The 26-year-old Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines co-founder on what it takes to protect everything we’ve ever loved on this planet

Climate justice activist Greta Thunberg shook the world when she uttered the words, “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019. It was in the same year when Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP) was born.

YACAP co-founder Mitzi Jonelle Tan has become one of the leading youth voices of climate and social justice across the world alongside Thunberg. An organizer for Fridays For Future International and a UNICEF youth advocate, Tan has spoken at UN Climate Change Conferences like COP 28 on climate finance and debt, the fossil fuel phaseout, and just transition, especially for the Global South.

You may have also seen her engaging personalities from King Charles III to Billie Eilish on local environmental issues.

Our quick chat with Tan uncovers details on her participation in social movement building and how she overcomes the grief she encounters in her work. 

What are the things you tend to highlight and uncover in your work? 

In my work as a climate justice activist, it’s important to highlight and amplify the voices and stories of resistance from the most marginalized communities. People impacted by the climate crisis are often portrayed as victims, but we’re not just victims—there is so much to learn from the people already affected and hit worse by the crisis.

It’s also important to expose the injustices that have brought us to the climate crisis—colonialism and imperialism. We need to highlight the need for community, collective action, and system change—it is only together, with the solidarity and strength of the marginalized, that we will be able to achieve climate justice. Above all, it’s also realizing that everything we’re doing is for love and from love.

My work process differs vastly depending on the task that I need to do or what role I’m playing, but in all of them, I try to lead with my heart and do my best not to replicate the practices of the current unjust system that has led us to multiple crises, including the climate crisis

How would you describe your work process?

My work process is a part of a bigger collective and movement. It is inspired by the work and life-building of social justice movements from the past until today. It is strengthened by the knowledge taught to us by our elders and ancestors in waging revolution, and from the practices of different activist communities in the Philippines and across the world.

I will always be a student. My work process differs vastly depending on the task that I need to do or what role I’m playing, but in all of them, I try to lead with my heart and do my best not to replicate the practices of the current unjust system that has led us to multiple crises, including the climate crisis.

How do you take control of your work’s narrative and how it’s being framed?

We must bravely commit to the truth and speak truth to power even when it’s scary, and especially when it’s scary. During these times it’s important to lean on your community and know that you’re not doing things alone and so you have a community by your side that will back you up and help make sure that the way your narrative and work is framed will never be corrupted. 

In the times that some may try, you know that the ones that matter, the grassroots communities that you work with, and the people that surround you, know the truth, and you know the truth.

What are non-negotiables in your routine?

I do my best to start my days by meditating and then singing and dancing. It’s important to feel the joy and excitement in the work that we’re doing because it can be really difficult and there is so much grief that comes with it. Being able to hold both the joy and laughter with your community but also deeply feel the pain and anger simultaneously is so crucial.

On days when I’m not able to do this and I don’t have a lot of energy or I’m too tired, I grant myself the grace to rest and listen to the needs of my body. This, and to reconnect with nature, especially the ocean and the moon, and the people I love to decompress but also remind us what we’re fighting for, are my non-negotiables.

What keeps things fresh and exciting for you?

It sounds cheesy, but I try to live life excited for each day and opportunity that it brings us. I remind myself to embrace and bask in the wonders of the universe that surrounds us every day—to constantly be in awe of everything that the world has to offer to us.

There’s so much to discover in the life that we have and climate justice activists have the privilege to fight for that life and to fight for all the mysteries and wonders that we have yet to discover

How amazing are the trees around us that give us life? How beautiful are the stars and the moon that bring us light in the dark? Who wouldn’t be excited about the warmth of the sun or how the sun sparkles on the ocean? With all the insects that surround us, it reminds me that the world is so full of life and that excites me. What about all the people around us who have their own stories that are also full of ups and downs? If I’m starting to get bored, all I have to do is look around me and I’m reminded of what I’m fighting for.

There’s so much to discover in the life that we have and climate justice activists have the privilege to fight for that life and to fight for all the mysteries and wonders that we have yet to discover. And the best thing is, everyone can become a climate justice activist!

What do you want to manifest through your work?

The fight for climate justice is the fight for life in every sense of the word—to fight for all living beings, to fight for the rest of our lives, and to fight for the chance to live, and what is life without joy and love?

The fight for climate justice is the lifetimes-long process of breaking down the oppressive and exploitative systems that exist today as we simultaneously build a better world where everyone feels safe and no one is left behind. The beautiful thing to remember is that pockets of the future that we’re building already exist today.

This isn’t to ignore the deep pain, grief, anger, and anxiety that we should all collectively feel for the historical and ongoing injustices happening today but to understand that all this comes from love—love for life, each other, and the planet.

Everything we’ve ever loved and will ever love is on this planet—once we realize that, we know that we will do everything that we can do to protect that and allow that to flourish.

This story is part of “Normal People,” a series on reclamation as a way of engaging with the world featuring local artist-advocates and community leaders.

Photos by the Natural History Museum of London, AC Dimatatac, Dino Dimar, and Midia Ninja

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