LGBTQ+ Climate Voices to Follow

At CleanChoice Energy, we believe that the climate movement must be intersectional. In honor of Pride Month, we want to highlight some of our favorite LGBTQ+ climate activists and celebrate all of their efforts in fighting for our planet and against climate change. Here are 9 inspiring climate voices to follow:

1. Haven Coleman is a 17-year-old climate activist and organizer from Colorado. She co-founded the U.S. Youth Climate Strike along with Isra Hirsi and Alexandra Villaseñor. Haven first caught people’s attention when videos emerged of her speaking passionately about climate change to politicians at their town hall meetings—when she was just 12 years old. Follow her on Twitter @havenruthie.

2. Isaias Hernandez is an environmentalist and eco-educator. Through social platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, Isaias shares accessible content under his brand Queer Brown Vegan to educate people on various topics related to environmental justice and green living. Follow him on Instagram @queerbrownvegan, Twitter @queerbrownvegan, or TikTok @queerbrownvegan. 

3. Jamie Margolin is a 21-year-old Seattle native and founder of the youth climate organization Zero Hour, an intersectional movement of youth climate activists. As the Latina, Jewish daughter of a Colombian immigrant, she gave a TED talk about how climate change can be solved by addressing social injustices. Follow her on Twitter @Jamie_Margolin or Instagram @jamie_s_margolin.

4. Jerome Foster II is a 20-year-old climate activist from Washington D.C. He is the youngest member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the youngest ever White House Advisor. He has spoken about the climate crisis before the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights and the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. In 2022, Jerome and his partner (fellow climate activist Elijah Mckenzie-Jackson) wrote a letter to the United Nations, calling on the UN to move COP27 from Egypt due to the country’s treatment of LGBTQ+ people. Follow him on Twitter @JeromeFosterII or Instagram @jeromefosterii.

5. Pattie Gonia is a drag persona created by photographer Wyn Wiley. Pattie is a climate activist who seeks to promote diversity, inclusion, sustainability, climate action, and a love of the outdoors to their more than 527,000 Instagram followers and 152,000 TikTok followers. Follow Pattie on Instagram @pattiegonia or TikTok @pattiegonia.

6. Precious Brady-Davis, a trans woman from Chicago, is the Associate Regional Communications Director for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, which seeks to close all coal plants in the U.S. and replace them with clean energy. Precious is also a speaker, author of I Have Always Been Me, and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) consultant. Most recently, she was appointed to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's Human Rights, Equity, & Inclusion Transition Subcommittee. Follow her on Instagram @preciousbradydavis or Twitter @mspreciousdavis.

7. Tori Tsui is an intersectional climate activist and the co-founder of Bad Activist Collective, a group of climate-focused artists and storytellers. In 2019, Tori and 31 other climate activists sailed across the Atlantic to COP25 to advocate for sustainable travel with Sail to the COP. Tori’s first book, It’s Not Just You, explores the relationship between the climate crisis and mental health and will be available in July 2023. Follow Tori on Instagram @toritsui_ or Twitter @toritsui, and follow Bad Activists Collective on Instagram @badactivistcollective.

8. Vic Barrett is a 23-year-old climate justice activist. After his home in New York was flooded by Hurricane Sandy, he felt inspired to take action against climate change. Vic and 20 other young people decided to sue the U.S. government for its role in the climate crisis by supporting the fossil fuel industry. The ongoing case, Juliana v. United States, is based on the belief that a safe and livable climate is a constitutional right. Follow Vic on Twitter @vict_barrett or Instagram @vicbarrett_.

9. Last but not least, our very own Adam Powers! Adam is our Culture & Engagement Manager here at CleanChoice Energy. They are the author of the Climate ChangeIsms poetry newsletter, a trained Climate Reality Leader with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, and the official CleanChoice Energy Poet Laureate! You can find them on Twitter @apowersb.

At CleanChoice Energy, we envision a world free of catastrophic climate change for all. We are grateful for these 9 activists and so many more who are working alongside us to make that vision a reality. 

Interested in learning more? Check out this blog post about the intersections of the LGBTQ+ community and the environmental movement, listen to this podcast about the unique vulnerabilities of the LGBTQ+ community in disaster relief, or learn more from organizations such as Out for Sustainability or Out in Energy. 

P.S. We love how the U.S. Department of Energy celebrated Pride Month with a flag-raising ceremony last year:

“We will raise this flag every June this administration to celebrate all who see themselves in it, to proclaim our commitment to equality and inclusion, and to acknowledge the work still ahead” –Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Department of Energy 2022 Pride Flag-Raising Ceremony