Mahnoor was born in Karachi Pakistan and lived there until she was 5 years old. After this she moved around the Middle East before settling in Oman with her family. Coming to England was a huge shock for Mahnoor and her family, the culture, difference in diversity and particularly the weather. “Moving here it was very different in terms of diversity and all that, I mean I live in a very white area, so going from an international school to an all-white Catholic school in the middle of nowhere it’s a very big change. “ Despite these huge changes to her life, Mahnoor’s resilience is evident. She became an ethic minority moving to England which has influenced her understanding of the world, in particular the global injustices that exist.

“I think growing up as an ethnic minority, as a Hijabi, as an immigrant you are aware of all the injustices, you just don’t comprehend their correct terminologies – which is where I discovered climate justice.”

At 16 she applied to an Our Bright Future programme as a way to escape the isolation and stress of the national quarantine of 2020. The project ‘Bright Green Future’ gave her days structure and supported her wellbeing during the pandemic. This came at a time where she was balancing school, isolation and a debilitating health condition.

Whilst she had always had an interest in the environment and the environmental sector she had never seen herself reflected in those spaces.  This sector is often very white dominated and exclusionary for people of colour. Mahnoor noted how she was drawn to the Our Bright Future programme because their social media had a wide variety of diverse faces, beliefs and gender identities. Seeing herself represented in an environmentally focused programme has allowed her to explore a career in activism and empower others to make space for themselves.

“For me that was – I feel represented because obviously we can group people of Colour, and that’s crazy because there’s so many of us in so many different cultures.”

Throughout her time with Our Bright Future Mahnoor has taken part in several programmes and has truly embraced environmental activism.  “I was on a lot of different programmes, so I was on Bright Green Future and Our Bright Future, I did the EDI training with UpRising, and the I was a guest speaker at the UpRising’s Environmental Leadership Programme.” These provided her with a wide range of networking opportunities and connections to the environmental sector. In her mind these opportunities help “level the playing field” for young people who don’t come from white, upper middle -class backgrounds.

“I was on a lot of different programmes, so I was on Bright Green Future and Our Bright Future, I did the EDI training with UpRising, and the I was a guest speaker at the UpRising’s Environmental Leadership Programme.”

She describes her time on the various programmes as empowering and supporting her in making a real difference in environmental justice and youth policy. Since the programme, Mahnoor has continued to make waves in the fight for climate justice and empowering youth voices. She has been a panellist at the UN conference of youth (COY16), a youth speaker at the Transition Together Global Summit, a speaker at the Our Bright Future parliamentary event and the keynote at this year’s LCOY17 in Manchester. Going forward Mahnoor is planning to attend university after taking a gap year where she will focus solely on pursuing her activism.