17yr old climate justice activist Xiye Bastida saw her home town in Mexico devastated by drought and floods. She has experienced the reality of climate change, and is committed to amplifying the indigenous cosmology that “you take care of the earth because the earth takes care of you.”
Xiye's climate work is a return to her Otomí origins and she shares this approach in the hope it will appeal to others.
“People say the climate movement started decades ago, but I see it as indigenous people protecting Earth thousands of years ago. We need to bring [this philosophy] back and weave it into today’s society. People are not here to take over life, but to take care of it. It shouldn’t be ‘we the people.’ It should be ‘we the planet.”
“Earth is our home. It gives you air, water and shelter. Everything we need. All it asks is that we protect it.”
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Alison Sudol & Jessica Sweidan
DIRECTOR : Geneva Peschka
CAMERA : Safiyah Smith
EDITOR : Arius Reynoso
MUSIC & SOUND MIX : Jonathan Seale
ADDITIONAL POST: Kristie Ferriso