Voices from the Frontlines | Planet SOS | Al Jazeera English

Presenting Al Jazeera’s environmental magazine programme from the studio in Qatar. I was instrumental in getting the series commissioned. The growing urgency of the climate and ecological crisis had made me determined to do all I could to get more environmental coverage onto the channel.

I’m grateful it came off and to have had the opportunity to highlight issues and stories that don’t necessarily fit into earthrise’s documentary remit.

Planet SOS launched in September 2019, as people across the world took to the streets calling for action against climate change.

In this opening programme, we speak to some of the protesters taking part including Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan activist who has since been interviewed by Angelina Jolie for the cover of Time magazine. We follow her from her home on the outskirts of Kampala as she prepares to travel to New York for the Climate Summit called by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who we also interview for the show.

From the studio, I speak to environmental activist Severn Cullis-Suzuki who addressed the UN in 1992 when she was aged just 12. We talk about the comparisons with Greta Thunberg, what has changed, and whether protests by today’s youth will make a difference.