As many of you know, Huda Organics has joined the Show the Love campaign. This campaign is organised by The Climate Coalition. Show the Love runs through the month of February and is focused on showing decision-makers that real and urgent climate change policies need to be introduced NOW!
The Show the Love campaign encourages all participants to use the power of green hearts to express their own personal pledges, requests, and demands for climate action. One of the main tenets of Huda Organics is sustainability. For this reason, we are encouraging our customers to share their requests, concerns, and demands for climate action using the hashtag #qasilhearts. We will collect all of your comments and submit them on your behalf to local MPs. Your voice matters! Let it be heard!
In the spirit of this campaign, we have been showcasing notable climate activists and organisations on our social media.
A brilliant organisation we would like to introduce you to goes by the name of Climate Cardinals.
Climate Cardinals is a grassroots, youth-led non-profit dedicated to making accurate and up-to-date information about climate change accessible to those who do not speak English. The idea for Climate Cardinals was conceived by Sophia Kianni, after a trip to her parents’ native country of Iran when she was in middle school. During that trip, Kianni was shocked at the extent of Iran’s pollution. Kianni began to research the issue of climate change in the Middle East and was startled when she discovered that the region’s temperature was rising at twice the global average. When Kianni attempted to express these concerns to her Iranian relatives, she found their knowledge of climate change was limited. Compelled by a sense of urgency, Kianni began translating information about climate change into Farsi so that she could share it with her extended family. As Kianni’s relatives became more knowledgeable about climate change and its effects through her translations, the more they used this newfound information to inform their day-to-day choices. In fact, Kianni’s relatives not only began limiting their use of cars, but also began shopping more sustainably.
Although Kianni’s impact was initially limited in scope to her family, the experience made her question whether other young people had encountered the same problem as she had. Given the size of the world’s population, she concluded that it was impossible to answer that question with a decisive ‘no.’ The truth is that there is a lack of scientific literature written in any other language besides English. In particular, there is a complete vacuum of information in the native tongues of the countries that are the most vulnerable to climate change. One of these countries is Somalia, which is fraught with drought, floods, and the death of livestock.
The absence of translated information is twofold in its significance. It hinders the ability of an affected community to comprehend and adequately respond to environmental events such as natural disasters. It also makes under-informed communities vulnerable to exploitation. This exploitation can manifest in myriad ways. For example, a community may lack the wherewithal to resist the construction of a nearby waste site that promises more economic prospects, or to question the over-mining of natural resources. Most importantly, however, it means that communities are less inclined to hold their leaders accountable for selling off resources to large multinational corporations at the expense of their own citizens. By arming people with knowledge, you empower them to make more informed decisions and demand that their leaders enact more substantive climate reforms.
With this in mind, Kianni began to enlist other young people to translate scientific content from English into other languages. The organisation now boasts over 6000 volunteers worldwide. This has sparked an international movement spanning 41 countries, with volunteers sourcing and translating content into over 100 languages and dialects. In an effort to recruit more volunteers, the organisation began allowing student translators to log community service hours and now facilitates a language mentorship scheme. Some Climate Cardinals members have been designated the title of Language Leads. Language Leads are those with a native or advanced understanding of a language who assist students learning a new language with their translations. Language Leads supervise, correct, and proofread the work of these novice or intermediate language-learners. This gives student volunteers real-life translation experience while improving their language comprehension and grammar.
For more information, please visit the Climate Cardinals website: https://www.climatecardinals.org/
