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

Ella Bradford speaking to the crowd at a climate strike. Photo by Jasper Kohut

By Patricia Lane and Ella Bradford

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 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…

View Ella’s YCAA Submission HERE➜