From Greta Thunberg to Jane Fonda, these are the women fighting to save our planet – The Sun

AROUND the world, 80 per cent of people displaced by climate change are female.

From Greta Thunberg to Jane Fonda, women of all ages are joining forces to fight climate change. Here we take a look at those trying to save our planet.

Greta Thunberg, 17

Youth activist

Her name is synonymous with the climate change movement, and rightly so after the Swedish teen sparked an international youth movement, clapped back at Trump and has been nominated for two Nobel Peace prizes.

Greta first staged her “School Strike for Climate” alone in front of the Swedish Parliament in August 2018. By the end of the year student strikes were taking place every week across the globe.

She was invited to speak at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit and, instead of flying, she sailed across the Atlantic, from Plymouth to New York, for two weeks to attend.

She’s also just signed up for a BBC documentary series that will follow her international crusade and see her meeting with scientists, politicians and business people to discuss rising global temperatures. Go, Greta!

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 30

US Congresswoman

After being raised in the Bronx, New York, by her Puerto Rican family, Alexandria has become a rising star in politics.

In June 2018 she became the youngest Congresswoman ever after winning the Democratic Party’s primary election for New York’s 14th congressional district, and is now well-known for her work as a climate champion, in particular as a principal architect of the US Green New Deal.

The proposed legislation aims to eliminate the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming by 2030.

Last March, her impassioned speech to a Republican representation who criticised the Green New Deal went viral after she warned: “As towns and cities go underwater, as wildfires ravage our communities, we are going to pay.”

Isatou Ceesay, 48

Social entrepreneur

Dubbed the Queen of Recycling, Isatou dropped out of school before founding recycling project One Plastic Bag in her home country The Gambia, in 1998.

Upset at seeing plastic bags accumulating in heaps, trapping water and bringing mosquitoes and disease, and killing livestock that ate them, she educated women on how to recycle waste into saleable products, such as purses.

Since its conception, she’s also provided thousands of women with vital skills and employment.

Jane Fonda, 82

Actress

Oscar-winner Jane has long been known for her political activism, campaigning against the Vietnam War in the ’70s.

In 2019 she temporarily relocated to Washington DC to lead Greenpeace’s “Fire Drill Fridays”, a weekly protest urging law makers to combat climate change and pass Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.

Jane has been arrested five times for the peaceful protests, which attract millions, including A-listers Leonardo DiCaprio and Sally Field.

Christiana Figueres, 63

Costa Rican Diplomat

Since her tenure as executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change in 2010, Christiana has been crucial to global climate change negotiations.

Her work led to the Paris Agreement in 2015 – which sets out a framework to limit global warming to below 2C – and has since founded Mission 2020 to drive urgency in climate action.

Last week, she released a book, The Future We Choose, about what the world needs to do in the next ten years to combat global warming.

Elsie Luna, 11

Youth activist

At just 11 years old, Elsie is fast becoming Britain’s very own Greta.

In 2018 she lobbied oil companies by visiting their London offices and demanding to speak to senior executives about the need to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

Incredibly, BP sent a press officer to speak to her on the pavement, but thankfully Shell invited her to meet Sinead Lynch, its UK country chairwoman, and they spent 20 minutes discussing the company’s response to climate change.

Last year, Elsie also founded eco protest group Extinction Rebellion’s junior wing, XR Kids, and has since co-written an academic paper about her experiences as a climate activist.

Juliet Davenport OBE, 52

Entrepreneur

Juliet founded Good Energy in 1999 (at a time when 98% of the UK’s electricity was non-renewable), which was one of the first green energy suppliers.

Now it harnesses the sun, wind, rain and biofuels to provide 100% renewable energy across the UK.

In honour of her incredible achievements, Juliet also appointed an OBE in the 2013 New Year Honours list.

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