Xiuhtezcatl Martinez facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez
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Martinez in 2016
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Xiuhtezcatl Martinez
May 9, 2000 Colorado, U.S.
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Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez (/ʃuːˈtɛzkɔːt/ shoo-TEZ-kawt; born May 9, 2000), also known by the initial X, is an American environmental activist and hip hop artist. Martinez was formerly the Youth Director of Earth Guardians until 2019.
Martinez has spoken about the effects of fossil fuels on indigenous and other marginalized communities. He has spoken at the United Nations several times, and he gained popularity after delivering a 2015 speech at the United Nations General Assembly in English, Spanish and his native language, Nahuatl.
Martinez is one of 21 plaintiffs involved in Juliana v. United States, a lawsuit filed against the U.S. government for failing to act on climate change. The lawsuit was filed in 2015, and a federal court rejected the government's move to dismiss the case in November 2016. Martinez is also one of seven plaintiffs in the Martinez v. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission case; that case is a state-level lawsuit similar to Juliana v. United States.
Family
Martinez was born in Colorado, but moved to Mexico in his infancy. He lived with his family in Boulder, Colorado through 2019 moving later to Portland, Oregon. His mother, Tamara Roske, was one of the founders of the Earth Guardian Community Resource Center, a high school in Maui, Hawaii. Roske served as Executive Director of Earth Guardians until May 2021. Martinez has two younger siblings, sister Tonantzin, and brother Itzcuauhtli. His father, Siri Martinez, is of Aztec heritage, and he has raised his children in the tradition of the Mexica (one of the native peoples of México). His family has transferred the traditional knowledge of seeing an individual as part of a greater whole, and of emphasizing a connection between all aspects of the natural world. Therefore, Martinez sees abuse of nature as "the tearing apart of a fragile and revered system".
Activism
As a teenager, Martinez gave TED talks and was invited to speak before the United Nations on environmental policy. In June 2015, he spoke at the age of 15 in English, Spanish, and Nahuatl before the UN General Assembly on Climate Change. Martinez urged immediate climate action saying, "What's at stake right now is the existence of my generation."
That same year, he competed with young musicians from around the world who submitted self-produced music "to inspire the negotiations" at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with their music; Martinez's selection "Speak for the Trees" was chosen as the Jury Award Winner.
Martinez asserts that education and young people are key elements of the movement for significant social and environmental change: "The marching in the streets, the lifestyle changes haven't been enough so something drastic needs to happen. The change that we need is not going to come from a politician, from an orangutan in office, it's going to come from something that's always been the driver of change – people power, power of young people." When addressing the criticism of young people overusing technology in a 2016 interview with Bill Maher, Martinez noted that technology also brings people together to focus on a shared concern: "I think it's an important tool that we have for networking and connecting with people. Social media and technology – it's either a downfall and distraction for our generation, or a powerful tool we can use."
Earth Guardians
Earth Guardians is an environmental activist organization founded in 1992. Martinez served as the Youth Director through 2019, transitioning to co-Youth Director alongside Marlow Baines, who assumed the youth leadership role in 2020. Earth Guardians' mission is to "inspire and train diverse youth to be effective leaders in the environmental, climate and social justice movements. Through the power of art, music, storytelling, civic engagement, and legal action, we're creating impactful solutions to some of the most critical issues we face as a global community." They work to organize climate strikes, cultivate environmentally focused policy, and encourage individual activism through promoting voting registration.
Political endorsements
In April 2019, Martinez wrote an op-ed in Teen Vogue endorsing Bernie Sanders for president, stating, "I believe Bernie Sanders has our back on climate change". In December 2018, Martinez spoke with Sanders at a town hall event called "Solving the Climate Crisis".
Awards
Martinez was awarded the U.S. Volunteer Service Award by President Barack Obama in 2013. In 2017, he was included on Rolling Stone's "25 under 25 list"' of young people who will change the world. In 2018, he received a Generation Change Award at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Books
- Imaginary Borders (Penguin Workshop Pocket Change Collective 2020)
- We Rise: The Earth Guardians Guide to Building a Movement That Restores the Planet (Rodale Books 2017)
Filmography
In 2021, he appeared as one of the activists in the French documentary film Bigger Than Us.
See also
In Spanish: Xiuhtezcatl Martínez para niños
