User:Envijustice25/Mikaela Loach

Mikaela Loach

Mikaela Loach is a climate justice activist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was a medical student at the University of Edinburgh who uses social media for campaigning.

Alongside Jo Becker, Loach is the co-producer, writer and presenter of the Yikes podcast, which explores climate change, human rights and social justice. She is the author of the book It's Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our World (2023).

Early life and education

Loach was born 1998 in Kingston Jamaica to a British father and Jamaican mother, and moved to Surrey, United Kingdom at just two years old. Loach and her younger brother were brought up to question to status quo as her parents repeatedly taught her about the realities of revolution and the true cost of freedom. It was her parents who planted the seeds of inspiration within her. In 2004 Loach had witnessed the Indian ocean tsunami all over the media, and recalls her father asking " so what are you going to do about it". At age five Loach took her first steps towards climate action by baking cakes in order to raise money for the victims of the tsunami. Loach moved to Edinburgh and became a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. Now at 25 is a trainee doctor still at University.

Growing up and playing at Hellshire Beach near Kingston, soon became her inspiration after the effects of climate change had nearly eradicated the beach all together. In 2020 Loach had visited her childhood beach, only to find it had been almost completely submerged due to sea level rise. But her despair was not simply the loss of her childhood memories, but the people who lived on the shore, their homes were being taken from them and they lacked the power necessary fight against it.

Campaigning

Aware of the intersection between the refugee crisis, the climate crisis, racism and the legacies of colonialism, Loach advocates for environmental justice, racial justice, sustainable fashion, and human rights issues such as white supremacy and maltreatment of migrants. She also seeks to make the climate movement more inclusive.

Her advocacy includes writing for Eco-Age, using Instagram, camping outside parliament, or taking the Uk government to court. As part of 2019 Extinction Rebellion climate crisis protests in London, Loach locked-on for eight hours in an attempt to prevent police clearing a site. She also campaigns with Climate Camp Scotland. She was a speaker at Zurich Insurance Group's Youth Against Carbon Conference. In 2020, Loach created the Yikes podcast with Jo Becker. In 2021, she began taking the UK government to court for using taxpayers' money to fund oil and gas companies. Loach, alongside Kairin van Sweeden and Jeremy Cox took their case to the High Court in December of ...

Loach expresses her struggle with climate anxiety. She had began by simply changing her own behavior in the form of altering her consumption habits and waste disposal; however she quickly realized change required a much bigger push. Even despite using social media and taking direct action, it seems the world is still on the front lines of disaster, Loach states.

But despite the risk of her actions, Loach finds motivation in the ability to speak up for those less privileged than herself. What she is sacrificing is nothing compared to what Indigenous people, globally, have been fighting for, losing their homes, their family, their lives .

Publications

• It's Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our World. London: DK, 2023. ISBN 978-0241597538.

Awards and recognition

• 2020: Nominated, Global Citizen Prize: UK Hero Award
• 2020: Named on BBC Woman's Hour Power List