Our Team

Aatika Patel (she/her) was born in India, but has lived in Fiji for the longest time, and calls it home. 

Aatika has always been passionate about youth, gender and climate development in the communities where she lives. Climate justice to her is to be able to inspire and organize bold action by communities on the frontlines of climate change to challenge the extractive economy that is harming people and ecosystems; be able to build resilient, regenerative and equitable economies rooted in place-based webs of social and ecological relationships. 

“I believe we can all agree that we want a world where everyone is seen as equal and is educated, empowered and engaged to address climate change and gender equality.”

Aatika would like to acknowledge the traditional, ancestral, un-ceded territory of the Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota) on which she will be learning, working and organizing in the future. Growing up, she never heard the traditional names of the territories; indigenous people were talked about in the past tense and all the struggles they faced were in the past tense as well. As an activist, She is committing herself to the struggle against the systems of oppression that have dispossessed Indigenous people of their lands and denied their rights to self-determination, work that is essential to human rights work across the world.

Bolu (she/her) is originally from Nigeria, but presently lives in South Africa. She is currently pursing her Doctorate Degree in Developmental Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Her research is focused on climate change awareness and mitigation at the household level. She obtained her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Sociology, from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She was inspired to volunteer for Care about Climate because of its focus on community engagement. She has over five years experience as an administrator, and volunteers to as an Administrator for ClimAcademy. Bolu enjoys reading, cooking, and traveling in her free time. She has travelled to New York, Cairo, Cotonu, and Cape Town.

 Adrian Watson (he/him) is a biogeographer and beekeeper from Kingston, Jamaica. As an introvert, Adrian depend a lot on being able to visit vast wide open natural spaces to recharge and maintain inner balance. Because of this, he feels the need to protect natural spaces to help other introverts like himself to not only preserve their mental health but also to ensure that future generations will have the experience of seeing the same clean natural environment grew up seeing. Adrian believes that education is a key aspect of climate action which is why through the Jamaica Environmental Entrepreneurs Advocacy Network (JEEAN), he has decided to partner with the Care About Climate’s ClimAcademy Program to use the power of education to inspire advocates to become entrepreneurs and advance solutions to climate change. In his free time, Adrian enjoys streaming movies, music videos, and other multimedia online and relaxing at home. You can often find Adrian tending to his apiary and just watching them in the peaceful natural environment.

 Alvaro Alfaro Morales (he/him) is from Casablanca, Chile, one of many great wine regions in the  Central region of Chile, among the foothills of the Andes Mountains. He graduated from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso in 2017 with a dual-degree & license in Religion and Education. He studied abroad in the US at the University of Rhode Island. Years earlier, he graduated as an Agronomy Technician, giving him a wide range of experience in the classroom and out in the fields. Alvaro has served as an event planner, secretary & project manager for a number of different non-profits including the Renovacion Carismatica Youth Ministry of the Catholic Church of Chile and the COY15 working group. He serves Care About Climate as Curriculum Director for ClimAcademy. Alvaro is tri-lengual, speaking Spanish, English & Portuguese, and has translated at international events including the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. In his free time Alvaro tends to his vegetable garden which includes 4 avocado trees, a vermiculture compost bin and is entirely constructed of recycled materials!

Michelle Muryn (she/her) volunteers as a teacher and curriculum developer for Care about Climate, and is a Sustainability Professional. Preferred pronouns include: she, her, and hers. Michelle lives in the Chicagoland area in the U.S. This area was originally inhabited by multiple Native American tribes, including: the Illinois, Miami, Winnebago, Kickapoo, and Pottawatomie tribes. 

Michelle is passionate about making a difference through individual actions, community actions, and in industrial standards. Michelle was invited to participate in Care about Climate’s, formerly known, Online Youth Exchange in 2017. Michelle was inspired by Care about Climate’s international community which provides valuable insight and perspective on the importance of environmental and social justice.

Michelle obtained her Bachelor’s in Sustainable Management and currently works as an Environmental and Sustainability Coordinator for a food manufacturing company.

Mujidah (she/her) is a sustainability educator and strategist based in Abuja, Nigeria. She is a Curriculum Designer at ClimAcademy.

Mujidah holds a Bachelors in Economics and a Masters degree in Education for Sustainability. She was drawn towards environmental issues when she had a personal experience with air pollution and also realized, while studying for her Bachelors, that negative externalities  were not being taken care of in traditional economic models of production. 

In Nigeria, she works with organizations to incorporate environmental and social sustainability in their business models to enhance profit while being environmentally responsive and maintaining good social relations. With schools, she supports teachers with strategies of integrating environmental education into the curriculum and teaching methods while teaching learners the values and motivation to take action for environmental sustainability and social responsiveness.

Adama Dampha (he/him) is the co-director of ClimAcademy. He is from Banjul, The Gambia. His favorite region is the southern part of the West Coast Region. He graduated from the University of The Gambia in 2019, with a B.Sc. in Information Systems. He is recognized as a community leader, who has pioneered and led several local organisations and campaigns for community development.

As a youth leader, he  believed that the way forward to sustainable development is through the protection and preservation of the environment. This is what motivates him to work with Care About Climate in educating young climate activists and environmentalists in combating the challenges of climate change and our environments.

Adama is also a volunteer for several local and international organizations, and has organized and led many events like: Beach Clean-ups, awareness campaigns, and social events to promote unity between youth-led groups and youth participation. He has travelled to Senegal, South Africa, Turkey, and Thailand respectively. He enjoyed spending his leisures with his family, friends, hiking, beach and watching soccer.

Emery Jeffreys (they/them) is the co-director of ClimAcademy. They are originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, but are currently a student and organizer at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts on the land of the Nipmuc peoples. Emery recognizes that climate justice cannot occur without indigenous sovereignty, decolonization, and land back and is committed to this in their work. For Emery, climate justice means recognizing that the climate crisis is just one of many interconnected crises, including settler colonialism, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy and more, that will disproportionately impact frontline and marginalized communities. Climate justice requires that we harness the political power of the climate crisis and utilize it to address marginalization and oppression as we transition away from an extractive economy and towards a regenerative one. Emery is inspired by Care About Climate’s commitment to building an international climate movement that empowers global youth to build just climate futures and demand change at both local and international levels. They are committed to advocating for the redistribution of power and practicing democratization in their work.

Outside of their work with Care About Climate, Emery is currently pursuing a B.A. in Social and Environmental Justice. They also organize around police and prison abolition and queer liberation. When they are not studying or organizing for social and environmental justice, Emery enjoys reading, hiking, biking, competitive running, and spending time with friends and family.