Saoirse Exton
Saoirse became involved in the global climate justice movement in 2019, by founding her local branch of Fridays for Future and joining the weekly strikes. She organised and led demonstrations in her city, and engaged directly with local and national decision-makers to ensure adequate climate policy.
In 2020, Saoirse was elected as Equality Officer of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union, where she brought the needs and wants of young people to the National government. She also created the union's Accessibility Guidelines and advised the governmental committee on gender equality.
Saoirse is one of 14 young people on C40's Global Youth and Mayors’ Forum – an intergenerational panel between youth activists and the mayors of the world’s megacities – and was selected as one of only 100 people globally to join the inaugural cohort of the Rise programme. Her project centred around researching and rewriting Ancient Irish mythology from the feminist perspective.
One action Saoirse would like everyone to take:
“Call your decision-makers. Ensure they don’t forget that the climate crisis is something on the agenda, regardless of whether we are entering into an election year or not. Remind them that we are still angry, that the planet is still dying and that we are running out of time.”