As Told To Philip Lewis

Amor Williams is a high school junior. One day she hopes to pursue her dreams of becoming a ballet dancer and a criminologist. But right now, she thinks the most urgent issue of her time is climate change — and is worried about what the future holds if we don’t act now.

I don’t really consider myself to be a climate activist.

But I am seriously concerned about climate change. You don’t need to be an activist to be worried about what the future holds if swift action isn’t taken to cut emissions now.

I’m really worried about how the animals will fare if something isn’t done to curb our impact on the environment. I’m a big animal person. I feel like when people do stuff to the environment, we’re destroying their habitat, and they can’t do anything about it.

I started to pay closer attention to climate change during the pandemic. I watch the news a lot, and I really started to grasp the seriousness of the weather and climate. It also became more clear that I need to fight for what I believe in. After the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others during the summer of 2020, I was inspired to take to the streets and protest.

I’m 100% more encouraged to protest and inform people, although people do learn about it in school. It’s just another feeling of actually taking yourself to a protest and putting yourself in someone else who used to do that back in the ’50s and ’60s and ’70s and feel how they felt. I’m much more encouraged to do that and pass that on to others so they can do the same.

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I hope to be a force for change one day, but like my peers in Gen Z, I have little faith in the political process. Most of the time when politicians are making decisions, they put themselves first before they put the entire community or country.

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And they think of what’s the best for themselves instead of what’s the best for society.

Just look at the restrictive Texas abortion law S.B. 8 that prohibits abortion at six weeks; politicians don’t put much thought into their vision when it comes to passing bills. I just feel like men really should not be making those decisions as they don’t experience pregnancy.

So some politicians who don’t put much thought into it, I don’t really believe in them. There are some I do listen to and I will follow what they’re saying, but there are others where I zone them out because it’s just like, you’re not helping others. You’re only helping yourself.