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Dear Abuelita,

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I know I haven't been home for a while.

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You are in our lovely home in Mexico,

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and I'm here in the US,

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fighting for our future.

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You're probably watering the roses,

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taking care of the peaches

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and making sure your turtles are well-fed.

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That's one of the things
I miss the most about home --

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spending time with the flowers

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while you tell me stories
about your childhood.

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As you know, we have been living
in New York City since 2015.

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But life has completely changed
over the past year.

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At first, New York City was about museums

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and parks

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and school and friends.

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Now it serves as a web

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that connects me with all the other people

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who are organizing to save the planet.

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You know how it started for me?

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It was Dad and his wisdom.

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Everything you taught him,
he went and taught the world.

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All of his words about
the responsibility that we have as humans

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to live in balance with nature

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were passed down to me.

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I noticed the universal
disconnect to our planet

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and remembered what you once told me:

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"Leave everything better
than you found it."

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I know you were talking about the dishes,

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but of course, that applies
to the planet as well.

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I didn't know what to do at first.

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The world is so big,

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and it has so many bad habits.

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I didn't know how a 15-year-old
was supposed to change anything,

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but I had to try.

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To put this philosophy into practice,

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I joined the environmental club
at my high school.

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However, I noticed that my classmates
were talking about recycling

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and watching movies about the ocean.

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It was a view of environmentalism

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that was so catered towards
an ineffective way of climate activism,

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one that blames the consumer
for the climate crisis

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and preaches that
temperatures are going up

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because we forgot to bring
a reusable bag to the store.

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You taught me that taking care
of Mother Earth

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is about every decision
that we make as a collective.

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I am happy to tell you, Abuelita,

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that I changed everybody's
mind in that club.

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Instead of talking about recycling,

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we started to write letters
to our politicians

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to ban soft plastic altogether.

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And then, the unexpected happened:

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we started striking from school.

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I know you've probably
seen it on the news,

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and maybe it's not that special anymore.

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But at the time,
it was a huge deal, Abuelita.

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Imagine kids not going to school,
because we want people to save the world.

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(Video) Crowd: Another world
is possible! We are unstoppable!

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Xiye Bastida: For the first
global climate strike,

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which was called on by Greta Thunberg,

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I got 600 of my classmates
to walk out with me.

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Greta Thunberg is a teenager
who first started striking for climate.

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Her boldness inspired me,

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and I was shocked by the realization

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that youth could turn
public opinion on social issues.

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The movement exploded.

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(Video) Crowd: Shut it down!

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XB: And I became
one of the main organizers

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for New York, the US and the world.

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(Video) XB: What do we want?
Crowd: Climate justice!

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XB: When do we want it?
Crowd: Now!

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XB: I started speaking up about
climate justice and Indigenous rights

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and intergenerational cooperation.

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That was only the beginning, though.

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The busiest week of my life

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will forever be the week
of September 20, 2019.

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Me and my friends got 300,000 people
to strike for climate in New York.

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I wish you could have been there.

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We walked through Wall Street,
demanding climate justice.

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(Video) Crowd: No more coal, no more oil,
keep the carbon in the soil!

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XB: That same month, I went
to the United Nations Climate Summit.

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I spoke on a panel with Al Gore.

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I met Jay Inslee and Naomi Klein
and Bill McKibben

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and the president of the United Nations.

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It was the most amazing week of my life,

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because everyone I knew came together --

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all my teachers, all my classmates ...

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And even some of my favorite stores
closed down to strike for climate.

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If you had asked me why I did all of that,

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my only answer would be,

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"How could I not?"

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It's been one year
since it all started for me,

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and it gets a little tiring at times.

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But if there is one thing
that you taught me, it's resilience.

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I remember that you went to Mexico City
every day for 30 years

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to get money for the family.

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And I know that Abuelito
has been going out for 20 years

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to protect sacred land from big companies
that want to take it.

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A year is nothing

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compared to the struggles
that our family has been through.

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And if our struggles
make the world a better place,

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they will make us better people.

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There have been some hardships, Abuelita.

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Out there in the world,

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people expect us kids to know everything,

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or at least they want us to.

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They ask questions and I give answers,

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as if I really knew how the world works.

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They want hope, and we give it.

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I have organized, written, spoken
and read about climate and policy

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almost every day for the past year.

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And I'm just a little worried

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that I won't be able
to do enough, Abuelita.

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For me, being 18 years old
and trying to save the world

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means being a climate activist.

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Before, maybe it meant
studying to be a doctor

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or a politician or a researcher.

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But I can't wait to grow up
and become one of those things.

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The planet is suffering,

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and we don't have the luxury
of time anymore.

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Saving the world as a teenager
means being good with words,

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understanding the science
behind the climate crisis,

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bringing a unique perspective
into the issue to stand out

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and forgetting about
almost everything else.

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But sometimes, I want to care
about other things again.

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I want to be able to sing
and dance and do gymnastics.

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I truly feel that if all of us
took care of the Earth

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as a practice,

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as a culture,

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none of us would have to be
full-time climate activists.

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When businesses turn sustainable,

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when the power grid
runs on renewable energy,

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when the school curriculum teaches us

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that taking care of the Earth
is part of our humanity,

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maybe I can do gymnastics once again.

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Don't you think so, Abuelita?

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We can do this.

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All I'm trying to do with my work

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is give that optimistic mindset
to other people.

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But it's been a little hard.

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There is greed,

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there's pride,

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there's money,

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and there's materialism.

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People make it so easy
for me to talk to them,

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but they make it so hard
for me to teach them.

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I want them to have the confidence
to always do their best.

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I want them to have
the heart and the courage

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to love the world,

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just like you taught me.

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I wrote this letter to thank you.

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Thank you for inviting me
to love the world

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since the moment I was born.

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Thank you for laughing at everything.

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Thank you for teaching me

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that hope and optimism
are the most powerful tools we have

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to tackle any problem.

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I do this work because you showed me

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that resilience, love and knowledge

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are enough to make a difference.

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I want to go back to Mexico and visit you.

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I want to show you the pictures
of the things that I have done.

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I want to show you the climate legislation

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that we've been able to pass.

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I want to smell the flowers

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and fight for climate justice
alongside you.

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Te quiero mucho.

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I love you.

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Xiye.

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[Te quiero mucho. Xiye.]