Jerome Foster II

Jerome Foster II (born 9 May 2002) is an American climate change activist, voting rights advocate, and virtual reality developer.[2] Foster is the executive director of OneMillionOfUs; an international youth voting and advocacy organization. Foster is known for delivering passionate speeches advocating for the use of intergovernmental unity and climate justice as a means to help mitigate climate change in accordance to the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming and the Green New Deal Resolution. He is also known for wearing a bright-blue earth shirt that says "Think Globally, Bike Locally" on the front and "One Less Car" on the back made by the company, Specialized Inc. Foster has led three social impact and technology ventures: TAU VR, The Climate Reporter, and OneMillionOfUs.

Jerome Foster II
Born (2002-05-09) 9 May 2002[1]
Washington, D.C., U.S.
EducationColumbia University & Pace University (2020–)
OccupationEnvironmental activist, virtual reality developer
OrganizationOneMillionOfUs
MovementSchool strike for climate Environmental Movement

Foster has helped to organize three of the top ten largest climate marches across the Washington, D.C. area and has spoken at the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights in April 2019 and the United Nations Youth Climate Summit in September 2019. He gained international recognition after being the first consecutive climate striker in Washington DC[3] and being interviewed by Former Vice President Al Gore at the Atlanta Climate Reality Leadership Training in March 2019.[4]

Early life and education

Jerome Foster II was born 9 May 2002[1] and raised in Washington, D.C.[5][6][7] Foster attended Washington Leadership Academy.[8] In 2019, he was selected by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education to attend Harvard University[9] during his eleventh grade summer to take international environmental governance, policy, and social justice and calculus II.[10] Foster graduated from Washington Leadership Academy in June 2020 and will attend college in New York City starting September 2020.[11]

Activism and entrepreneurship

TAU VR

When Foster was 14 years old, he founded an immersive technology company, TAU VR. In September 2017, TAU VR was featured on XQ Super School Live,[12] which was aired on ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX.[12]

The Climate Reporter

Foster, in November 2017, founded The Climate Reporter,[13][14] an international youth-led climate-focused news outlet[15] on writing articles written by teenagers young adults and front-line communities. The Climate Reporter has writers in 11 countries and 3 indigenous nations, according to their archived contributors list.[16]

White House Climate Strikes

As a part of Greta Thunberg's School Strike for Climate protest, Foster holds weekly climate strikes[17] in front of the White House in Lafayette Square.[18] On September 13, 2019, Thunberg as a part of her trans-American voyage to COP 25 in Santiago, Chile,[19] joined Foster's White House climate strikes which drew thousands to the site.[20][21] During his time at Harvard University, he held weekly climate strikes on the steps in front of Widener Library with Divest Harvard organizers who called on the university to divest their endowments in the fossil fuel industry. He helped get 186 additional signatures[22][23] for their petition to Harvard University during his 3 months that summer. After Foster return from Harvard University in late 2019, he was approached by Jane Fonda where he was asked to help found and construct Fire Drill Fridays which was a weekly climate strike held in front of the U.S. Capitol Building.

OneMillionOfUs

Foster founded OneMillionOfUs in early 2019.[24][25][26] It is an international non-profit youth voting and advocacy organization that provides resources and training to young adults.[27] This organization also created a "Uniting Youth Coalition"[28] representing 5 youth social movements: gun violence, climate change, immigration reform, gender equality, and racial equality to have a space on both the local and international level to coordinate events and campaigns between movements. It is often misspelled as "one million of us".

Honors and awards

References
  1. @JeromeFosterII (8 May 2020). "I am so excited be 18 years old tomorrow. That means I will be vote in this November Presidential Election!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. Washington Leadership Academy. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  3. Li, Ang (14 March 2019). "'It Will Be Too Late for My Generation.' Meet the Young People Organizing a Massive Climate Change Protest". TIME Magazine.
  4. "Three Great Moments From our Atlanta Training". Climate Reality. 6 April 2019.
  5. 30 January; Smith-Janssen, 2020 Karen L. "He's Leading D.C.'s Movement for Climate Action—and He's a High School Senior". NRDC. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  6. "Planning protests, not prom: Inside today's youth climate strike movement". Earth Day. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  7. "Teenage climate activist Jerome Foster is in a race against time – and adults". The Washington Post.
  8. "XQ Institute". xqsuperschool.org. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  9. "Jerome Foster II". earthoptimism.si.edu. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  10. "Jerome Foster II, The American Greta Thunberg". The Green Market Oracle. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  11. @JeromeFosterII (14 June 2020). "I GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL!!
    I am incredibly excited to have graduated AND even prouder to be apart of the Class 2020, forever marked as a class of resiliency. We didn't get a proper prom or graduation but we still graduated together as peers. #ClassOf2020"     (Tweet) – via Twitter.     |date= mismatches calculated date from |number= by two or more days (help)
  12. XQ Super School Live Jerome Foster II. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  13. "Global Climate Strike: 5 Youth Activists Who Are Leading the Charge on Climate Action". Rainforest Alliance. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  14. Hansen, Terri (20 September 2019). "Four Climate Scientists on How to Take on Climate Change Today". NationofChange. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  15. "The Climate Reporter". Peoples Climate Movement. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  16. "About The Climate Reporter". Medium. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  17. Rodriguez/ABC7, Ashlie (6 March 2020). "DC HS student has held climate change rally in front of White House for 57 weeks in a row". WJLA. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  18. "This 16-Year-Old Is Taking the School Climate Strike to the U.S. Capitol". Yes! Magazine. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  19. correspondent, Fiona Harvey Environment (1 November 2019). "Madrid to host UN climate summit after Chile pulls out". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  20. "Kelsey Juliana v. U.S.: Meet the Young Woman Suing the Federal Government over the Climate Crisis". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  21. ""Our future is a right". Youth climate activists strike outside White House". Earth Day. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  22. "Give Climate Warning ⚠ to Harvard University: Harvard Stop Investing in Fossil Fuel Corporations". Climate Warning to Harvard University. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  23. "https://twitter.com/wedonthavetime/status/1152858196341592064". Twitter. Retrieved 29 July 2020. External link in |title= (help)
  24. "OneMillionOfUs". C-SPAN. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  25. "19 youth climate activists you should be following on social media". Earth Day. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  26. "Jerome Foster". C-SPAN. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  27. McKibben, Bill. "OneMillionOfUs' Plan to Revolutionize the Youth Vote in America". The New Yorker. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  28. McKibben, Bill. "What Can the Coronavirus Teach Us?". The New Yorker. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  29. "Alumni". World Series of Entrepreneurship | Changing the Trajectory of Lives. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  30. "Jerome Foster Rethinking the District's High School Graduation Requirements". D.C. State Board of Education. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  31. "2019 UCS Science Defenders". Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  32. "Jerome Foster II | 2020 Youth Environmental Champion". Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  33. "Jerome Foster II Grist 50: 2020: Celebrating 5 Years of Fixers". Grist. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  34. "Young Futurists 2020: America Needs Leaders Now More Than Ever. Here Are 25 Who Are Already About That Life". The Root. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.