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Ceremony with my parents in Tepoztlan, Mexico. 2002
Protesting the greenwashed COP Solutions event at the Grand Palais in Paris, France. 2015
Tabling at an Earth Guardians event with my little brother in Boulder, CO. 2005
Lobbying Congress on my 12th birthday at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. 2012
Protesting fracking with Earth Guardians at the Denver State Capitol. 2012
Standing alongside Indigenous organizers at COP21 in Paris, France. 2015
Demanding a climate recovery plan with Juliana plaintiffs in Washington, DC. 2019 Impact
Growing a Youth Movement in Colorado
Xiuhtezcatl delivered his first speech at a local climate change rally in Boulder, Colorado, when he was six years old. In the years that followed, he spent his afternoons and weekends organizing and performing music with the nonprofit Earth Guardians. Together, they successfully banned chemical pesticides from Boulder’s public parks and schools.
By age 10, he started speaking out against fracking and fossil fuel infrastructure in Colorado and helped organize a climate march in Denver that drew over 20,000 people. Soon after, he became Earth Guardians’ Youth Director, traveled to Brazil to speak and perform at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, and joined climate leaders like NASA’s James Hansen to call on President Obama to adopt a national Climate Recovery Plan.
Making Legal History for Climate ActionAt 12, Xiuhtezcatl led his first direct action, disrupting a Boulder County Commissioner meeting with other youth to demand a ban on fracking in his community. The following year, he became the lead plaintiff in Martinez v. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a legal effort to block drilling permits for projects that threatened public health and the environment.
In 2015, he addressed the United Nations General Assembly as its youngest-ever climate speaker and joined 20 other youth plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States, suing the federal government for failing to act on climate change. Through persistent local organizing, Xiuhtezcatl helped bring about the closure of Boulder’s last coal-fired power plant, and by 17, published his first book, We Rise.
Building Power Through Art and Culture
In his late teens, Xiuhtezcatl started bridging his art and activism. He released his first studio album, Break Free, and partnered with artist Shepard Fairey to deliver free art to 20,000 classrooms through the “We the Future” campaign. With Earth Guardians, he helped organize the 2019 youth climate strikes, performed in front of over 250,000 protestors and started to train and mentor dozens of emerging Indigenous climate leaders across the country.
After publishing his second book, Imaginary Borders, he moved to Los Angeles, where he co-led a land back initiative returning 12 acres to the Gabrielino Shoshone Nation with the city’s only Indigenous school, Anawakalmekak. During this time, he began studying his native language and released TONATIUH — an album in English, Spanish and Nawatl, celebrated for its contribution to Indigenous visibility and language reclamation.