An Interview with the 15-Year-Old Who is Suing Obama for Not Stopping Climate Change

Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh is 15-years old. He’s also an ​“indigenous change agent” and ​“eco hip-hop artist” who serves as the youth director of Earth Guardians, which describes itself as a ​“tribe of young activists, artists and musicians from across the globe” who are ​“co-creating the future.” Tonatiuh says he was politicized at age 6, when a viewing of Leonardo DiCaprio’s climate documentary, 11^th Hour, left him ​“devastated.”

Currently in Paris for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, where 15,000 official delegates from more than 190 countries have gathered in the hope of addressing climate change, Tonatiuh made headlines yesterday when he announced that he and 21 other young people are suing the Obama administration for failing to ​“adequately protect the climate for our generation and those that follow.” Last year, In These Times spoke with Tonatiuh, who was then going by the name Xiuhtexcatl Martinez. Read that interview here.