Jeanette Fitzsimons Climate Action Grants
Continuing the legacy of Jeanette Fitzsimons
Jeanette Fitzsimons CNZM was a tireless advocate for the environment and for an economy of ‘enough’. The Jeanette Fitzsimons Climate Action Grants were established in 2020 by her friends and colleagues to honour her memory and keep alive her legacy. Jeanette was a co-founder of Our Climate Declaration, who award these grants.
The Grants
The eight awards we’ve made so far have been for projects led by young people that, in the terms of the Declaration, “stop making things worse” and “start making things better”. Three examples are:
- Te Ara Whatu for wananga for young Maori and Pacifika people, supporting them into climate action.
- A project to document the effects on climate of deep-sea bottom trawling by commercial fishers. This has resulted in an article in Canterbury’s Latitude magazine and another scheduled for Forest and Bird magazine this year. Work is continuing on a film.
- A sustainability group of high school students engaged in a well-researched composting, recycling and educating initiative for their college and community.
A pause for 2023
However we have decided to pause the Grants until later in 2023. This decision is prompted by the recent tragic climate events: many of our funders are giving generously to communities hit by cyclones, flooding, and forestry slash.
We also consider it’s time to re-envision how our Grants can best support young activists in this climate-vulnerable world. We will keep you up to date with our decisions on this webpage.
Meanwhile, please keep us informed of climate-related projects involving young people that might be worthy of our consideration. You can do so here.
We’ve appreciated your support and hope it will continue. If you are able to help us plan for the future, please donate here. Your donation is eligible for a tax refund.