Yuka Natori, 32, is a social worker who hails from Tokyo. Her interest in climate issues began at a young age and ultimately led her to co-found Media Is Hope, an NGO dedicated to increasing awareness of such issues in the mainstream Japanese press.

1. When did it first hit you that the climate crisis is real? It was discussed a little in elementary school, but it wasn’t until I saw footage of the fires in Australia and heard a speech by (activist) Greta Thunberg in 2019 that I realized how urgent things were.

2. What kind of impact did that have on you? Well, I was working at a big company and began to feel like we were part of the problem — that capitalism was the problem. I realized the resources that Earth has were running out, which caused me to post about environmental issues on my Instagram.