Amazonian Activist: Defender of the Rainforest

Join a conversation about climate activism and the fight to protect the Amazon rainforest at Amazonian Activist: Defender of the Rainforest, happening on Saturday, November 23, in Room 3209 at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus. As part of the 2024 Miami Book Fair, this event features Nemonte Nenquimo, a leading voice in Indigenous rights and environmental advocacy, alongside her husband and co-author Mitch Anderson. Together, they discuss their memoir, We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People, which weaves generations of Waorani oral history with Nenquimo’s personal experiences in the battle against climate change.

Nenquimo, cofounder of the Ceibo Alliance and a recipient of the 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize, is an internationally recognized leader born in Ecuador’s Amazon region. She was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020, with her advocacy praised by figures like Leonardo DiCaprio. Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, has dedicated his life to supporting Indigenous peoples in their fight for land rights and cultural survival. Their discussion will be moderated by CBS News national correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti, an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist and author of Before It’s Gone: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change in Small-Town America.