Empowering the Next Generation to Build a Better Future | SXSW 2023

Climate Change is the single biggest threat facing our planet at this moment. We’ve seen young climate activists rise to the challenge and use their voices to start global movements and influence change. But what would happen if we equipped them with the capital and the resources to tackle the issue head on, in the same way we invest in hungry start-up founders? That’s the question investor and Seven Seven Six founder Alexis Ohanian asked himself when he started the 776 Foundation and Fellowship Program and pledged $20M to climate issues over the next 10 years.

The inaugural class of Fellows are nearly one year into the program and are hard at work on projects across the climate solution spectrum from curbing food waste in rural Kenya by deploying solar powered cold storage units to building highly specialized robots working to automate synthetic biology. Hear from Alexis, Lissie Garvin the Director of the 776 Foundation and two of the fellowship program’s bright young minds Maya Penn and Rostam Reifschneider, as they discuss their respective companies, the urgency for climate action and why they all believe our next generation holds the key to unlocking the solutions.

About SXSW:

Connect with SXSW:

[joyful]

this talk frustrated me so much. i guess i'm glad the two young people participating in the talk were able to turn their passions and hobbies into professional pursuits that does not make our environmental situation worse. but will it really help us? no. recycling won't help. companies won't make a big difference. how do we make real change? talk to your politicians. organize youth groups and talk to your politicians. let them know you, your families, and your communities will not support politicians that don't hold all corporations accountable for harming the public through polluting our air, water, and land. it will be difficult. especially because the united states treats health as a luxury. people in the environmental space have to understand that environmental activism is connected to health. as long as people are going bankrupt to obtain healthcare, as long as people have to choose between purchasing medication and buying groceries for their families, as long as the public knows their health and wellbeing is not worth more than money to their politicians and government, it will be difficult to sway public opinion. and these bandaid approaches are harming us. because it teaches the next generation to continue focusing on capitalism and small non-profits. where are nonprofits getting their money??? from corporations that are trying to improve their pr after hurting the public and a tribalistic government that does not put people first. which is how we got into this disgusting environmental state in the first place.