“…to merge the radical imagination of artists with the fury on the streets.” - Kumi Naidoo
This June, Climate Storytelling 2075 had the great honor of welcoming Kumi Naidoo and Yessenia Funes to speak with our 2025 cohort about the passion that sustains life-giving climate activism.
Kumi Naidoo (he/him) is the current President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and Ambassador of the Global Artivism Movement. He was International Executive Director of Greenpeace International and Secretary General of Amnesty International. His family has started the Riky Rick Foundation for the Promotion of Artivism to build on the positive legacies left by popular South African rapper Rikhado “Riky Rick” Makhado through his music and life’s work.
Yessenia Funes (she/her) is an environmental journalist who focuses on the intersection of race and the environment, currently Editor-At-Large for Atmos Magazine. She was previously the senior reporter for Earther, the environmental leg of the Gawker blog network, where she closely followed the injustices of the climate crisis. Before then, she was on staff at Colorlines and YES! Magazine.
Thank you, Yessenia and Kumi, for sharing your brilliance with us.
