Ashley Fairbanks heads to Glasgow for UN Climate Change Conference

Belgium Climate Protest
Protestors hold banners and signs as they participate in a climate march in Brussels on Oct. 10. Some 80 organizations joined the climate march to demand change and push politicians to effective action in Glasgow at COP26.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert | AP file

On Minnesota Now, Ashley Fairbanks shares her hopes for the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. She is an Anishinaabe artist and organizer and the creative director for the 100% Campaign in Minnesota. Next week, she’ll be at COP26 as a Climate Generation delegate.

“We need people all over the world to really be coming together to take collective action ... we don’t need people just depressed and laying in bed,” Fairbanks told Minnesota Now host Cathy Wurzer. “I’ve been in that place frequently, and it’s hard not to be in that place sometimes.”

She also referred to a “brick wall of data and science” that can lead people to feel disconnected from the effects of climate change and noted that younger generations have a different relationship to climate issues than previous generations.

“The folks who are leading right now — who are young, even under 21 — they’re going to see things in this climate crisis that the boomers of today will never see,” she said. “They feel tremendous impact, especially on their mental health.” 

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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