By Helen Gloege ’23
Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy of Streetsblog Denver via WikiMedia Commons
Haven Coleman is a 16-year-old climate activist from Denver. Coleman’s introduction to climate change was in fifth grade, when her teacher “brought up deforestation” when talking about the ancient Amazon trade, which sparked Coleman’s curiosity about deforestation prevention and later, her interest in the wider climate movement, as reported by CNN.
Coleman proceeded to join the Climate Reality Project, an environmental awareness organization founded in 2006 by former U.S. Vice President and environmentalist Al Gore. On her website, when speaking on how finding this project impacted her development as an activist and leader, Coleman noted, “[Climate Reality Project] trained me to be a Climate Reality Leader, and I taught kids across my state how climate change affects us and what we can do.”
Coleman gained recognition in August 2017 when she asked a question about climate change at a town hosted by Republican Colorado Senator Cory Gardner. According to Grist, Gardner’s political campaign has received over $1.2 million dollars from oil and gas industries.
In January of 2019, Coleman “began protesting in front of businesses [and] government buildings, such as the Colorado State Capitol” to demand climate action, according to People Pill. Her protest continues every Friday.
In an interview with Climate Reality Project, Coleman described how she began striking after she “[saw] GretaThunberg and the kids in Europe and Australia striking … and decided it was time for me to start helping out too.”
Coleman’s work has involved co-organizing the Youth Climate Strike with 19-year-old Isra Hirsi and 16-year-old Alexandria Villaseñor, which took place on March 15, 2019, and attracted many young people calling for climate action, CNN reported.
In addition to organizing larger strikes and participating in protests on Fridays, Coleman has written many op-eds for news sources such as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and Teen Vogue, as listed on her personal website. As stated on her website, Coleman’s current campaign centers on fundraising for and distributing “air purifiers to communities in need”, such as those communities that are “most affected by wildfires and air pollution.”