Emily Hunter is a Graduate student at York University completing her Masters in Environmental Studies with a Graduate Diploma in Environmental/ Sustainability Education, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Climate Action Leadership at Royal Roads University. She has been an environmental activist, storyteller and informal educator for over 15 years working with some of the largest environmental groups in the world. Today, she resides in Toronto with her family, conducting research for her Masters degree into Climate Action Education, including the intersection of youth climate activism, education and well-being.
“Activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet”
Alice Walker
A longer story: Emily is an environmental activist, storyteller and informal educator. Born into the environmental movement, her father was the late Robert (Bob) Hunter, first president of Greenpeace who’s story is featured in the award-winning documentary How to Change the World. For over 15 years, Emily has advocated for a variety of environmental and social justice issues, from saving whales with Sea Shepherd in the Southern Ocean of Antarctica to digital campaigning with Greenpeace targeting Shell’s Arctic offshore-drilling operations, and spearheading a campaign in New Zealand to stop the plastic waste trade that impacts marganlized communities in South East Asia the hardest.
Throughout Emily’s work, storytelling tools have been at the center of her ‘theory of change.’ She has worked across platforms, using traditional print publication, documentary film, public speaking and digital media guidebooks, as well as organizing virtual events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her aim has always been to inspire “mind bombs,” a term coined by her father, by attempting to spark a consciousness shift in youth in our most pressing environmental and social crises. Her work aims to empower and mobilize the next generation of change-makers in systemic and transformational change.
Emily has a background in film and television, as she directed and produced a short documentary film titled Activism 2.0 that was screened at several international film festivals. She hosted and produced four TV-documentaries for MTV News Canada’s IMPACT TV-show series. Additionally, she published her first book in 2011 titled The Next Eco-Warriors, an insider’s look at a new wave of environmental activism, as well as authoring a guidebook with Greenpeace called The Mobilisation Cookbook on building ‘people-powered’ campaigns and organizations. She is a frequent speaker, including university circuits and a talk on TEDx, as well as she is has been featured in numerous documentary films, including How to Change the World, the late Rob Stewart’s film Revolution, and more recently, Youth Unstoppable.
Turning her attention to empowering the public in bottom-up change, she has been developing ‘people-powered’ strategies and campaigns for non-profits using innovative tools and techniques. She has worked with The Mobilisation Lab, Greenpeace Canada and Greenpeace New Zealand, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Toronto Tool Library, 350.org and many others. In this time, she worked as an informal educator with these organizations, training primarily young adults in the knowledge and skills for driving their own local and regional campaigns on progressive environmental issues.
Today, she is completing her Masters in Environmental Studies at York University with a Graduate Diploma in Environmental/ Sustainability Education, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Climate Action Leadership at Royal Roads University. Her Masters degree is researching Climate Action Education, including the intersection of youth climate activism, education and well-being.