When Sophia Kianni was in middle school, she visited her family in Iran. While on her trip, she was alarmed by the polluted air.
So she started reading about environmental issues in the Middle East. And she found out that the region is seeing rapidly rising temperatures.
“But when I tried to talk to my relatives about the issue, I realized that they knew almost nothing about climate change,” she says.
That was partly because of a lack of information in Farsi, their native language. Kianni says most climate science is only available in English or a few other major languages.
“There are a lot of people in the world who are being disproportionately impacted by climate change who are not able to access documents and resources about what they’re experiencing,” she says.
So Kianni started translating climate science for her family, and they were alarmed by what they learned.
“They were shocked and horrified. And they wanted to see what their government could do about it, what they could do about it. I think they became really action-oriented,” she says.
Now Kianni’s expanded her efforts into a youth-led nonprofit called Climate Cardinals.
The group has more than 6,000 volunteers who translate climate research and documents into over 100 different languages. So people around the world can better access climate information and advocate for action.
Reporting credit: Stephanie Manuzak/ChavoBart Digital Media