Kasha Sequoia Slavner – 1.5 Degrees of Peace

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.

- By Purnima Ramakrishnan

Q: Hi Kasha, thanks for joining us today.

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?

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.