Chelsey Gilchrist is a climate change activist, and proud of it. Instead of sitting around and waiting for policymakers to combat climate change, she takes matters into her own hands.
In 2019, Gilchrist joined Zero Hour, a youth-led nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting climate change. The organization was founded by a few high school students in 2017 in Seattle, Washington, and has expanded across the globe at breakneck speeds. When Gilchrist heard about Zero Hour, she just knew she needed to join.
“I think a lot of people in my generation grew up with a lot of awareness about of what is happening, and I think I’ve been taught a lot about the powers of activism,” she says. “Throughout my childhood, I always heard these stories about how the world is in danger and how we need sustainable energy. ... I knew (Zero Hour) was the best opportunity for me to demonstrate my passions and to actually do something.”
As a member of New Albany’s Zero Hour chapter, Gilchrist helps set up town hall meetings and climate strikes. Last September, she helped organize a strike in Columbus and scheduled activists to speak at the Ohio Statehouse.
The purpose of a climate strike is to remind the public that now is the time for us to take action. The Zero Hours’ homepage gives visitors this reminder with an ominous clock counting down to nine years in the future.
“That’s the deadline,” Gilchrist says. “There’s zero hours left to take care of climate change. Zero Hour’s head organization has a list of demands that they made to the federal government and the states and politicians. We have a list of rules that we want to achieve before that deadline.”
Like many young people, Gilchrist is inspired by the activism of 17-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden.
“Her activism is so simple and so poignant,” she says. “I feel like a lot of society gets kind of scared whenever they are discussing climate change because they don’t want our consumerism to end. They don’t want our oil spending and our way of life to stop because it’s so dependent on what ruins a sustained environment. ... She is courageous to stand up to such older institutions and to represent so much of what this generation wants for the future.”
“People really need to start making lifestyle choices and support the facts and apply that to their daily lives.” --Chelsey Gilchrist
Like Thunberg, Gilchrist should be revered in her own right. On top of being a member of Zero Hour, she is the president of New Albany High School’s Chinese culture club, co-leader in the Girl Up Club, section leader in the marching band, and a member of the Science, Oceanographic, Aerospace and Robotics club and National Honors’ Society.
“I remember Chelsey Gilchrist as being a very inquisitive, disciplined student,” says Sandy Reed, her former seventh-grade teacher. “She took and advanced in high school science courses while still in middle school. ... She was a leader in the classroom, always willing to help others. Her determination to make a difference in the world stood out even in seventh grade. She is truly a leader in every sense of the word. I have no doubt that she will do just that.”
In terms of adopting a more sustainable way of living, Gilchrist says it’s actually quite simple. She suggests using a reusable water bottle, recycling any time possible, using LED lights and turning the faucet off when it’s not in use.
“I think that people really need to take a cultural approach to this,” she says. “People really need to start making lifestyle choices and support the facts and apply that to their daily lives.”
Brendan Martin is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
