Kasha is a Gen Z filmmaker, photographer, writer, social entrepreneur, and advocate for climate justice, peace, and gender equality. She founded The Global Sunrise Project and her first documentary, The Sunrise Storyteller, was screened at over 60 film festivals and has won over 29 awards.

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Kasha Sequoia Slavner

<h4
 id="h-kasha-sequoia-slavner-discusses-her-journey-as-a-filmmaker-and-activist-her-new-documentary-1-5-degrees-of-peace-highlighting-the-interconnectedness-between-peace-and-climate-justice-and-the-value-of-the-intergenerational-connect-she-is-interviewed-by-purnima-ramakrishnan-in-the-glow-webinar-series"
 >
 KASHA SEQUOIA SLAVNER
 discusses her journey as a filmmaker and activist, her new
 documentary, 1.5 Degrees of Peace, highlighting the
 interconnectedness between peace, and climate justice, and the value
 of the intergenerational connect. She is interviewed by
 PURNIMA RAMAKRISHNAN
 in the GLOW webinar series.
 </h4>

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 
 Q:&nbsp;&nbsp; Hi Kasha, thanks for joining us today.
 

 
 KS:&nbsp; Thank you so much. It’s an honor to be here.
 

 
 Q: You’re a Gen Z filmmaker, photographer, writer, and social
 entrepreneur, who is a passionate advocate for climate justice, peace,
 and gender equality. You founded The Global Sunrise Project at 15. You
 are a frequent UN Youth Delegate, have won the Diana Award and the Kim
 Phúc Award for Youth Peace leadership, and are one of the voices of
 SDG16+. You are also the 2021 Global Youth Climate Network Ambassador.
 Your first feature documentary, The Sunrise Storyteller, was
 screened at over 60 film festivals and has won over 29 awards.
 

 
 How did you come to do all of these amazing things?
 

 
 KS: I have been a social justice advocate since I was little, working in my
 local community. I grew up with a single mom who was highly passionate
 about gender equality, feminist issues, and the environment, so I
 absorbed a lot of her consciousness and care for the world. When I was
 14, we joined an organization called The Canadian Voice of Women for
 Peace that had been working in the disarmament movement since the 1960s.
 We participated in a delegation to a United Nations conference on gender
 equality called The Commission on the Status of Women. That was my first
 trip outside Canada, my first time meeting people from all around the
 world, and my first time hearing stories from people at the grassroots
 level about their own communities.
 

 
 Growing up, I had heard about other countries through a lens of
 sensationalism and stereotypes. I had seen the poverty, the war, the
 things that are highly polarized, but I hadn’t seen or heard the stories
 of triumph over adversity, of people doing great things despite the
 little resources they had. So, when I heard those stories for the first
 time, I was inspired to do something, to make a difference.
 

 
 I thought about what I had to offer as a 14-year-old. I didn’t really
 know who I was, but I knew I wanted to inspire other people to make a
 difference in their communities. I decided to use my passion for visual
 storytelling. I was a hobby photographer at the time, with no
 professional experience, but I wanted to travel and share stories, so
 that other people could feel empowered to take action in their
 communities.
 

 
 That’s how The Sunrise Storyteller came to be. I was going to
 travel, take photos, and write a blog, but it soon developed into a film
 project, even though I had no prior experience of film-making. I
 thought, “I need to help these stories come to life, give people a
 platform to share their stories.” I took a year out of school to pursue
 this.
 

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 alt="1-5-degrees-peace2"
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 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/1_5_degrees_peace2_700x466_bce6ab127d.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:37:23.995Z"
 />
 </figure>
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 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <h4>
 Art as an enabler
 </h4>

 
 Q: Kasha, tell us how art can be an enabler for social change and
 social impact.
 

 
 KS: Art is a very special tool. People become statistics when we talk about
 them only from a fact-based perspective. Connecting with people’s
 experiences, and how they are impacted by issues, is a really profound
 way to move them into action and connect them with our shared humanity.
 

 
 For example, climate change is a highly emotional issue. It impacts us
 at the level of survival. You can show those feelings. You can empower
 people with knowledge but also move them with stories. Whichever artform
 you use, whether it is music, visual art, mixed media, photography, or
 anything else, it has a power to really impact people.
 

 
 It also helps us reframe our narratives. What narratives do you want to
 tell about the world? What narratives do you want to create going
 forward? What vision do you have? Art can show the reality of the world,
 and it can also help you dream up a new world.
 

 <h4>
 Intergenerational partnerships
 </h4>

 
 Q: You use the phrase, “intergenerational partnerships.” There are
 GEN Zs, Millennials, and GEN Ys. There is wisdom to be harnessed from
 the older generations, and dynamism to be harnessed from the younger
 generations. How can we harness the power of the intergenerational
 connect?
 

 
 KS:
 Intergenerational partnerships are very special for me because I grew up
 as an only child in the company of my mom and her circles of social
 justice advocates. I was always listening to the conversations of my
 elders. Intergenerational partnerships are key to creating effective
 social justice movements, because we have shared responsibility to be
 caretakers of the Earth, its people, and all living beings.
 

 
 In the past couple of years, youth activists have really taken to the
 forefront, so we hear others saying, “Okay, we are leaving it to you, we
 trust you with this.” While it’s a nice sentiment, it’s almost
 disempowering because it feels like, “This is the world we have
 inherited, and we are responsible for it.” Young people are not in
 positions of power in corporations or governments. We have taken on the
 responsibility of starting our own organizations, but we do need the
 privilege that elders have to uplift our messages, to hear our voices,
 and to train us to come to decision-making tables informed and ready to
 advocate for our needs.
 

 
 Many times, you’ll see that we are invited for the purpose of advocacy
 and we are given a youth voice, but we are not allowed to say what we
 really feel, or we are not prepared to negotiate, or we don’t have the
 knowledge to write policies, so we are brought in, then excluded.
 

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <div class="block-image">
 <figure>
 <img
 width="700"
 height="466"
 alt="1-5-degrees-peace3"
 class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/1_5_degrees_peace3_700x466_40f49db405.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:38:20.289Z"
 />
 </figure>
 </div>

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <hr />

 <h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 Intergenerational partnerships are key to 
 creating effective social justice movements, because we have
 shared responsibility to be caretakers of the Earth, its
 people, and all living beings.
 </h4>

 <hr />

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 
 Tokenism happens. Youth are brought to the table so that everyone has a
 clear conscience, they have done a good thing, but it is unconscionable
 that it stops there. We have to turn the inspiration and resilience we
 see from youth activism and bring about concrete action. That requires
 the help of intergenerational partnerships. We have a limited time for
 action, we need effective action, and we don’t have time to be spinning
 our wheels.
 

 <h4>
 Intersectionality
 </h4>

 
 Q: What do you think about the intersectionality between climate,
 peace, and the other SDGs? How do you see them all working
 together?
 

 
 KS:
 No issue is separate from the others. Everything is interconnected.
 Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It’s clear to me that
 climate justice affects peace. When people don’t have their basic needs
 met, there are violent reactions, there is hoarding, there is
 competition for resources, and interpersonal conflict. There is also the
 issue of nuclear disarmament. The whole process of creating and storing
 nuclear weapons destroys environments, often where indigenous
 communities live, where the mining happens. We are also seeing more
 refugees due to climate change, so again interpersonal conflicts. These
 are really critical intersection points that affect women and girls
 disproportionately.
 

 
 When you start looking at the intersectionality of two issues, you see
 how they link to all the others – those listed as SDGs and those not
 listed as SDGs.
 

 <h4>
 Activism
 </h4>

 
 Q: I can feel the passion and activism in your voice. What does the
 word “activism” mean to you? Activism has an element of dynamism – I
 don’t want to use the word violence. How can you be proactive and
 dynamic, and see the fruition of your aspirations, without using
 violence?&nbsp;
 

 
 KS: The way we use language is indicative of our culture and a reflection
 of society. Sometimes we use violent language to describe everyday
 things, but activism is not one of those things. To me, activism is
 caring in action. It has “act” in it, and that means standing up for
 justice, standing up for the liberation of all people. If we don’t, we
 perpetuate violence against others.
 

 
 To me, activism is proactive. It’s not always campaigning and lobbying,
 it’s not always taking a leadership role. Sometimes it’s participating
 in a movement. Sometimes it’s expressing care for the world through art,
 through workshops, or working with youth directly. It’s so clear in my
 heart that it is caring for other people, and taking on our collective
 responsibility to care for the planet.
 

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <hr />

 <h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 Activism is proactive. It’s not always campaigning and
 lobbying, it’s not always taking a leadership role.
 Sometimes it’s participating in a movement.
 </h4>

 <hr />

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <div class="block-image">
 <figure>
 <img
 width="500"
 height="750"
 alt="1.5-degrees-peace4"
 class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/1_5_degrees_peace4_77e19ff03d.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:39:04.015Z"
 />
 </figure>
 </div>

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <h4>
 1.5 Degrees of Peace
 </h4>

 
 Q: Kasha, tell us about of your latest movie,
 1.5 Degrees of Peace.
 

 
 KS:
 Through 1.5 Degrees of Peace, I hope to make the connection
 between peace and climate justice very clear, highlighting those on the
 ground in the forefront of both movements.&nbsp;
 

 
 We need to bring those two movements together to bring effective action.
 Both issues are staring us down from the future, but they are also
 happening now. Sometimes, we may not see the effects, but people in
 other places see the effects. We need to confront the challenges and
 find creative solutions for action, for positive change. I hope to do
 justice to the scale of the issues and also show opportunities for
 action. That is my goal for 1.5 Degrees of Peace.
 

 
 Q: What do you think of the role of heart-based meditation in
 fulfilling the SDGs, predominantly peace? And can peaceful individuals
 help to achieve the SDGs?
 

 
 KS:
 It’s very important to cultivate a peaceful harmonious humanity. To
 cultivate peace, we need an element of peace within. We need harmony
 within ourselves. I meditate and do physical practices that help me to
 be more mindful. I try my best, I am not perfect, but I continue to work
 at it. I think it’s critical for a peaceful world.
 

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <hr />

 <h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 We have a shared responsibility to care for the planet,
 and also to care for ourselves in the process.
 </h4>

 <hr />

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 
 Q: Kasha, are there any closing thoughts you would like to share with
 us?
 

 
 KS:
 Please remember that you have the potential to make a positive impact in
 the world. Also, reflect on what issues you care about most. Your
 contribution is necessary. We have a shared responsibility to care for
 the planet, and also to care for ourselves in the process. I invite you
 to reflect on that.
 

 
 PR: Thank you so much, Kasha.
 

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 
 To watch the full interview, go to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQGIwhl4PwY"
 >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQGIwhl4PwY</a
 >.