Lauren Ritchie

Lauren Ritchie is a climate justice advocate and storyteller from The Bahamas. She has organized coastal clean-ups and creative environmental workshops on her island, Grand Bahama. She graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Sustainable Development where she created the panel series, Columbia Climate Conversations, to bring diverse activists and scientists to speak on environmental justice issues. She also founded The Eco Justice Project, a digital platform dedicated to sharing the stories of underrepresented communities, accessible climate education, and engaging audiences through creative mediums.

In 2023, she worked with Girl Rising to lead a summer camp engaging Bahamian adolescent girls through photography, poetry, writing, and film, to give voice to their experience of a changing island environment. Most recently, she became a PADI Advanced Scuba Diver, and traveled across several islands with The Bahamas National Trust to capture biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and community restoration efforts. She produced a short film called Preserve Our Heritage, Protect Our Future, reflecting on the loss of biodiversity due to climate change as a loss of Bahamian rich ecological wisdom and cultural identity. She currently works on the development of the interactive digital Bahamas Museum of History and Natural Science, and as a creative storytelling lead for environmental organizations and campaigns.