Someone we have only discovered recently is Xiye Bastida Patrick. She is a Mexican climate activist and member of the Indigenous Otomi community. She is one of the major organizers of Fridays for Future New York City and has been a leading voice for indigenous and immigrant visibility in climate activism. 

Bastida was born in Atlacomulco, Mexico, and raised in San Pedro Tultepec. She grew up learning Indigenous philosophies with a main tenet being  ‘we all take care of the earth, because the earth takes care of us’. Her devotion to nature began with her father, who shared all of his wisdom with his daughter about the responsibility humans have to live in balance with nature and to ‘leave everything better than you found it.’ This ignited her passion for climate activism at such a young age.

Her family moved to New York City in 2015 after their hometown was hit by extreme flooding. She graduated in 2020 and went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in environmental studies.

In 2020, Xiye co-founded the Re-Earth Initiative—an international, youth-led organization devoted to magnifying the intersections of the climate crisis with other forms of injustice.

She is currently a Planetary Guardian, helping to spread Planetary Boundary science and the annual Planetary Health Checks.