Excitement and anticipation filled the Jacob Burns Moot Court Room at The George Washington University Law School on Thursday, October 3rd. Students, professors, and community members from the wider DC area gathered to hear from a prominent climate activist, Luisa Neubauer. The event was hosted by a coalition of GW’s Alliance for a Sustainable Future, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Foundation, GW Law’s Energy Law Program, and GW’s Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies. The conversation explored the intersection of youth activism, environmental justice, and transatlantic cooperation.
Frank Sesno, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Sustainable Future, opened the event by discussing the critical role that the Alliance plays in connecting students with opportunities to research, lead, and make meaningful changes in sustainability. He emphasized the Alliance’s mission to equip students with the tools to combat the climate crisis both locally and globally.
Sesno also highlighted Professor Margaret Gonglewski, a professor at GW and a key faculty member in the Alliance for a Sustainable Future. During the summer of 2024, Gonglewski traveled to Germany to study the relationship between climate activism and policy, supported by the Alliance. Her trip, in collaboration with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Foundation, was part of a broader effort to foster transatlantic dialogue on environmental issues, allowing both students and faculty to learn from international perspectives and apply those insights to global and local climate challenges.
Luisa Neubauer, one of the leading figures in Germany’s “Fridays for Future” movement, captivated the audience with her passionate and powerful speech about climate justice. With unwavering energy and a directness that resonated with the room, Neubaeur challenged the notion that the climate crisis is a future problem. “This is not just about the future,” she said. “This is about the present. We are rising up to the moral question of the century.”
Neubauer began by reflecting on her journey into activism, describing how as a geography student, she was struck by the disconnect between academic discussions on climate breakdown and the inaction in the world outside of the classroom. “Walking from class to lunch, there was something wrong about being in a place learning about the breakdown of the world, but nobody was telling us what to do about it,” she said. This cognitive dissonance propelled her into climate activism, and she quickly became one of the most prominent youth leaders in Europe.
Central to Neubauer’s message was the urgency of addressing the climate crisis through systemic change. She recounted the beginnings of the Fridays for Future movement, which started in 2018 when students across Europe began organizing school strikes to demand stronger climate action. By 2019, these strikes had grown into mass protests, inspiring millions around the world to join the cause. “When we started, no one believed we could do it. People thought young people couldn’t mobilize in that way,” she recalled. “But we showed them otherwise.”
She also shared details about one of her proudest accomplishments: a lawsuit against the German government for failing to take adequate climate action, a case that she and her fellow activists won. “We didn’t just want to protest,” Neubauer explained. “We wanted to hold those in power accountable.” The court ruling declared that Germany’s climate policies were insufficient to protect future generations, marking a significant victory for the movement.
Neubauer spoke extensively about the challenges of sustaining momentum in a global movement. She acknowledged that climate activism can be emotionally draining and often challenging, but emphasized the need to maintain hope. “Activism is more than just going to the streets. It’s journalism, voting, lobbying. It’s about creating a community that doesn’t just fight against something but fights for something,” she said.
Her emphasis on joy and collective action was a highlight of her speech. “The greatest strength of the climate movement is not our anger; it’s our hope. Anger can get people to the streets, but hope is what keeps them there,” Neubauer said. She encouraged the audience to embrace their power as changemakers, noting that real, systemic change requires not just protest but sustained engagement in politics, media, and public discourse.
The panel also featured other prominent young voices, including Anna Shah, a 2024 GW graduate and sustainable fashion advocate. Shah shared her journey into activism, explaining how she became aware of the environmental harm caused by the fashion industry and co-founded the second-hand clothing initiative POP! on campus. Her message to the audience was clear: anyone can be an activist, and sustainable fashion is just one avenue for creating change.
Sophie Holtzman, a GW senior and president of Bridge GW, spoke about her experience growing up in Kentucky, where environmental issues were rarely discussed. Her work with Bridge, a bipartisan political discussion group, seeks to create accessible spaces for conversations about the climate crisis and other pressing issues. “The biggest part of getting involved is accessibility,” Holtzman said. “How to protest, where to protest, that’s what people need to know.”
The evening’s final panelist, Helena Marschall, a climate activist and filmmaker, shared how growing up near the ocean in Cape Cod and then moving to Germany shaped her understanding of the climate crisis. She emphasized the importance of storytelling in mobilizing people, saying, “If there’s this huge problem and everyone knows about it but isn’t making change, what can we do to tell that story?”
The evening’s final panelist, Helena Marschall, a climate activist and filmmaker, shared how growing up near the ocean in Cape Cod and then moving to Germany shaped her understanding of the climate crisis. She emphasized the power of storytelling in mobilizing people, saying, “If there’s this huge problem and everyone knows about it but isn’t making change, what can we do to tell that story?” Marschall’s point tied into a recurring theme throughout the event—the importance of hope in sustaining the climate movement. Neubauer and the panelists agreed that while anger may spark action, it is hope that sustains long-term engagement. “The strongest argument to get people to the streets is to show them that they can make a difference,” Neubauer said, urging the audience to focus on what can be achieved, even while confronting the injustices of the present.
Neubauer concluded the evening with a message of solidarity and urgency. “What we do today is a direct investment in our future,” she said. “Those in privileged places of the world have the power to make change and need to help those who do not have the choice to stop the climate crisis.”
For the GW community, the event served as both a rallying cry and a reminder of the critical role young people play in shaping the future of the planet. From sustainable fashion to transatlantic policy collaboration, the evening highlighted the diverse ways in which student activists can contribute to the climate movement.
As GW’s Alliance for a Sustainable Future continues its work, this event exemplified how universities can be centers for climate action. Reflecting on the event, Frank Sesno expressed his excitement about the impact of bringing an inspiring speaker like Neubauer to campus. “It’s moments like this that remind us why we’re here—giving our students the opportunity to engage with global leaders and equipping them to be the change-makers of tomorrow,” Sesno said. Luisa Neubauer and the panelists reinforced that the fight for climate justice transcends environmental concerns; it is also a matter of equity, humanity, and our shared future.