{"id":34305,"date":"2021-04-22T11:17:13","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T18:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=34305"},"modified":"2021-04-22T11:17:13","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T18:17:13","slug":"secretary-antony-j-blinken-introductory-remarks-for-youth-speaker-xiye-bastida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=34305","title":{"rendered":"Secretary Antony J. Blinken Introductory Remarks for Youth Speaker Xiye Bastida"},"content":{"rendered":"
04\/22\/2021 12:14 PM EDT<\/div>\n
\n

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State<\/p>\n

Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

The White House<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/strong>\u00a0 Mr. President, thank you very much.\u00a0 And now it\u2019s a true pleasure and honor to introduce another leader: climate activist Xiye Bastida.<\/p>\n

Xiye grew up in the town of San Pedro Tultepec, in Mexico.\u00a0 She\u2019s a member of the Otomi-Toltec Nation.\u00a0 She\u2019s experienced first-hand the devastating impact of climate crisis.<\/p>\n

When she was just 11 years old, her town was hit by back-to-back years of climate-driven drought.\u00a0 Then the intense rains came.\u00a0 And then the floods.\u00a0 Her family was displaced, and she and her parents relocated to the United States, to New York.<\/p>\n

These dramatic swings in extreme weather are just one of the consequences of the climate crisis we\u2019re already experiencing across the world, including here in the United States, where, at the same time as Xiye\u2019s town was experiencing droughts and floods, the American Southwest was in the middle of the worst drought since the 16th century.<\/p>\n

After relocating to New York, Xiye came face to face with another impact of the climate crisis in the lasting damage left by Superstorm Sandy.\u00a0 Wherever she went, she saw how changes driven by climate were hurting communities.<\/p>\n

So Xiye joined the Fridays for the Future movement and was one of the young activists who led their fellow students and people of all ages to strike in order to wake up the world to the impacts of the climate emergency and to call on leaders like us to take action, before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

In the time since, she has given much of herself the climate justice effort.\u00a0 She mobilized 600 students from her school to join the March 2019 climate strike; she led a push for legislative change in her city and state; she launched a youth activism training program; she addressed the United Nations.<\/p>\n

For Xiye, this isn\u2019t a hobby; it\u2019s a way of life.<\/p>\n

Xiye is part of a rising generation of leaders who are pushing us to make the necessary changes that we have put off for too long.\u00a0 She and her fellow young leaders have earned a seat at the table, not just because they will bear more of the consequences of climate change, or the world\u2019s inaction on climate, but also because of the urgency, ingenuity, and total dedication that they have brought to this effort.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve asked a lot of our young people; they\u2019re delivering.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s time we ask more of ourselves.<\/p>\n

Xiye comes from a line of environmental activists.\u00a0 Her grandparents fought for decades to protect her indigenous nation\u2019s sacred lands in Mexico.\u00a0 Her parents were environmental advocates, too.\u00a0 Something Xiye\u2019s father told her continues to guide her activism to this day, and I quote: \u201cLeave everything better than you found it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also our responsibility.\u00a0 It\u2019s what this summit is all about, and it\u2019s the underlying purpose behind all that we must do \u2013 in this crucial year, in this decisive decade.<\/p>\n

If we act together, we can turn the need to reduce our emissions and adapt our communities into once-in-generations opportunity \u2013 to improve the lives of our people and build more just, equitable, and sustainable societies.<\/p>\n

Xiye, thank you.\u00a0 Thank you for all you\u2019ve done to leave everything better than you found it.\u00a0 We\u2019re humbled and inspired by your service, and now we look forward to hearing from you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

04\/22\/2021 12:14 PM EDT Antony J....<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34306,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34305\/revisions\/34306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}