How Gen Z Is Rewriting the Climate Playbook

Today, Matt Matern speaks with Amelia Southern-Uribe, Director of Global Organizing at Zero Hour, about building youth-led climate power in the American South. Amelia shares how frontline communities shaped their activism and how organizing, storytelling, and coalition-building drive change. Chapters 00:00 Growing Up on the Frontlines 01:50 Deepwater Horizon and Finding Climate Justice 06:11 Building Youth Power in Arkansas 10:07 Organizing Under a Changing Federal Agenda 14:10 Local Action and Fossil Fuel Subsidies 16:10 Water Pollution and Corporate Accountability 23:11 Community Wins and People Power 30:11 Why This Is a Marathon Not a Sprint 32:08 What You Can Do Right Now 34:55 The Power of Storytelling in Climate Movements 37:06 Wildfires and Humanizing Climate Loss 41:26 How Youth Movements Shape the Future Read more about Zero Hour: https://thisiszerohour.org Follow Zero Hour on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisiszerohour Want to boast to your friends about trees named after you? Help us plant 30k trees? Only a few trees left! Visit aclimatechange.com/trees to learn more Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Amelia’s Bio: Amelia Southern-Uribe is a climate justice strategist and Director of Global Organizing at Zero Hour. Based in the American South, they build youth-led movements, advance environmental justice campaigns, and use storytelling to empower frontline communities and drive equitable climate policy change. Episode Resources Read more about Zero Hour: https://thisiszerohour.org Follow Zero Hour on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisiszerohour Matt Matern on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ACClinkedin A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids