Climate change is not just happening to the earth: it’s happening to the bodies on earth. We are all starting to feel, deep within our bones, the changing shifting climate around us.

This week we launch a new content series 'Earth, Body & Soul', which will showcase four incredible climate activists who use some part of their body to fuel their climate activism. They might use their legs to dance, their arms to dive, their voice to speak up or their eyes to create art. 

The first story in the series is with the incredible environmental advocate Brianna Fruean, who uses Siva Samoa [dance] as a tool to help protect our planet. She was also just awarded the Global Citizen Price Award for Oceania, at a ceremony held in New York.

The more bodies are thought of as something ‘from’ the earth, something connected to the planet and the ecology around us, the more we will realise that each and every one of us, and our bodies, are part of the solution for climate change. 

This series also celebrates the wisdom of indigenous people, who represent 5% of the world’s population but protect 80% of the earth’s remaining biodiversity. As indigenous climate activist, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, says, “without traditional knowledge, there is no climate change”. Within indigenous populations, this work is not viewed as a job but a duty to the land, and the earth we all live on.

In te ao Māori, the body is tapu, sacred. How we treat our bodies affects how they can do their job carrying us through life. Similarly, how we treat the earth impacts the way it gives back to us. We will see a better world when we look after it.

These amazing four young women are inspiring others to become kaitiaki of their environments, all through doing remarkable things with their bodies.

The writer wishes to acknowledge the support of YWCA Aotearoa for their help and aroha with this series.