Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

“We say this is zero hour to act on the climate crisis because we don’t have any time left. We have only a sliver of time left,” Nadia Nazar, the co-founder of the youth climate group Zero Hour, told an eager crowd at the Carnegie Institute in Washington, DC. “And that is our hope, and we must take that hope to act now in order to save the planet for everybody.”

The urgency of our climate crisis, and its web of impacts, was one of the themes at the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards, an annual event hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies. Zero Hour, along with the Honduran Comité Municipal en Defensa de Bienes Comunes y Naturales del Municipio de Tocoa, were honored for their work on the frontlines of environmental justice. The Comité has been organizing the communities along the Guapinol River against pollution from mining companies like Los Pinares – owned by one of the wealthiest families in Honduras. When those extractive industries threatened their drinking water, the community erected the “Camp in Defense of Water and Life” to block access to the mine. Since then, members have faced detention, as well as the death of one of their own.

Like the Comité, Zero Hour organizers are well aware of the need for rapid shifts to deal with the looming effects of climate change. The youth organizers of Zero Hour were awarded for their work and focus on the disproportionate effect of the climate crisis on low income communities, people of color and other marginalized groups. Founded in 2017 by 16-year-old Jamie Margolin and her friends, Zero Hour is led by young people of color. The group advocates for climate justice, and leads discussions on the impact of climate change on young people while delving into the underlying roots of systematic oppression sustained under the climate crisis.

“The youth are breaking the walls of these systems and we are demanding everybody is uplifted in our solutions, not just certain people. We can’t keep perpetuating the same systems within our solutions and our conversations around the climate crisis,” Nazar said. “We believe that the energy and the love of young people are vital towards bringing down the destruction and hate of the fossil fuel industry and the corporations all around the world.”

Elsa Mengistu, former Operations Director for Zero Hour told Inequality.org “It’s cool to have kids strike from school and disciplinary action happen. There’s media frenzy, people pay attention, but real action comes from when we’re hit where pockets are,”. “I want to build on it by having adults come and strike with us and I want them to put a pass on the economic cycle and make people realize what is going on. I don’t want it to just be a school strike but a strike for everybody.”

https://ips-dc.org/about/letelier-moffitt-human-rights-awards/

Celebrating Environmental Defenders at the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards