Xiye Bastida
General Coordinator
Xiye Bastida is a 21 year old Mexican climate justice activist. She is part of the Otomi-Toltec Indigenous community, located in the highlands of Central Mexico. In April of 2020, she convened and co-founded Re-Earth Initiative to highlight frontline communities and advocate for solution-oriented efforts.
Xiye has been a leader in the youth climate movement since she started organizing climate strikes and protests in 2019. In September of that year, she co-organized a 300,000 person climate strike in New York. In 2021 she spoke at the Biden Climate Summit in front of 40 heads of state, and later that year she closed the World Leaders Summit at COP26. Xiye wants to bridge the gap of policy, youth inclusion, and funding, to empower the movement. Xiye was named Ambassador to the United Nations High Level Champions in 2021. She is also a commissioner in the Climate Governance Commission alongside Maria Fernanda Espinoza, Johan Rockstrom, and Mary Robinson. Xiye serves as a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Champion. She authored the first chapter of the All We Can Save Anthology.
Currently, she is the Executive Producer in an upcoming documentary. She is the recipient of the 2018 United Nations Spirit Award, and was named ELLE Woman of the Year in 2023.
Xiye is also an undergraduate student at UPenn, and studies Environmental Studies with a Concentration in Policy. She has a minor in Latin American Studies. At UPenn, she is involved with Fossil Free Penn.
«I was raised with a philosophy of reciprocity.»
I was raised with a philosophy of reciprocity. Of taking care of Mother Earth because Mother Earth takes care of us. To this day my parents are still fighting for their communities which was very inspiring for me. In 2015, my hometown suffered from flooding and that moment showed me that the threat isn’t decades away. It’s here.
We have to step up and fight for our futures. Our collective presence is so important. The only way we will mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis is by changing our culture to one of climate consciousness.