Hannah McKinnon, from Canada, is a UWC Pearson College alum (2000-2002). She is Senior Campaigner at Oil Change International, an organisation that combats climate change by pressuring governments to reduce the impact of fossil fuels on the environment. Here is the passionate letter she shared with us about her work and her UWC experience.

“Climate change is something that I believe impacts every major global challenge we face. It exacerbates conflicts and poverty, drives geopolitical tensions, and threatens to undermine our collective ability to make the world a better, safer, more peaceful place for everyone.

But it is also an incredible opportunity to work together and collaborate in unprecedented ways to build a future that we can all be proud of. Climate change requires a massive shared commitment to weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels and ramping up our use of clean, safe, and renewable energy.

I have been working on climate change for over a decade after seeing the impacts first hand on vulnerable populations in regions that had next to nothing to do with causing the problem in the first place. It became clear that this is an issue of human rights and justice, and that rich countries like my own (Canada) needed to step up and lead.

In my current job with Oil Change International, we work to pressure governments to scale down their production of fossil fuels and fossil fuel infrastructure and end subsidies to big oil, coal, and gas. We do this in large part by using data - the same data industry and government use - to empower people and movements. We crunch the numbers and show why the economics of expanding fossil fuel projects don’t work in a world tackling climate change, and how dangerous public subsidies are when countries are trying to transition towards zero carbon energies (444 billion USD per year among G20 countries goes towards fossil fuel production by our estimates).

My UWC experience, as a Pearson grad (year 27), and living on campus at Robert Bosch UWC where my husband teaches, makes my work all that much more personal. It is the stories from current students, or my co-years that are especially powerful: Stories about cultures being lost as islands and regions disappear or are redefined; livelihoods crumbling under drought, floods, and other climate-driven disasters; and conflicts propelled by both dwindling natural resources or pressure for continued fossil fuel production.

If we are serious about wanting a safe and peaceful world today, as well as for our children and grandchildren, we have to confront climate change head on. We have to put an end to our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels in the coming decades, and shift in the fairest way possible to energy that isn’t going to take the planet down with it.

I believe UWCs can and should play a central role. We can divest money that supports the movement from fossil fuels, we can ensure our own campuses become truly zero carbon, we can challenge ourselves to live more sustainable lives, and we can all become more engaged in demanding more from our governments.

Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing humanity today. It will take the kind of commitment, creativity, and drive that UWC students are so known for to make the change we need to see”.