Org of the Week: Climate Cardinals

Climate Cardinals is an international youth-led nonprofit that works to make climate education more accessible to non-English speakers and catalyzes grassroots climate education. The organization aims to educate and empower a diverse coalition of people to tackle the climate crisis. With over 16,000 volunteers translating and sourcing climate information into more than 105 languages, this international movement has reached millions of people across 80+ countries and over 100 chapters worldwide.

Founder, Sophia Kianni's Story: While visiting her parents' homeland of Iran, Sophia looked up at the night sky and instead of stars, saw a blanket of smog. Her heart sank. Sophia started researching and found out that temperatures in the Middle East were rising more than twice the global average. She knew she had to do something.

Sophia’s first attempt was simple: educate her relatives in Iran. She translated articles about climate change into Farsi, Iran's native language. Her family was shocked; they'd had no idea that the scorching heat waves they had been experiencing were getting worse year after year because of the burning of fossil fuels. As she dug deeper, she realized this wasn't just a problem for my family or Iran—it was global.

The statistics are startling. Even the UN’s IPCC report, a cornerstone of climate research, is available in just six languages, covering less than half of the world's population. This inaccessibility leaves vulnerable regions ill-equipped to deal with climate-related disasters. That's when Sophia realized, the barrier isn't just a lack of knowledge; it's a lack of accessible knowledge. Armed with this realization, she founded Climate Cardinals.

Executive Director, Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa: “We began four years ago as a small team of recent high school graduates. Over the past four years, we have grown into the world’s largest youth-led climate organization with more than 16,000 volunteers in 134 countries, and our volunteer base is projected to grow by 40,000 within the next few months based on pre-sign-ups for our new Ambassadors program. With a small budget, we have translated over three million words of climate information, cultivated 30 translation partnerships and 20 project-based partnerships, reached over eight million people, created eleven jobs, and trained over 150 youth in project management and leadership. Now, we aspire to become one of the first youth-led and justice-oriented environmental legacy organizations. We’re here for the long-term.”

Co-Director of Research at Climate Cardinals and Youth Council Member of the World Health Organization, Abhinav Anne: "As Co-Director of Research at Climate Cardinals, I’ve witnessed firsthand how we are more than a community—we’re a force of young leaders united by a shared purpose. Like the cardinal, we carry messages of change across continents, breaking down barriers of inaccessibility. Our research-driven approach amplifies the urgency of climate action, with each of us contributing to a movement that is both global and deeply personal. Together, we’re ensuring the winds of change aren’t just felt—they’re heard."

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