XIYE BASTIDA'S BEAUTY OF BECOMING FILM TRANSCRIPT

XIYE BASTIDA: Hello, my name is Xiye Bastida. The way which I got into climate activism has been a really long journey for me. I grew up in a community that’s Otomi-Toltec which is an indigenous community in Mexico and that meant that I grew up with a philosophy of reciprocity, a philosophy of, we take care of Mother Earth because Mother Earth takes care of us. I think that a lot of people don’t see how the climate crisis is a race issue and an issue that affects frontline communities all over the world the most. People marginalized communities, people of color are basically targeted because they are seen as having the least political power to speak up against these companies. And I see that also in my own hometown in Mexico where companies just think that they can come in with money and buy off our land. That results in factories coming in, waste facilities coming in, and our waterways are ultimately polluted, contained, and the livelihoods of people are diminished. I decided that I needed to become more aware and a turning point really was when my hometown flooded in 2015.

Watch Xiye's Beauty of Becoming video below.