Season 2, Episode 23: Kiké

Meet 11-year-old Kiké, who discusses organizing climate rallies, their personal tactics for mitigating climate anxiety, and the importance of collective action. Kiké also shares efforts in tree planting and their upcoming climate strike event. 

00:00 Introduction to Climate Action Figures

00:28 QuickFix: Compostable Dog Poop Bags

01:04 Meet Kiké: Young Climate Activist

01:41 Organizing a Climate Rally

02:48 Challenges and Successes of Protesting

04:57 Kiké's Personal Climate Actions

05:30 Addressing Climate Anxiety

11:08 Future Plans and Hopes

14:52 Conclusion and Call to Action

https://www.envirocollective.ca/

https://ecostresssask.ca/

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Transcript

Kiké 0:00

Hi, my name is Kiké and you're tutoring into Climate Action Figures.

John 0:13

Well, hello and welcome to another fascinating edition of Climate Action Figures. My name is John Whidden, and this week on the show you get to meet Kiké. But first, this week's QuickFix, which comes to us, are you ready for this? From Finnegan, the 4-year-old shorkie from Red Deer Finnegan, who apparently speaks English says, ask your person to use compostable dog poop bags to pick up. You know what? When you're out enjoying parks in nature, please clean up other people's garbage. If you don't want a curious dog like me to eat it. Well, that was very interesting. Thank you very much Finnegan and Finnegan's owner for sending that in. Welcome, Kiké, what do you think about that? QuickFix?

Kiké 1:07

I really like that. I heard that in Toronto they can actually use dogs poop for energy.

John 1:15

Is that right? How do they do that?

Kiké 1:17

Um, biofuel.

John 1:19

Very interesting. Now, Kiké one of our audience members and friends, Claire, who is with For Our Kids. Look that one up. By the way. It's such a great organization. Claire sent us a news article from Saskatchewan entitled, no one is Listening, children Hold Climate Rally Outside Legislature. So Kiké, you were named as the organizer. What inspired you to assemble a bunch of kids outside the legislature?

Kiké 1:45

Because my climate anxiety had been fairly bad and that Friday there was a PD day, and since quite a few kids would be off of school I decided to organize a strike or a rally at the legislature. That's our legislature building I'm really proud of it.

John 2:05

And Kiké, have you organized a protest before this?

Kiké 2:08

So I have protested before, but I haven't organized a protest. That was my first,

John 2:14

how many people actually, uh, showed up for the protest.

Kiké 2:17

About 15.

John 2:18

Wow. And while you were there protesting what kind of feedback did you get from people who just happened to wander by?

Kiké 2:25

So lots of people honked their horns when we walked by, which is really nice. And quite a few people said, good job, climate change is like an important problem and they're glad that I'm doing this.

John 2:37

Oh, that's wonderful to hear. Uh, and Saskatchewan, sometimes we wonder if the government is listening about climate change, but it's people like you who maybe have their ears perk up a little bit. And now Kiké organizing a protest like this cannot be super easy. What was the trickiest part of making it happen?

Kiké 2:56

Probably to get it spread around since I don't have social media. it was hard to get lots of people there, but some of my friends who also are concerned about climate change have really helped me spread the word about a bit.

John 3:10

What did you find was the most effective way of spreading that news?

Kiké 3:13

I think that places where people converge about climate change on the internet because lots of people will be aware and ready to attend something like that, there.

John 3:22

now media quoted you as having said, we can stop this, but only if we work together. And I hope now that we can change the world and this time for the better. Kiké, what do you imagine working together might look like?

Kiké 3:36

I don't want this to be like like a political thing, like left or right. I want all the people to work together to recognize this as a real crisis because it hasn't really been recognized as a crisis before. I.

John 3:49

I, I have to pause here and ask how old you are Kiké.

Kiké 3:52

I'm 11 years old

John 3:54

11 years old. And you're talking about not making this a political issue and not having left or right. That's amazing. Why is that important?

Kiké 4:02

because if it's a political issue, everything moves so slowly and we don't have a lot of time to try to change this, and it needs to be like humans of the earth, united against this problem that will threaten us all.

John 4:21

That sounds like a great slogan. Humans of the Earth, United. Excellent. Now, Kiké, you brought together 15 people at a protest, and many of them made inspiring comments in the article that I read, the article that then made it to one of our audience members and then to us, how does it feel for you to have been the brains behind that operation? And then to see that kind of publicity and those kinds of comments go out publicly?

Kiké 4:46

It made me feel really good. I didn't expect that there would be any news on that. And I feel really proud to have organized it and yeah.

John 4:57

now. Kiké, let's talk a little bit more about you. You are a runner. How did that get started?

Kiké 5:02

just'cause I have like, I'm really. Strong mental state and I'm able to will myself to just keep going when I'm even really, really tired.

John 5:12

So it's long distance running, I'm

Kiké 5:14

Yes, definitely. I'm terrible at sprinting.

John 5:16

What kind of, what kind of distances do you like to run?

Kiké 5:19

As far as I can, my parents won't let me run farther than 5K, but now that they're letting me run 10,

John 5:24

That's pretty impressive for a young person of your age, so congratulations on that. Earlier you mentioned that uh, your climate anxiety was fairly high. I'm curious to know what you feel are the biggest contributors to your climate Anxiety.

Kiké 5:40

Just being able to see like the signs of it in your everyday life and knowing that almost anything you do will contribute to it. It's hard because you have to balance still enjoying yourself and making sure, like you don't get in to the major consumerism culture.

John 6:04

Right. It is a tricky line to walk for sure. What, what are the things that you've done that you feel are making a little difference in terms of, mitigating that?

Kiké 6:12

I don't eat meat because I just feel like it gives me so much guilt. I reuse plastic bags because I don't know why everyone always throws them out. I. And I com We, our family has a compost, which I feel like is really great.

John 6:30

The meat thing is interesting because a lot of people don't realize how much food could be grown on the same space of land that it takes to raise, let's say, a cow, right?

Kiké 6:39

all the food that we use to feed animals for meat, if we use that for like grain and other stuff like that, we could feed 3.5 billion more people.

John 6:51

Wow, amazing and amazing that you have those statistics at your fingertips. going back to climate anxiety for a second, I'm curious, Kiké to know if running helps you with your climate anxiety. I.

Kiké 7:03

Oh, definitely. It's one of the only things that I feel like I can use to just get away. it makes me like free, I don't know.

John 7:11

Kiké, I'm told that you love nature, but particularly birds, trees, and mushrooms. What is special about mushrooms as part of the natural environment?

Kiké 7:20

Well, they're like these magical creatures of the woods and they're like the decomposers of literally everything. They store carbon underground even more so than trees, and they're the only things that can decompose trees' wood, which if they didn't exist, plants wouldn't come onto land and then neither would animals and thus us.

John 7:45

magical creatures of the woods. I feel like they should have had a bigger part in Lord of the Rings now somehow. Now, Kiké, what got you interested in climate change?

Kiké 7:54

I remember when I was like eight. I kept seeing these books about climate change, but feel guilty when I look back on that now because I always avoided them because it felt too big and too scary to even tackle it. But then I read a book about Greta Thunberg and how she's a youth that's actually cha making change, and that was really inspiring and it actually made me want to look and see this problem as it was.

John 8:24

This podcast's roots are in climate anxiety. It was a bunch of research I did as a teacher that told me, yeah, young people are really feeling climate anxiety these days, so that's why I thought this would be a good idea to put out the good word about what young people are doing, so it can give us a little hope. What other things are really important to you in terms of, helping with climate anxiety in our youth these days?

Kiké 8:52

I think that really like just talking about it and not like trying to hide it. Because last summer I felt like I was embarrassed and I had so bad climate anxiety that sometimes I couldn't eat. Then I did something I probably shouldn't have. I did a strike without telling my parents it wasn't good, but it made me feel better, and it made me like learn that like hiding climate anxiety is just gonna make it worse.

John 9:21

So you did a, a strike without your parents' knowledge,

Kiké 9:25

Yeah, I made a sign. I made little leaflets, but I made sure to keep it and they didn't know, and they, it was really scary for them.

John 9:34

You had some big talks about this. I bet.

Kiké 9:36

Mm-hmm. We did

John 9:38

But it gave you some power somehow.

Kiké 9:40

Yeah. It felt like it gave me power and it was something against climate anxiety because nothing else would work.

John 9:48

So tell us a little bit about the chat you had with your parents after that. What, what did you take away from that?

Kiké 9:54

That it's probably not the right thing to just like go by yourself but

John 10:00

your age.

Kiké 10:01

just because it might get a few people to like hear and listen, but. If you organize something that's not just you, then it's got a bigger effect. And then you can also help other people who are dealing with climate anxiety to like take action.'cause action is the best. it's the best thing that it's the best. Antidote

John 10:23

So you say Kiké, don't, uh, just act on your own. See if you can involve other people and work with other people. I wonder if there are some local organizations that you love that you'd like to give a shout out to here.

Kiké 10:35

I really like EnviroCollective YQR. It's like an environmental discussion site. And like to help connect and spread the word about climate related things. And I also really like EcoStress Sask. It's where I met my good friend Amy.

John 10:51

And I'll jump in there for a second because I don't know, you probably don't realize that last season on the podcast here, we interviewed Katherine from EcoStress Sask.

Kiké 11:00

Oh really?

John 11:00

a very cool connection between you two.

Kiké 11:03

That's great.

John 11:05

Now, uh, what is next for Kiké

Kiké 11:08

I have a petition to pressure our Saskatchewan government into taking action on climate change. I've got like a few hundred signatures and at this rate, um, if I get enough signatures, then it'll be presented at question period, by Jared Clark, the NDP Minister of the environment, the shadow minister of the environment. Then. And I wanna contact media in advance, make it like an event to spread awareness about climate change. And I hope that I might get a chance to talk to the minister of the environment for the Sask Party about like actual change because they haven't been doing much really.

John 11:46

That sounds fascinating, and are you hoping to actually be in the gallery to watch that happen in the legislature?

Kiké 11:54

Yeah. That's what I plan to, and then like talk to the mission environment afterwards. Mm-hmm. That'd be great.

John 11:59

That will be very cool. We'll watch out for that for sure. Now, before we wrap up today, we need to definitely hear about your climate action. I mean, you've given us so many already. You could just say I've listed them all, but is there something else you had picked for your climate action today?

Kiké 12:13

Mm-hmm. Uh, I'm organizing a strike in May, um, on the PD day then, so that more kids will be outta school. And I want it to be a fairly large event just to show that there are lots of people in Saskatchewan who are concerned about this, because you probably didn't know, but before COVID-19, there were strikes of over a thousand people in Regina

John 12:38

Wow. I didn't hear that there were over a thousand people. That's amazing. So you're hoping to get up to those kind of numbers.

Kiké 12:44

Mm. Maybe not quite that yet, but like I'm hoping for like maybe a hundred.

John 12:48

Well, that will be wonderful to gather people together for your, uh, your climate strike and you're doing it on a PD day, so it does as little as possible to disrupt actual classes. Is that right?

Kiké 12:59

And also some more people might attend.

John 13:02

Yeah. Right. So if, uh, to our listeners, if you are someone you know is in Saskatchewan, please let them know that they should keep their eyes and ears open for more information about the PD day on which date.

Kiké 13:15

May 16th.

John 13:16

On May 16th, keep your eyes open for that and uh, see if you can get involved. And it's just gonna be in Regina, is that right?

Kiké 13:23

Mm-hmm. It's gonna be in Regina at the legislature.

John 13:26

Very interesting. We will definitely be watching out for that. Last question for you, Kiké. What gives you hope?

Kiké 13:33

I really like the tree saplings that I've been growing, like bringing new life is and trees into the world.

John 13:40

Uh, do you have some of those around your house or where, where are you growing them?

Kiké 13:44

Um, in the window right above me, these are

John 13:46

magic hand is passing you the saplings as we speak.

Kiké 13:49

Yeah. Uh,

John 13:50

you. Magic hand.

Kiké 13:51

this is an el tree. And this is a birch tree.

John 13:54

Okay. And so you're, uh, just rooting those in your window sills, and then you're going to plant them in the spring, is that right?

Kiké 14:00

Mm-hmm. In the Cathedral Village Forest program. Also in Regina. Yeah.

John 14:05

That sounds like something maybe needs another few words. Uh, some people should go visit this. What is it exactly?

Kiké 14:10

Okay. So it's like planting a little baby forest in. In the park, in cathedral. We're gonna have like tree planting soon, also in May. And yeah, I think it's real, a really great thing.

John 14:24

Well, that sounds wonderful, and, Kiké The way you. speak is so eloquent. I cannot wait to see what you do with your life. I think it's gonna be amazing. I'm glad you have not allowed climate anxiety to to quash your, uh, your spirit. And I thank you so much for joining us today.

Kiké 14:44

Thank you so much and I'm excited to keep making change.

John 14:49

We're very happy to hear that, and thank you. Dear listener, if you enjoyed this episode, how could you not enjoy this episode? Please share it with a friend, relative or even a foe, because surely it will give them hope. We will be back again next week, same time, same place to hear from another climate action figure. Until then,

Kiké 15:08

Go figures!