Promoting Equity and Inclusion in the Environmental Movement with Amara Ifeji

Amara Ifeji is a freshman at Northeastern University pursuing a B.S in Politics, Philosophy, & Economics with a concentration in Environment and Energy Policy. In high school, her lack of environmental education prompted her to self-seek such learning opportunities through leading her school’s student-driven water quality management team for BIPOC, female-identifying, and lower-income students, co-organizing school-wide climate education learning initiatives, and conducting internationally-awarded environmental research. At the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA), Amara advocates for intersectional climate justice solutions, equitable access to the outdoors, and empowering youth to spark change in their local communities through MEEA’s Changemakers and JustME for a JustUS youth networks. She also works with the Nature-Based Education Consortium (NBEC) on local and state-level policy advocacy through NBEC’s Climate Education and Local Outdoor Learning Advocacy working groups, Steering Committee, and co-chair of the NBEC Communications Working Group. For her work in promoting environmental education, she was awarded the Global North American Environmental Education 30 Under 30 International Award—one of only six people under 30 in the USA–and the National Geographic Young Explorer Award–one of 24 youth in the world.