Climate Cardinals is a youth-led nonprofit that’s accomplished quite a bit with almost no funding: translating 2 million words in four years to make scientific literature more accessible to non-English speakers.
Earth Day 2024 marks a turning point for the group, leaders say, with $400,000 in backing from the philanthropic arm of Google.
The nonprofit plans to use the funding to expand its translation capacity from 500,000 words per year to a least 1 million and as many as 3 million words per year, says Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa, Climate Cardinals’ vice president and deputy executive director.
“This is our anchor funding, though we have several grants from L’Oréal and National Geographic, among others,” says Hayakawa, also a senior at Williams College in Massachusetts.
“We began with a $500 budget and have largely functioned with a near-zero budget with volunteers spending their time on Climate Cardinals between work, sleep and study.”
The roots of Climate Cardinals date back to 2000, the COVID quarantine and a cooped-up Virginia high school senior and activist named Sophia Kianna. The nonprofit is now U.S.-based, with a global network of 14,000 student volunteers in more than 80 countries.
The organization aims to educate and empower a diverse coalition of young people to tackle the climate crisis by translating climate information into more than 100 languages, according to a news release.
Climate Cardinals also is broadening its vision, extending its activities to grassroots climate education.
The funding from Google.org will help with professionalism and growth, leaders say. They’ve already used the Google.org support to hire one full-timer and they plan to hire more.
Climate Cardinals has been partnering with Google since 2023 by using the company’s AI-powered Translation Hub to translate important literature at a faster pace.
The nonprofit notes in a news release that while three-quarters of the world doesn’t speak English, more than 90% of scientific literature about the natural sciences is available only in English.
Reports from the widely regarded Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, for instance, are officially available in six languages, making the words accessible to less than half of the world’s speaking population.
Climate Cardinals has translated an IPCC report into more than 25 languages.
The work is about climate justice, the nonprofit says: “ensuring that all communities, especially those most vulnerable and least responsible for climate change, have access to the knowledge they need to fight for their rights and adapt to environmental challenges.”
Google said in a statement that supporting organizations like Climate Cardinals is part of a broader strategy of empowering individuals and organizations with the tools to drive positive action and accelerate innovation to combat climate change.
“Our aim is to ensure that we are diversifying, expanding and ensuring the overall sustainability of climate solutions, and our funding for Climate Cardinals is a step in that direction,” said Google Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt.
Climate Cardinals is still seeking donations and volunteers.
Hayakawa hopes the recognition from Google.org will attract additional backers who want to empower the next generation of environmental leaders.
“Because young people stand to lose the most if we fail to combat climate change, youth-led organizations like Climate Cardinals have to be at the forefront of the fight for climate justice,” added Kianni, founder and president of Climate Cardinals, in a news release.
Ideally, Hayakawa says, the nonprofit would like to have a $1.2 million annual budget to support a full-time staff of a dozen people.
“We would like for more of our team to be able to join full-time and to compensate volunteers who are in school to ensure that our work is sustainable,” Hayakawa says.
