“Fierce and Feeling”: Mitzi Jonelle Tan on Climate Justice and Collective Power
In celebration of Great Outdoors Month, we are honored to feature Mitzi Jonelle Tan, a full-time climate justice activist and organizer from Metro Manila, Philippines
Tell us about your journey:
I grew up in the climate crisis. My country, the Philippines, is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. We experience an average of 20 typhoons every year in the past 20 years and every year the typhoons have been getting more frequent and more intense. In 2017, I became a student leader at my university and started organizing climate marches. In 2019, I became one of the convenors of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP), a national alliance of young individuals, youth organizations, and student groups.
Through my work in the Philippines, we engaged with the Fridays for Future International movement and upon noticing the gap of Global South representation and leadership in the global youth movement, I, alongside a few friends from different Global South youth climate movements, started Fridays for Future MAPA (Most Affected People and Areas). Now, I am a Global Coordinator at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative —a global campaign to get a binding treaty to end all fossil fuel expansion, and phase out fossil fuels in a just, equitable, and funded way to make sure no country, community or worker is left behind. I am also a project lead with the Climate Justice Squad fellowship -- a global fellowship that supports youth activists to build international solidarity and scale up their campaigns as global leaders.
What pivotal experiences shaped your current path?
In 2017, I was able to talk to a Lumad Indigenous leader in the Philippines. He was telling us about how they were being harassed, displaced, militarized, and killed -- all for protecting the land, the forests, their home. Then, he very simply said, that's why we have no choice but to fight back. This burst my bubble of privilege and I realized that because I have a choice, I must use it to fight alongside the most marginalized for the protection of our planet, for our survival. This has shaped my climate justice activism to always have an anti-imperialist, peace-building, intersectional lens to it.
What are the most valuable lessons you've learned about yourself through your life and career?
I’ve learned that my power lies in being both fierce and feeling. That grief, rage, and joy can co-exist—and they all have a place in activism. For a long time, I thought I had to be “professional,” to tone down emotions to be taken seriously. But the most impactful moments of my work have been when I showed up as my full self, with trembling voice and a fire in my chest.
I’ve also learned that collective care isn’t just a buzzword—it’s survival. Rest, boundaries, and joy are part of the resistance. We’re not just fighting to live—we’re fighting for a life worth living. That’s helped me avoid burnout and build deeper, more sustaining relationships in the movement.
What drives your desire to contribute and make a difference?
I fight because I love. Because I refuse to accept a world where communities drown, forests burn, and our elders disappear without a trace. Because I believe in intergenerational responsibility—and that includes fighting for those not yet born, and those already gone.
I’m driven by the stories I’ve heard from displaced fisherfolk, from youth whose villages have been flattened by typhoons, from activists who risk everything just to defend their land. I want a world where those stories don’t repeat. A world where dignity, justice, and joy are not privileges but guarantees.
How can GlobalMindED support leaders like yourself in achieving your goals and advancing your aspirations?
Leaders from the Global South—and especially youth—often have the vision, courage, and on-the-ground knowledge, but we lack resources, access, and platforms. GlobalMindED can support us by amplifying our voices without extracting from us, by investing in our leadership without shaping it to fit Western molds.
For me, that means support in building long-term, community-rooted projects that connect climate justice with migration, education, and anti-colonial struggles. It means creating spaces for storytelling, strategizing, and healing. And it means seeing us not just as beneficiaries of change—but as co-creators of a liberated future.
| 
