MY CLIMATE STORY

My story begins in my home state of Minnesota, on the lands historically stewarded by the Wahpekute Dakota, where I hiked, biked, and served surrounded by nature. In Minnesota’s hills, prairies, and forests I found freedom, empowerment, and a community of nature lovers that inspired my continued interest in environmentalism, sustainability, and climate action. This formative experience would serve me well when I continued my secondary school education by studying abroad at Pearson College UWC, in British Columbia.

In Canada, I saw how global climate change affected my international peers and their home countries, enabling me to better align myself with climate action by thinking globally and acting locally. Through marine science field expeditions that brought me face to face with ecosystems and wildlife that support the foundation of life on Canada’s west coast and an opportunity to enrich my international peers virtual learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, I used my revitalized passion for photography and budding interest in filmmaking to create educational documentaries. These videos became the foundation of my career in film and allowed me to further the education of my peers and enrich my own experiential education.

While abroad, I joined Take A Stand: Youth for Conservation, a British Columbia based non-profit organization that seeks to inspire, motivate, and empower youth to protect and conserve the environment through art, film, and youth-driven action. In partnership with other non-profits like Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the Institute for Sustainability Education and Action, I have hosted climate education webinars, supported the Student Innovation Contest, and led my own climate action mentorship program. As an outdoor leader, I have guided backcountry experiences across British Columbia, notably in the last stands of Vancouver Island’s old growth forests. My variety of outdoors experiences, from rock-climbing, gravel biking, sea kayaking, to trekking, form the foundation of my climate education perspective that prioritizes hands on experiential learning experiences that create lasting, personal bonds between people and their natural environment. With the community I found, outdoor leadership experienced I gained, and confidence I developed in documentary filmmaking, I left Canada radicalized, ready to reimagine how the moving picture could better advance worldwide climate action.

These days, I am a student at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, where I study film production and advance climate storytelling initiatives through my work with various university stakeholders like the Arts and Climate Collective, Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Center for Climate Journalism and Communications, Office of Sustainability, and Engagement Committee of the Presidential Working Group on Sustainability. In my time at USC, I’ve connected with a wider community of climate artivists and found success leveraging the university’s resources to create a broader platform upon which I can uplift climate storytelling to thousands of students every year. While I don’t think I’ll ever fully get used to Los Angeles as a Midwesterner at my core, it has been an amazing environment in which I’ve honed my creative skills and found new determination to generate climate action.

My work is fueled by my commitment to advancing BIPOC perspectives, outdoor education, youth leadership development, and the activation of the latent storyteller in everyone. When I’m not at my desk working on my latest creative endeavor, you can find me in community, biking and hiking around Los Angeles, and continuing to cultivate my passion and eco-joy through mindful study and time marveling at nature.