 300 people. Wow. Was great. And this is all youth, primarily youth that are coming out but. Well so it was it was youth. It's youth organizer. Okay. And then September 20th was the first global climate strike to open up to adult allies. So it was saying like, we need to work together, workers, labor strike. You know, parents come out with their kids and bring really bringing everyone into the movement as well, which was really a lot of messaging behind September 20th and. Gave it a really unified front and it was really nice to see that because we definitely had supporters on March 15th. But that was the first ever global climate strike. So adults were kind of like, how do we get into this? Whereas our role here and then September 20th, we said, come, come and support us. Come join us. Raise your voices with us. And since then, we've we've been inviting adults to events and essays.
[00:17:13] And I think it's important for people to understand that this is the youth speaking. You know, this is the future. Talking to us and telling us what they're concerned about. Like, we have to be listening. Hello. You know, it's a I'm a boomer, right? In the whole. Everything. I get that. I'm like, yeah, right. No kidding. We need to be listening. And so it's really to me, it's a beautiful thing to see young people finding their voice organizing, like not just finding the voice, but you're doing something about it.
[00:17:53] And I love it's something I've been hearing from you even. We were talking a little bit earlier is this whole idea of collaboration and coalitions, because you're stronger when everybody is kind of in silos and doing their own things. You're not as strong as when you're together. But the fact that the youth are leading it, that's so cool, right?
[00:18:13] Yes. So cash and it's really more than just numbers.
[00:18:18] So we talk about like March 15th was eight hundred ten thousand for just Portland in September 20th was over two thousand in Portland. We talk about that to give people like ideas of the power and the enthusiasm behind these efforts. But it's also really about the demands that we bring forth at those strikes. So on September 20th, we invited the mayors of Portland, South Portland and the city councilors. And at that event, we said we want Portland in South Portland to declare climate emergency. And some middle schoolers handed the then mayor of Portland. Our climate emergency resolution. And then a few months later, in October, South Portland passed the resolution and a no. And later on, Portland passed the resolution.
[00:19:09] Get we I'm I live in SOPA. I was really proud of Zalthor for doing that. Yeah. Yeah. So you're do it. So that's where you were talking about being impactful, right? So it's it's great to have the numbers there. It's great to show the solidarity. It's great to show. But at the end of the day, what is going to be the outcome? Like what? Che exactly. To be made. So. So you and the groups in that, the youth that you're working with, you're coming to the table with action items like you're not just saying we don't like this, you're saying here's some here's some solutions. Here's some things we want to see change and you're getting people to listen, which is that's really incredible. And the the most recent one on the 6th was that what was the impact? Were you laying down? What was that? Was it a lay in or something? That. Right.
[00:20:01] So, yeah. So from September 20th to now, Brunswick, South Portland, Portland and Bar Harbor have all passed a climate emergency resolution. And York, Newcastle and Socko are working on it. And so the next global climate strike was December 6th. So not too long ago. And at that event, we want to do something a little different because we wanted to change things up. And it's not just about the numbers, it's about these effects. So we decided to hold a smaller event that had more meaning where it was it was a lion. So where everyone lying on the ground for 10 minutes to signify the 10 years that we have left the IPCC report. And then that that lion also kicked off our campaign for statewide climate emergency, because now those towns have passed it. We are now strategizing on how to bring it statewide. So that is still in the process. Youth and adults are talking together about the best way to go forward with that.
[00:21:09] So you're really strategic, too. I mean, there's a lot of leadership and strategy going on here. Yeah. Which is which is also I love that because, you know, a lot of times you'll see movements in, you know, that. What was that like the Occupy Wall Street? I never figured out what that was about. And, you know, love God, love everybody. But there was no. It was like there were all these tentacles, but there was no head and there was no, you know, there were too many different things. But this is really organized. This is very well organized. It's there's a strategy behind it. You know, you're doing things with an end goal in mind, which is really cool. And so the the the the climate emergency that the different towns are passing and that word, you're looking towards the state. What are some of the the actions you're asking for within that? Or can you explain for people listening a little bit more about what that is and what that will do?
[00:22:05] Definitely. Yeah. So the climate emergency regulations or documents saying that once passed a town that promises to eliminate their fossil fuels by 2030. OK, and. And it is a non-binding resolution. So the town does not necessarily have to do that, but it is a statement saying that they acknowledge the urgency of the climate crisis and are placing a climate emergency. And we will also be working on following up with the towns to see how their progress goes and help them as they try to work towards these goals as well.
[00:22:47] That's wonderful, because the first thing that you have to do is actually admit there's a problem, right? Yes. For anything to get solved. And, you know, if you think about this, even just from an economic standpoint, think about the jobs that can be created around this. Are you here? I'm not going into politics. I can't stamp politics. But you hear it sort of from an economic standpoint, the opposite, like, oh, you know, environmental stuff. It steps on jobs. It steps on jobs. What? Or companies. But think about just think about what's at the you know, at the table here, that the wonderful things that haven't been created yet, the things that are burgeoning, that maybe people will pay attention to and fund, whether it's angel investors or, you know. Or or venture capitalists or whoever they might be there. There is a whole new there's a whole new wave of industry here. Exac of things that are exciting. Mm hmm. You know, and that need to be created. And it's all about creating solutions.
[00:23:50] Yeah. And so when we talk about Klann emergency for the state of Maine as well. It is not necessarily the same exact thing. Hundredsof forcefield for by 2030. That's the resolution that we asked towns to pass. Now, our next step is to find out what our ask is gonna be of this state vs cloud emergency. You can mean a variety of things. So we're right now we're strategizing to see what it could mean for the state of Maine.
[00:24:17] So what are you thinking about it? And you're just asking it and you're it. This is well-thought out. This isn't. And that's another thing that I think that really pulled me to your conversation at Ted X is that I'm a firm believer that you lead with the solutions and you figure it out and and you don't react. You create. Right. And somebody pointed out to me the other day that that's actually an anagram. The same letters. And and I have another very wise man by the name of Woolf. Richards always says that the true definition of insanity is high emotion and low logic. You're doing the opposite of this. This is very logical. It's very well-thought out. There's a passion behind it. There's an emotion, right. Because we have to see something that we don't like in order to want to change it. Right. So you have to have that that you have to be able to step up and say, I see something, I don't like the way it's going. So now I want to change it. But I love that you are leading with solutions and in positivity. And that's when discussions can happen. And that's when people can come together. And if we can't get people coming together, I mean, then it's just nothing gets done. Right. It just it. Which has been too much of that.
[00:25:31] And you're talked about and goals earlier and our real end goal at this. All of us in the youth movement have the same goal. We just want a livable future.
[00:25:41] We just want to be able to exist and have nature and not be threatened by storms or low resources. And the ways that we get there are different. They're striking food, declaring emergency through marching through policy work. It's all very different.
[00:26:01] But all we really want is just a way to be because in 2050, I will be 44. And I'd much rather have things be a OK when I'm forty four. Yeah.
[00:26:17] Yeah. And that's important. And, you know, as adults, we should want that for our children and our grandchildren. I know. I certainly do. And I love but I just love seeing. I just love seeing that the youth aren't afraid to speak up. And you're not. But you're also doing something about it, you know. And, you know, shame on us for not having done something about it before. In my humble opinion. And so you you were saying we were talking a little bit about, you know, what do you to do with your. You're older and you really shouldn't know what. You don't need to know what what you're going to be. But you said something that I thought was really telling that you've always known that you have a love for the conservation and animal. Yeah.
[00:27:02] Yeah. I've always said before I knew the fancy words like zoologist or biologist. I would tell my parents that I wanted to be a cat.
[00:27:12] That was it.
[00:27:13] And then I learned, yeah, that's yeah, I want to be a cat, too.
[00:27:17] And then I learned that because I thought that like my young brain thought that that's what scientists did. They became bad animals. Yeah. But then I got older and I learned animal scientist. And then I was able to say things like biologist. And then it took a long time. But I figured out how to pronounce conservationist. And that was really intrigued me the most. And then I'm I'm a birder. I love birds. And I want to be a conservation ornithologist, us scientist who studies birds and the impact of a changing environment on them. I want to be a conservation ornithologist, but there's also always that concern that what if I can't because there's no birds to study. And that's really why I do this. Yeah.
[00:28:06] Do things will change things that you think you know, and when you do, you would you started this. Did it just snowball and happen really quickly? Were there were there things? You know, I just think about other people out there listening.
[00:28:23] Young people, older people, men, women that see something they want to do, but they hesitate to take the step for whatever reason that is. What? Any advice around that because you just sort of plunged in, it sounds like you saw in the next thing you know, like you had the package, they were saying go for it. Any any thoughts on that or advice around that for people?
[00:28:48] It really snowballed. It wasn't easy. Not it. It's things like this. I never easy. And really, what happened was it snowballed into a lot of meetings. It's calls in meetings and talking to people constantly and emails, lots of.
[00:29:08] So, yeah, really.
[00:29:10] And a lot of people can't do that. I have the time as a middle school student to have one or two calls every day of the week, and that can work. But you don't need to be that invested to do this because Maine strikes is constantly growing. We're always looking to expand our teams in places like Bangor or Bar Harbor or new teams like places like Lewiston and.
[00:29:38] And no one has to be whoever you are, wherever you are in life and how much time you have in capacity. It can always work somehow, whether it's just attending event or helping organize it or being a speaker or talking to a local politician.
[00:29:58] It can always work out and there's different ways to plug in because Maine strikes and Maine news for climate justice on social media.
[00:30:06] And we're connected with a lot of environmental clubs in schools. Things like that.
[00:30:12] And there are things like this going on all over the country and likely all over the world, I'm sure. Yeah. So people can plug in at their local level as well. And so it's almost about just taking that step, doing something right. Doing what you feel that you have the capacity to do and seeing where it takes you.
[00:30:31] I'd say, yeah, it's all about those those steps where you you're not really thinking about it. It just happens like my two big steps for first raising my hand when when my teacher needed someone to speak at city hall about an action I had never done public speaking around environmental stuff before. It was my first time.
[00:30:52] It was my first foray into climate activism and then using that, going into and taking that step of contacting U.S. youth climate strikes.
[00:31:04] So it's just that one step of writing the email or letting them know that you're interested and then them saying, great, what do have time and capacity for cause, whatever you can do.
[00:31:16] We always want people to help. It doesn't matter how how much you're able to do. It's just more people. More people power.
[00:31:25] What was it? Is it Mother Teresa that said little ripples make big waves out of with her Herbert's. But it's true. Every. Everybody. Nothing is too small, right, and there's no harm here to do if you're if you're going at it with the right intent, as you said, it could be talking to a politician. It could be making a phone call. It could be organizing on a larger level. But I think sometimes we overthink things and we think things to death. And that may be a more adult thing where we can't do anything until everything like the sun's aligned with the mood and this and that and everything in the bank accounts just perfect. So we wait and we wait and we wait and we don't take that step when really all we need to do is take the first step because it will lead you to where you're comfortable and where your comfort level is. Yeah.
[00:32:11] Yeah. Because we have these forms to get on board with use for climate justice and main strikes.
[00:32:17] And people get really people get a lot attention about like are we applying for something? What it really means is you join our email list and from that you can let us know if you'd like to do more. It's exactly what you're saying. There's no reason to wait, because once you once you work with an organization, they can wait until you're ready.
[00:32:39] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And you were even talking about the fact that you're in the 8th grade now. Next year high school. Yeah. And it's going to be a lot more rigorous. Yeah. And so you're talking about how do you delegates and on board somebody else. So that that was again very strategic, strategic and very much by the way, a leader ship quality. And what's your plan around that?
[00:33:05] Yeah. So I'm in middle school at a small school and we don't have a lot of after school work or tests. And the main strikes team does have an executive board, but we all can't do everything naturally. And so next year, I'll be going to a high school that's known for being pretty. Having a lot of work after school.
[00:33:30] And so what's going to happen is I'm planning on onboarding someone as a coast state lead in the spring. And then by the time that the fall new school year rolls around, we can work together on whatever actions happen next.
[00:33:48] And so when when you get into a high school, you want to come work for daughters are changed.
[00:33:53] Because I love your leadership ability.
[00:33:56] Right. My son set me a a Mother's Day card when he was little. And he said, I love your problem solving abilities. I love passing that to you. Thank you. It's really I like that. I like the way your mind works. And in a what is what's in your heart that you really want people to know about climate change? There were a couple of sentences or two or three really important things that you really feel you want to impart. What would that be?
[00:34:27] It is truly a crisis and we need mass mobilization on it and terms like global warming and even climate change. Don't. Don't give the sense of urgency. That situation truly requires. And we are. But I also believe that in this crisis there is a lot of light because without darkness there can't be light and there is room for growth and change. And really. Turning things around, and I truly believe that with the support of youth, adults and and everyone and anyone who can be involved, that we can really change things here in the state of Maine, in the United States and also the world.
[00:35:13] That's a beautiful sentiment. You're right. Without darkness, there can't be light, but there is a lot of light. I'm looking at some of the light right now. Anna, what is your best piece of advice in general? It could be both climate change or just, you know, in your experience with everything you've done. The best piece of advice you have for the other daughters of change out there listening today.
[00:35:36] Find a passion and find the way it connects to an issue or a problem in this world, like if you if you love trees. And if that's your thing and you a forest and you love hiking and you love the mountains, maybe you get involved with land conservation or some sort of conservation trust. And if you're if you're really interested in, let's say, like foreign languages and and people in other countries, maybe you work with volunteering abroad.
[00:36:13] If you're really interested in politics, maybe you've become politically involved with some organization there. If you find where your passions naturally take you, the lead you into a place where you can become active and you can organize and you can really make change. Do you believe everything is possible? I believe everything is possible as long as everyone else plays it.
[00:36:36] Good point. If one person believes in dragons, no one, no one else gets it. Everyone believes in the mystical creature that's supposed to be there.
[00:36:45] Someone will see it out of the mouths of babes. Yes, I love that.
[00:36:51] So how do we connect and support you in in your you know, with what you're doing personally or just in the larger in the larger scheme of things? How would you like what would you like the listeners to do to help or to get involved?
[00:37:07] So putting on my like stately ad for you use these climate strikes had right here. Its main strikes is on Instagram and on social media and there's different ways to get plugged in. Same thing with manias for climate justice. We're officially partner organisations.
[00:37:23] And then speaking more generally from the heart.
[00:37:29] Contact your contact your political representative about the 2010 elections. Give someone a call, let them know that you care and.
[00:37:38] And and around the 29 political table. Vote with your passions as well.
[00:37:47] Climate voter will make sure that there are links in the show, notes for that, you know, for the different social media that you just mentioned. And I know that we're also there's a go fund me page there was there was there yet another. My missing another. Oh, you dear. YouTube talk.
[00:38:09] So there's a talk to your Ted X. Yeah. Which you'd have to see this. She was so good.
[00:38:13] So we'll make sure that that's also in the show notes as well. Anything else you can think of that you want us to make sure people have links to or.
[00:38:26] I think that's it. And I think that's it.
[00:38:29] And really if if anything that Menary talked read today inspired you and made you wonder about something, look into it.
[00:38:38] That's right. That's right. Just do it. Damn it. Get to you. Don't take the extra step. You don't want to be on your deathbed with regrets. You know, when I'm looking at the face of youth in front of me and and I you know, I'm not that young at heart. But I got to tell you, I know what you're voicing is so true. Don't sit around and think about it, whatever that passion is. I mean, so long as it's a good passion, don't do anything dark. You would be listening if you were dark beings. But, you know, if there's something you feel that you want to change or you want to make a change and just just make the first step, make the first phone call, look at, you know, get read the first book, do whatever it is and just let it move you forward, because that's how we're gonna make change in this world.
[00:39:27] That is an excellent summary of what I've been trying to convey, huh?
[00:39:31] Well, thank you. Because Bright. I don't have as many braids. Also be more as you do between the two of us. We can get any last thoughts, Anna, before we sign off.
[00:39:41] Thank you for having me here. Thank you for talking with me today. And I really appreciate this opportunity to just spread my message to the daughter. Changeless. Thanks.
[00:39:56] Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the Daughters of Change podcast. To learn more about today's guest or any of our previous guests, you can visit. Daughters of Change dot com forward slash podcast. You can connect with Daughters of Change on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching those platforms for Daughters of Change. If you are a daughter of change yourself and would like to appear on the show, send me an email at Marae at. Daughters of Change dot com. Thanks again for taking the time to listen today. Take care.