Throughout my childhood and adolescence, the concept of climate change terrified me. I knew that the earth I loved so deeply was hurting, degenerating, dying. And there was nothing I could do about it. I felt entirely alone and hopeless, so I decided to do something about it. 

In 2019 I started the UK youth climate strikes. What followed was greater than I could ever have imagined: cities of earth warriors, streets upon streets full to the brim with like-minded individuals. During this time, I also founded UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN), an organisation that connected thousands of student activists across the UK to collaborate on collective action. 

I am an experienced public speaker and have contributed to high-profile events, working alongside Paul McCartney, Benedict Cumberbatch, Noel Fielding, Thom Yorke, Tom Odell and Loyle Carner. 

More recently I have focused on nature activism and community resilience.

All of the engagement on this page occurred under the name Anna Taylor, apart from UKY4N. 

PUBLIC SPEAKING
I have spoken widely on climate justice, collective resilience and the need for nature education in a variety of formats.

Examples of events I have spoken at: 
  • North West Net Zero Youth Conference, 25 November 2024
    • Speaker on closing panel.
  • Stanford-Berkeley English Graduate Conference, 22 April 2023
    • Speaker and panelist.
  • North East Climate Coalition (NECCo) Youth Summit, 03 November 2021
    • Keynote speaker.
  • Royal Mail’s Forum on Climate Change, 12 September 2019.
    • Keynote speaker.
  • Global Student Living Conference, 25 June 2019.
    • Keynote speaker.
  • Letters Live at the Union Chapel, March 2019, hosted by Benedict Cumberbatch.
    • Finale speaker, presenting 'We, the youth'.

 MEDIA

Videos and Documentaries
  • ‘Make the World Greta Again’, VICE, 22 May 2019.
  • ‘An A-Z of Grassroots Activism’, i-D, 4 April 2019.
  • ‘Climate Change: the Inter-Generational Challenge’, BBC Newsnight, 18 February 2019. ​
Live TV and Radio Interviews
  • BBC Newsnight with Katie Razzall and Sir Ed Davey (18 February 2019)
  • BBC Two – Victoria Derbyshire
  • Radio 4 Today Programme (11 February & 19 September 2019)
  • BBC Radio 5 (31 December 2019)

WRITTEN INTERVIEWS

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  • Hymer, Clare. “Whatever Happened to the UK Youth Climate Strikes?” Novara Media, 15 February 2021.
  • Townsend, Solitaire. “100 UK Leading Environmentalists (Who Happen to be Women).” Forbes, 16 November 2020.
  • Hirsch, Afue. “The 20 Remarkable Activists On Vogue’s September Cover.” Vogue, 3 August 2020.
  • Healy, Hazel. “Real Education Happens Outside the Classroom?” Forum, Summer 2020.
  • Chan, Emily. “Greta Thunberg and 7 Other Young Activists on how we can Tackle the Climate Crisis.” British Vogue, 16 July 2019.
  • Yeginsu, Ceylan. “Skipping School to Save the Earth.” New York Times, 14 February 2019.
  • John, Tara, “How Teenage Girls Defied Skeptics to Build a New Global Climate Movement.” CNN, 13 February 2019.
  • Pressigny, Clementine. “Why are thousands of students striking from school?” i-D, 11 February 2019.
  • Woolcock, Nicola. “Climate pupils plan summer of strikes.” The Times, 27 April 2019.
Further interviews in: The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Vogue, VICE, New York Times, CNN World, Reuters, NME, i-D, Metro, Novara Media and others

Delegation

I have attended several conferences at national and international levels as a delegate for various climate justice groups and movements. Some examples include: 
  • UK Parliament, 23 April 2019
    • Delegate for UK Student Climate Network at the first all-party roundtable on climate change in a decade. 
  • EU Parliament (Strasbourg), 12 - 13 March 2019 
    • UK delegate to discuss transnational climate policies with MEPs.
  • Wellcome Trust and UNDP 'Temperature Check: on Health and Climate' conference, 1 - 3 July 2019 
    • UK youth delegate for a conference on the relationship between climate change and global health. 
  • University of Lausanne, 4 - 10 August 2019 
    • UK youth strikes delegate at the SMILE climate summit. 

Campaigns

UK Youth Climate Strikes
My first campaign, which I organised. Set up social media channels to provide publicity, created different working groups to organise efforts, support volunteer wellbeing, formed partnerships with a range of organisations across the world, and developed strategy to maintain campaign momentum. 

People's Vote
I supported the People's Vote for a second referendum on Brexit. My involvement focused on bringing the voting age down to 16, and considering it as a climate vote. I attended marches and interviews to support publicity for the campaign. 

Right to Roam 
I have been a supporter of the Right to Roam campaign since the beginning and attended several events, supporting publicity for the event and encouraging others to attend. 

Stop the Cumbria Coal Mine 
Although I have supported the campaign against the Cumbria coal mine for a long time, my core involvement was in a professional capacity with Friends of the Earth. As Community Organiser for the campaign, I organised protests, community events, collaborated with partner organisations, and assisted in campaign publicity.

UK Youth for Nature 
I have recently become involved in UK Youth for Nature, where I hope to become more involved with their ongoing campaigns. 
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I believe that climate justice is intersectional and cannot be achieved without other forms of justice, including racial justice. I therefore support related campaigns, such as Black Lives Matter and the Palestine solidarity campaign.