NEWS FEATURES
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Youth-led climate group gets a boost from Google's philanthropic arm
4/23/2024
Google's philanthropic arm is making one of its first rounds of funding for a youth-led climate organization to Climate Cardinals.
Why it matters: The donation itself is a signal that youth-led groups are maturing and gaining in momentum, as young people grow impatient with the pace and scope of action.
Zoom in: Headed up by prominent climate activist Sophia Kianni, Climate Cardinals is focused on breaking language barriers in the climate movement. It also educates and empowers young people to tackle the climate crisis…
Climate Cardinals Plans To Double Its Science Translation Efforts With New Google Backing
4/22/2024
Climate Cardinals is a youth-led nonprofit that’s accomplished quite a bit with almost no funding: translating 2 million words in four years to make scientific literature more accessible to non-English speakers.
Earth Day 2024 marks a turning point for the group, leaders say, with $400,000 in backing from the philanthropic arm of Google.
The nonprofit plans to use the funding to expand its translation capacity from 500,000 words per year to a least 1 million and as many as 3 million words per year, says Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa, Climate Cardinals’ vice president and deputy executive director…
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Changemakers: Nonprofit Climate Cardinals aims to change the narrative on climate awareness
2/22/2024
In an era where climate change poses a global threat, there is a stark disparity in global awareness and education regarding its severity and actionable solutions. Climate Cardinals, a nonprofit venture founded by Sophia Kianni, aims at bridging language barriers in climate education.
Kianni’s journey was sparked by a visit to Iran, her parents’ homeland.
“I was struck by how awful air pollution was. I couldn’t see stars at night,” she said.
She learned about the alarming rate at which temperatures in the Middle East were rising, yet her relatives knew very little about climate change due to the scarcity of information in Farsi…
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Sophia Kianni aims to combat climate change
9/18/2023
Based in McLean, Virginia, Sophia Kianni is a transformational entrepreneur and activist studying technology and society, whose work focuses on climate change policy at Stanford. Kianni spent last year with the Stanford Climate Ventures cohort, which is related to her work to resolve the climate crisis.
“It basically walks you through building climate tech companies, and it was really fascinating how the role technology can play and accelerate climate solutions,” she says. Kianni sees herself working in the private sector intersection eventually, but now her hobbies mainly deal with adapting to the social media world. She aims to push herself and her lived experience to the forefront of the public eye…
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Sophia Kianni: Founder of a climate protection organization
9/3/2023
Sophia Kianni has a mission: She wants to educate people around the world about climate change - especially in regions that are often particularly affected and where access to information is particularly difficult. To this end, the 21-year-old founded the international youth-led nonprofit organization Climate Cardinals climate protection initiative. working to make climate education more accessible to people who don’t speak English. Over the past few years, we have grown to 15 college-aged directors and 10,000 volunteers in 80+ countries.
At IAA MOBILITY in September, she will present the initiative to the industry and explain why sharing knowledge about climate change is the first step towards taking action…
Sophia Kianni Is Spreading the Word on Climate Change, 100 Ways
8/18/2023
At 21, Sophia Kianni has already packed in more experiences than many people have in a lifetime, all with a singular goal: to help educate people around the world about climate change.
The heart of her work is Climate Cardinals, a nonprofit she founded when she was just 17 that aims to make information and research about climate change more accessible to people who don't speak English. That work led directly to her appointment in 2020 as a United Nations advisor on climate change—she's the youngest UN advisor in U.S. history—and this year to her selection for the steering committee of UNESCO's youth-led climate group, YoU-CAN…
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Sophia Kianni, 21, is taking a stand in the global fight over climate change
7/27/2023
When it comes to climate change activism, there really is no age limit to making a positive impact.
For American Iranian entrepreneur, climate activist and university student Sophia Kianni, the inspiration to dedicate herself to raising awareness on climate change was sparked by a visit to the Middle East with her family when she was 12.
“I was really struck by the fact that the air pollution in Iran was so bad I couldn’t see the stars at night,” she tells The CEO Magazine…
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‘The change in pace is crazy’: AI boosts climate information translation drive
6/6/2023
A network of young volunteers that translates climate information into dozens of languages is being boosted by new artificial intelligence tools designed by Google.
Since founding Climate Cardinals three years ago to improve global climate literacy, Sophia Kianni, 21, has built a network of 9,000 young volunteers around the world who translate reports and content into more than 100 languages, including Swahili, Hebrew, Urdu, Mandarin and Hindi…
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AI is shattering climate language barriers
6/6/2023
Over 500,000 words from climate change resources have been translated from English into dozens of languages, thanks to the combined forces of a global network of volunteers and one AI-powered model.
Why it matters: A fusion of tech and climate, ventures like these are eliminating hurdles that bar non-English speakers from engaging with the worldwide climate movement…
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Open Letter Powered By Youth. To World Leaders. #ForNature
11/8/2021
The Climate Cardinals, an international non-profit led by the youngest member of the Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate, Sophia Kianni, is working to translate climate change research and information. It will make the Manifesto and Letter available in multiple languages so that they can reach as many young people and leaders as possible and enable the effort to be the most widely distributed petition on planetary health for human wellbeing…
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The Climate Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis
8/19/21
Additional translations of the Executive Summary are available in the following languages, with thanks to Climate Cardinals: Hausa, Portuguese, Somali, Swahili, Yoruba.
The climate crisis is a child rights crisis presents the Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI), which uses data to generate new global evidence on how many children are currently exposed to climate and environmental hazards, shocks and stresses. A composite index, the CCRI brings together geographical data by analyzing 1.) exposure to climate and environmental hazards, shocks and stresses; and 2.) child vulnerability. The CCRI helps to understand and measure the likelihood of climate and environmental shocks or stresses leading to the erosion of development progress, the deepening of deprivation and/or humanitarian situations affecting children or vulnerable households and groups…
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How to Talk to Your Non-English Speaking Relatives About Climate Change
12/23/20
In 2012, researchers concluded that most scientific papers are published in English and in 2016, a University of Cambridge study found that languages are still a significant barrier to the global transfer of scientific knowledge. Even the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, one of the most renowned pieces of climate research in the world, is only officially available in 6 languages. This lack of information is especially harmful when considering that of the 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change, none are majority English-speaking. This makes the transparent communication of climate change information even more pressing; people who are being disproportionately affected must have access to necessary resources in order to learn about the disasters that are destroying their communities!…
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The Activist Translating Climate Crisis Information Across the Globe
12/18/20
Kianni said being Iranian-American, and growing up in a science-centric home, inspired her to first look at the Middle East’s climate crisis. The young activist explained how the region’s environmental needs and the population’s lack of information on climate issues are at stark odds with each other.
“There was very little information about climate change in Iran when I went in sixth grade,” Kianni said. “I saw how horrible the pollution was—I couldn’t see any stars at night—and I said, ‘Wow, the environment here is so different.’” “I really thought it was important for my relatives to know about the disastrous effects climate change was having on Iran,” she continued. “After verbally explaining it in Farsi, they started to understand how concerned I was and how concerned they and their community should be.”
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Youth band together to demands leaders take action #ForNature
9/29/20
The Climate Cardinals, an international non-profit led by the youngest member of the Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate, Sophia Kianni, is working to translate climate change research and information. It will make the Manifesto and Letter available in multiple languages so that they can reach as many young people and leaders as possible and enable the effort to be the most widely distributed petition on planetary health for human wellbeing.
“In order for youth from around the world to come together #ForNature, it is crucial for biodiversity information to be available in a plethora of different languages,” said Kianni…
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Meet Sophia Kianni, the Irani-American climate activist who is trying to change the world
9/28/20
Sophia Kianni is an Irani-American climate activist who is seriously changing the world. Her non-profit organization Climate Cardinals works to translate vital climate change educational resources into over 100 languages whilst being the youngest person to join the UN Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change.
We caught up with Sophia to learn how we can all help the battle against climate change, and how we are really being affected in the Middle East. Scary figures incoming…
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The Gen Z's Radical, Virtual Quest To Save The Planet
9/25/20
I first got into climate activism in sixth grade. My dad and I have a tradition of stargazing together. He’s super into astronomy, and we’d go out every night when I was little and he’d talk to me about the different constellations. But when I was visiting my grandmother’s house in the capital of Iran, Tehran, I went out and couldn’t see the stars because of the air quality. I thought, that’s so sad
The climate crisis is affecting the Middle East, with temperatures rising more than twice the global average. I was struck by the fact that my relatives weren’t really aware of what was happening and didn’t know about climate change. And so for the past, like, six years, I’ve been translating climate information to help educate them...
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36 Organizations Helping Solve the Climate Crisis
9/25/20
With the belief that every person has the right to basic environmental education, Climate Cardinals’ mission is to translate climate information into the native language of those who don’t speak English. With the help of over 6,000 volunteers, this youth-led organization has worked in over 40 countries globally and helped 350,000 people understand climate change…
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For the sustainable fashion movement to scale, climate informatino needs to be available in more languages
9/3/20
Now imagine that none of the information that's helped inform your current outlook was available in your language(s). It wouldn't just bar you from participating in the sustainability community or make it hard to Google the most eco-friendly place to buy your underwear. It might keep you from recognizing the urgency of climate change at all, making it hard to realize that sustainability is worth caring about in the first place
This scenario isn't imaginary to teen climate activist Sophia Kianni. As an Iranian-American who grew up visiting extended family in Iran, Kianni was surprised to realize as a kid that the things she was learning about global warming in school weren't common knowledge for some of her older relatives. This was true even though temperatures in the Middle East are rising twice as fast as the global average, making the issue particularly relevant to Kianni's family…
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For the sustainable fashion movement to scale, climate informatino needs to be available in more languages
9/3/20
Now imagine that none of the information that's helped inform your current outlook was available in your language(s). It wouldn't just bar you from participating in the sustainability community or make it hard to Google the most eco-friendly place to buy your underwear. It might keep you from recognizing the urgency of climate change at all, making it hard to realize that sustainability is worth caring about in the first place
This scenario isn't imaginary to teen climate activist Sophia Kianni. As an Iranian-American who grew up visiting extended family in Iran, Kianni was surprised to realize as a kid that the things she was learning about global warming in school weren't common knowledge for some of her older relatives. This was true even though temperatures in the Middle East are rising twice as fast as the global average, making the issue particularly relevant to Kianni's family…
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HClimate Cardinals Website Enlists Students To Translate Climate Change Information, Earn Community Service Hours
5/26/20
Sophia Kianni, who launched a Climate Cardinals website over Memorial Day weekend, just didn’t realize how much of a niche the site would be filling. In less than a day, she’s already seen more than 1,100 young people sign up to become translators. It didn’t hurt that a TikTok video posted by a friend, seeking volunteers, has been viewed more than 100,000 times. “I’m kind of freaking out,” said Kianni, 18, a high school senior and activist from Virginia who came up with the idea for the nonprofit Climate Cardinals during her time in quarantine to fight the coronavirus. “The number of signups keeps going up by the minute,” Kianni says she plans to use Google Classroom, rather than Slack, for getting volunteers on board, due to the high number of signups. Her next call after an interview with a Forbes.com contributor was with members of the United Nations communications team (the organization associated with the revered Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC)…
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The Class Of 2020 On What It’s Like To Face Down Crumbing Colleges, A Frozen Job Market, And COVID-19 Disrupting Your Entry Into Adulthood
5/22/20
Ask 18-year-old Sophia Kianni, a climate activist recently in the pages of The Washington Post, Refinery29, and Teen Vogue. Her calendar is telling: prom, high-school graduation, a part-time job as a referee, and her summer internship researching microplastics and environmental neuroscience have all but disappeared. So too have many of the climate-change speaking engagements she had scheduled at Stanford and Duke
"It was really disappointing," Kianni, who lives just outside Washington, DC, in the Virginia suburbs. "I was really excited to be able to educate such large audiences"...
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Youth Activist Uses Quarantine To Start Nonprofit That Translates Climate Change Information Form English To Other Languages
5/12/20
Sophia Kianni is 18 years old and has already accomplished quite a lot while being cooped up at home to help fight the spread of coronavirus. The Mclean, Virginia, high school senior and activist has started a nonprofit called Climate Cardinals to translate climate and environmental information into different languages. She’s still working to get a website up and running as of this writing, but has already received international attention and has more than 100 volunteers participating in the effort...
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Earth Day Has Passed. Now What?
4/30/20
During the breaks between my own Earth Day schedule and tasks, I scrolled through Instagram, where my friends were posting inspirational messages like “save the earth” and “we need to protect our home,” alongside vacation photos and travel inspiration. And then the day was over. I woke up the next morning and checked my feed, where it seemed like plenty of people went back to their usual posting habits. The message was crystal clear: Earth Day was over. So now what?
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What It’s Really Like To Be A Climate Change Activist In Quarantine
4/22/20
finally have my call with my Climate Cardinals team! Without the extra time I’ve gotten during quarantine, I wouldn’t have been able to make this project a reality. My idea for the nonprofit started after noticing a lack of accessibility in the climate movement to those who didn’t speak English. Students will receive volunteer service hours to translate climate change research and information into different languages. We spend half an hour planning the website layout and strategizing new content development. I’m most excited about the partnership I have just formed with Radio Javan, a Persian radio station with over 10 million followers on Instagram…
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Their schools and streets empty, teen climate activists find new ways to strike
4/10/20
Her inspiration came from years spent translating English-language articles on global warming into Farsi for her Iranian relatives. Almost no media outlets in Iran write about the issue, Kianni said, so her family was skeptical. Eventually, her efforts paid off, she said. Her grandmother, aunts and uncles cut their electricity usage, began using cars less often and even agreed to reduce their meat intake. “That,” Kianni said, “was a really big deal for them.” She hopes the site can help replicate her success for families worldwide. But until a few weeks ago, Kianni said, it was just a vague idea, something she planned to give more attention after graduating this spring from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria. Now, Kianni is on track to launch the page this month. She’s calling it “Climate Cardinals,” named for the state bird of Virginia, and because she hopes its information will migrate across the globe...
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Less Taco Bell, more investing: How a high school senior is learning about money while at home
4/1/20
Kianni’s been involved with climate activism since middle school, when she visited her parents’ homeland of Iran and experienced the high levels of air pollution there. For the past year, Kianni has intended to start a nonprofit offering online translations of climate change explainers, as she believes much of the content on the subject is inaccessible to the non-English-speaking world. Before classes start up again, she’ll finally dive into the passion project. “I want to finalize my logo design,” she says. “I want to finalize my website design. I want to have my launch date [and to] reach back out to organizations that I’ve been talking to about being partners so that they can promote it on their social media.” She’s also taking climate activism training and coordinating with other activists about Earth Day activities they can do safely, given social distancing guidelines…
For press inquiries, please contact info@climatecardinals.org