At 18, this Yukon activist turned school climate strikes into council meetings

These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.

Ella Bradford uses student climate strikes to raise awareness in Yukon. This 18-year-old student is a recipient of the I-SEA 2024 youth climate activism award for her high school leadership of the “Fridays for Future Yukon” student movement.

Tell us about your projects.

I’ve been involved in climate activism for the past six years, and worked with Fridays for Future Yukon for most of that time. When I was in Grade 8, our focus was mainly organizing large climate demonstrations to persuade governments that the public, and especially young people, wanted real action on climate change. But we made vague demands, and it was often too easy to tell us all the things they were doing, which we could see had little real impact. In the more recent past, we have continued to organize strikes three times a year to raise awareness and bring young people together with a clear focus. We have also learned to be much more specific with decision makers. For example, last year we asked for a meeting with the Whitehorse city council to let them know what we thought they should prioritize in their climate action plan. They drafted a plan and then, staff met with us as a key stakeholder to get our input. They seemed very receptive, and it was a productive, respectful conversation. We learned a lot about the potential role of cities in our preparation for these conversations, and they learned a lot about how committed we are to seeing changes that matter.

I began my first year at the University of Waterloo in September, so in the spring I spent a lot of time training my successors in organizing, using social media and meeting decision-makers. Succession planning is an important tool in climate action!

What made the work hard?

I am not a scientist and I am young. It was sometimes hard to first try to convince people to take me seriously and then have them take me so seriously that they expected me to know all the answers. 

It sometimes feels as if not that many people care. That is the most discouraging. 

What gives you hope? 

I always feel better outside. Whitehorse is an outdoor-activity paradise and I love to hike and ski. Being in nature reminds me that this is the environment in which I live and breathe, and it is beautiful. I will work to protect it. It is scary to think it might not be there for very much longer, but it is even scarier not to speak up.

In my environmental engineering program at Waterloo, I am surrounded by people who share that passion. It feels great to know there are so many smart, kind people who are just not going to give up.

How did you get involved?

I was raised spending a lot of time outside and in high school I joined the social justice club. The teacher listened to me and supported me to talk about whatever was on my mind. My parents have always helped me link care for the environment with care for the people who live in it. When I heard about Greta Thunberg, I was inspired to do that where I lived. 

What do you see if we get this right?

There are so many opportunities. We are just at the start of a complete energy transition and a rapid resurgence in new kinds of technologies. I don’t know exactly what it will bring, but I am excited to be a part of it. I am not worried about what we will lose. Humans are a creative, compassionate, social species, and we will make it so much better, especially if we work together. 

What would you like to say to other young people?

Stand up for what you believe and what you love. It might feel initially that you are standing alone, but there are others out there. Talking about it really does help, and it also helps you find others. 

Don’t wait to act until you are sure it's perfect. Later is too late. We need millions taking action imperfectly, not a few doing it perfectly. Get started.

What about older readers?

Ask yourself where you have influence and use it. Your life will be more meaningful if you do it, especially if you do it with others. It feels good to be working with others to protect who and what you love. 

Anything else?

Everyone cares about climate change. It’s in our DNA to protect the water we drink, the soil that grows our food and the air we breathe. But I hear folks saying it's not a priority right now. We have to think about other things. While health care and the cost of food and housing are pressing issues, we have to have a climate lens on all of it. This is the crucial decade, if my children and I will have a place we can live. We can’t wait.