Sophia Kianni is an Irani-American climate activist who is seriously changing the world. Her non-profit organisation Climate Cardinals works to translate vital climate change educational resources into over 100 languages whilst being the youngest person to join the UN Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change.
We caught up with Sophia to learn how we can all help the battle against climate change, and how we are really being effected in the Middle East. Scary figures incoming.
We know that climate change is getting worse and worse, and we know that some older generations are not taking it as seriously as younger ones. “Obviously to the younger generation this is a very pressing issue”, Sophia tells us, “we’ve clearly seen that the adults in power, the people who are currently controlling our government and legislation, have just really refused to act on the climate crisis. Really what they’re doing is endangering our lives, so I think that’s why so many young people have tried to do to all that they can to really raise awareness of the climate crisis and put pressure on elected officials into taking action, even though a lot of us can’t even vote”.
Sophia is the only person currently representing the Middle East and Iran in the UN group and describes it as “a huge honour”. Sophia is passionate about raising awareness of environmental issues in Iran, and tells us some *wow* figures about how climate change is effecting us here in the region.
“I was really inspired by my experiences visiting Iran and realising how badly the climate crisis was effecting them there, especially how bad the pollution was and there was really an environmental crisis. I also learned about how temperatures in the Middle East are rising more than twice the global average and that only 5% of Iranian University students could properly explain the greenhouse gas effect, I found a study that said that. So I realised that it was an educational issue”.
Twice. The. Global. Average.
Sophia was also surprised when she found out how badly the region is being effected in relation to the rest of the globe, “I was like ‘OK so this is an issue which is really effecting the Middle East’. When I talked to my relatives about it I really expected them to know that it was an issue and be concerned. However they didn’t even really know that it was happening. Surely if you have an issue that is really disproportionately effecting you and your community, then you should at least be aware of it and be able to articulate your concerns and your fears to world leaders?”
Sophia’s non-profit Climate Cardinals focuses on translating key environmental educational resources into different languages, especially Middle Eastern languages. “It really is assumed that, over there, everyone speaks English, and therefore they consume all of the materials that these big reputable climate organisations are giving out. So we’ve been partnering with them [Arab Youth Climate Movement] and offering to give them our resources that we’ve translated into languages like Farsi and Arabic.”
“Even the United Nations only translate into the six UN languages – like the ICPP report is only available in the six UN languages.”
There are some very scary reports coming out of the effects of climate change in our region on our health too. “Some of the things that were most shocking to me when I was looking at the impact of pollution in Iran was the 1,500 people who were hospitalised over a 24 hour period because of pollution,” says Sophia.
Many are yet to formally address the issue. “Obviously people are feeling the impact of climate change in the Middle East but it’s just that they haven’t put a label on it yet.” This has encouraged Sophie to educate the region about what is going on. “After raising awareness and making people aware that the driving issue behind all this is climate change then they’ll be more empowered and want to be a diverse coalition of advocates in their communities”.
So how can we help? We asked Sophia what her advice was for Cosmo readers who want to help the climate change battle both regionally and globally. “I definitely think the most important thing to remember to really do is to educate yourself on climate change and really understand the science behind it. Then spreading awareness.”
“All these health and environmental concerns they are all interlinked so I think that people need to realise that this is an issue is effecting them even if they were unaware of the scientific background behind it, it’s something that is effecting them every single day in the way that it’s impacting their health. So, just being aware of these, educating yourself on these things, you can really become an advocate in your community for pushing for new progressive legislation to help lessen the impacts that it is having.”