Sheila Watt-Cloutier said she believes that educating people about the human impacts of climate change can bring the world together, even in times of political uncertainty and conflict.
When asked what she would do if every government around the world became aligned on climate action, with unlimited resources for one year, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, longtime advocate for the rights of the Arctic’s Inuit peoples and Indigenous groups worldwide, didn’t hesitate.
“I would continue doing what I’ve been doing for 30 years but in much more of a full force,” said Watt-Cloutier. “I would build a team and get the younger generation mobilized in bigger ways than we have. They're the ones who have given me a lot of inspiration, and they're fighting for their future.”
Watt-Cloutier delivered a powerful plenary keynote Thursday in Boulder. She was also a featured speaker at the inaugural Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit held at CU Boulder in 2022.
The day’s conversation centered on climate change’s disproportionate burden on women, youth, Indigenous people and communities who are historically unseen—and the need to ensure solutions focus on those most affected. NPR Newscaster Lakshmi Singh moderated the discussions.
Watt-Cloutier said she believes that educating people about the human impacts of climate change can bring the world together, even in times of political uncertainty and conflict.
“We're all in this together as a common humanity,” Watt-Cloutier said.
Joined by three other members of the CU Boulder community, including environmental studies professor Amanda Carrico, environmental human rights graduate student Naia Zuluetaand environmental engineering graduate student John Ecklu, Watt-Cloutier and the group outlined three ideas to guide the work toward climate solutions.
“Do things that bring you back to nature, and you will start to protect what you love.”
Turn research data into tools for change.
Around the world, about 3.6 billion people are living in areas highly susceptible to climate change. Despite contributing minimally to global emissions, those in low-income and marginalized communities bear most of the impact.
A persistent problem is the lack of data for these communities. Zulueta noted that over a third of countries worldwide still lack routine indoor air quality monitoring.
“No data means no visibility, and no visibility means no accountability,” she said.
At the same time, the panelists emphasized that the world has enough data to understand the scale of the climate crisis and to mobilize action. An important step is making that information accessible and actionable.
Ecklu at CU Boulder’s Mortensen Center in Global Engineering and Resilience has been working on water well monitoring in Kenya. Prolonged droughts have forced local people to rely heavily on deep water wells called boreholes. But frequent breakdowns in Kenya’s boreholes are severely threatening water access for the communities.
To address the issue, Ecklu and team installed sensors that can detect signs of borehole failure and alert local engineers before wells completely collapse.
“We need to be more intentional about how the data we are collecting can better serve local communities,” he said. “Accessible data is helping communities become more resilient.”
Put a human face to the issues.
But statistics alone are not enough. More than once during the event, the group returned to the idea that reframing climate change as a human rights issue is essential.
“We can no longer just think our way through these issues of climate change,” Watt-Cloutier said. “We have to feel our way through, and we've got to connect as a common humanity.”
Sheila Watt-Cloutier gives keynote remarks at the 2025 Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit plenary event in Boulder.
She described how melting Arctic sea ice isn’t just an environmental loss. It’s the disappearance of an entire way of life for Indigenous communities. “The ice is our life force. It’s our highway that brings us out to the supermarkets. It’s our organic farms, which bring us highly nutritious food we need.”
For Watt-Cloutier, one solution is leadership rooted not in anger and force but in empathy and connection.
“We can never underestimate the impact when we take a big action toward something that we feel is so important to us. Don’t let the politics of things stop us,” she added.
She will be speaking more about conscious leadership in her upcoming podcast, A Radical Act of Hope.
Embrace nature-based solutions
Finally, speakers urged a shift away from carbon-heavy, industrial responses to climate change to solutions from nature.
Ecklu highlighted a Colorado-based example along the Yampa River, where restoring wetlands is helping to filter water runoff from nearby farms before it reaches the river. Nature-based solutions like this improve water quality while supporting biodiversity and ecological health.
Watt-Cloutier echoed the importance of reconnecting with nature, which holds the wisdom needed to sustain it.
“In the Arctic, we just absolutely love our land, and Indigenous peoples around the world are the same. We love nature because of what it gives us, and the love allows us to be stronger in our fight to defend our way of life,” she said.
She urged city dwellers to rediscover that bond.
“Do things that bring you back to nature, and you will start to protect what you love.”
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