Biography: Srijaa Chatterjee is a third year English Honours student at the University of British Columbia, with a focus on literature, and a minor in Creative Writing. Her writing experience is extensive and varied — from interning at Bloomsbury Publishing House to becoming a staff writer for the Ubyssey, Srijaa strives to explore different realms of writing, recently expanding into the field of food and nutrition writing as a writer for Campus Nutrition. Participating in the Climate Storytelling Fellowship is an opportunity to branch out in a meaningful way, learning from a group of diverse and knowledgeable individuals that has a positive impact on the world.

Biography: Esmé Decker (any pronouns) is a 4th year student in Honours English Literature & Language, with a minor in Environment and Society. For 3 years they worked with the UBC Climate Hub on their Youth Climate Ambassadors Project, training student facilitators and delivering climate storytelling workshops in elementary/secondary school classrooms and community programs to foster hope and motivation for climate action, and have continued workshop consultation work with Be The Change Earth Alliance’s educational resources. Their studies have led to courses on environmentalism through the lenses of history, sociology, geography, and political science, as well as courses in the UBC English Department on ecocriticism, climate fiction, and mapping romantic literature’s influence on Vancouver’s environment and colonial history. This summer, along with contributing to this fellowship they will be participating in a graduate seminar on coastal studies and literature. Esmé plans to be a high school English teacher to foster communication, critical thinking, and storytelling skills for future generations in order to help fight the crises of our present and future.

Biography: Tova is a geography student, researcher, and journalist at UBC, living in Vancouver, BC, on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh land. She’s the science editor at The Ubyssey, UBC’s campus newspaper, where she focuses on climate and public health communication (and sometimes writes jokes). She has also assisted with research at the UBC Centre for Climate Justice and the University of Miami Climate Accountability Lab. She loves biking, live music, and writing with her friends.

Biography: Hello! I’m a final-year student studying Global Resource Systems in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems with a specialization in Sustainability & Social Impact. As someone who works for UBC Campus and Community Planning supporting staff and faculty in embedding more sustainable best practices into their workplace, along with co-leading the COP29 Project Team for an NGO called ClimaTalk, I see immeasurable value in the power of impactful communication. This is what propelled me to join the Climate Hope Storytelling Fellowship – to continue building capacity in connecting with diverse individuals working towards climate action while documenting the journey!

Biography: Bashar, a climate activist born and raised in Bangladesh, harbors a global vision. Trained as an economist, he finds his true calling in storytelling, adopting an approach marked by deep listening before engaging in dialogue. His expertise lies in integrating design thinking into system crafting, and he possesses a unique talent for transforming numerical data into compelling narratives. Additionally, Bashar dabbles in filmmaking. His focus is on transforming bold ideas into tangible realities, leveraging a blend of technology, innovation, and a sprinkle of creativity. In a rapidly evolving world, he views education as our most potent tool to foster empathy. For Bashar, it’s about igniting conversations, disseminating knowledge, and forging connections, because he believes every story holds the potential to shape our future. At UBC, he is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in International Economics with a Certificate in Climate Studies and Action under the Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow Award, going into his 4th and final year.

Biography: Luiza Salek is a senior International Scholar at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Luiza grew up in the traditional lands of the Tupi-guarani-speaking peoples and has a history of involvement in climate work with frontline communities in the Brazilian Amazon. Her studies are centered at the intersection of Indigenous Climate Change Studies and Critical Education. Luiza serves as a community-based Research Associate at the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty (WGIFS) supporting a project that explores a trauma-informed approach to community well-being amidst a pandemic.
Her inroads and Latin America have strengthened her commitment to transnational solidarities across the Global North and South with a focus on bridgework and communities of care. She hopes to continue amplifying diverse climate stories and key voices around rebuilding relationships with the Land.
Luiza serves as a Research Associate at the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty (WGIFS supporting the project “Indigenous Food Sovereignty Community Wellbeing amidst a Pandemic,” activating Cwelcwelt Kuc – “We are Well.”, which explores a trauma-informed approach to community wellbeing amidst a pandemic, centering Secwepemc food sovereignty in Secwepemcul’ecw.

Contact: cstamp97@student.ubc.ca

Biography: I am graduating this May with an Honours degree in anthropology. As a future graduate student, I will research the sustainable tradition of migratory beekeeping in Greece, focusing on the challenges beekeepers are facing due to climate change. I am participating in this fellowship because I am passionate about ethnographic interviews and motivated to help make climate change issues tangible and actionable. With a commitment to environmental advocacy and upholding the principles of climate justice, I want to inspire positive change and leave a meaningful impact.

Biography: Charlotte Taylor (she/her) works and studies at the Vancouver campus of the University of British Columbia, situated on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) homelands.
Charlotte is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a thematic focus on ‘climate change in media’ at UBC. In this capacity, she has engaged in critical research on change-making imaginaries, climate writing, and Indigenous peoples and climate change.
As Climate Justice Study Collective Coordinator at UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice, she supports general programming operations and coordinates essential communications for the Climate Justice Study Collective program. Beyond her work at UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice, Charlotte acts as an Undergraduate Academic Assistant for Dr. Pasang Sherpa. In this capacity, she provides administrative and communications support for the Knowledge Justice Collective project and coordinates event logistics, promotion, and communications for the Indigenous Asia Online Speaker Series. She also serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief for the UBC Journal for Climate Justice.
Charlotte is an engaged storyteller and organizer; she has actively supported initiatives to advance climate justice principles via many collaborative, community-led projects and initiatives at UBC and beyond.

Biography: I am a Linguistics major at UBC with an interest in language revitalization. Indigenous peoples have a far deeper understanding of the planet and our relationships with it than Western culture, and that knowledge is encoded in their languages. I believe that through successful Indigenous Language Revitalization and deference to and uplifting of Indigenous voices, we can achieve a new balance with our planet and justice for those harmed by climate change. I have led walkouts and strikes throughout high school, and I am very enthusiastic to make a difference on a wider scale.

Biography: Sherry is a 5th year student at the University of British Columbia, majoring in English and Political Science. Born in Vancouver, BC, and raised for a year in Kunming, China, the geopolitics of these places have greatly influenced how she understands climate change and justice. Sherry became interested in climate writing with the intersectional nature of her degree — much of her research is through an explorative framework analyzing the relationship between climate justice and decolonialism. Beyond academia, in her spare time, Sherry enjoys travelling, urban sketching, reading, and taking her dog to the local park.

Biography: Meet Ihomehe Agbebaku, a passionate environmental activist from Nigeria. She’s deeply involved in various initiatives to combat climate change and promote sustainability in her community. From organizing local clean-up campaigns to leading recycling drives, she’s dedicated to protecting the environment.
Drawing from her experience in the renewable energy sector, she empowers communities with access to clean, off-grid energy solutions. Alongside her practical work, she’s pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, using her talent to craft narratives that inspire sustainability and drive impactful change.

Biography: Kim Grogan is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language & Literatures at UBC. Her research is grounded in the field of cognitive linguistics and examines metaphor in public discourse. She looks at linguistic and multimodal (image-text) communication, with an eye towards the ways in which ideology impacts what types of metaphors are deployed. Her focus is primarily on metaphor use in relation to climate change in news media, environmental campaigns, and the literary arts.

Biography: Andrea works as a PhD student at the University of British Columbia at the School of Information. Her research explores information-sharing of artist-researchers. She is interested in learning about how artist-researchers perceive and engage with research-creation—an approach that brings together creative and academic research practices—to generate knowledge, negotiate academia, and conceptualize expertise.

Biography: Dr. Jason Davis is the Director of the Climate Stories Project. Jason is a musician, environmental educator, and leader of the environmental sound and improvisation ensemble Earthsound. He teaches music and environmental studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In fall 2022 he served as the Basler Chair at East Tennessee State University. He holds a Doctorate in music from McGill University in Montreal and has Master’s degrees in Music and Ecology. Jason was inspired to create the Climate Stories Project from listening to Different Trains by composer Steve Reich, a piece which uses recorded interviews to explore the very different experiences of people traveling by train in the US and in Europe during World War II. (Photo credit: Randy Cole)