Mark Ortiz, a former Presidential Postdoctoral Scholar and now an assistant professor in Penn State’s Department of Geography, is investigating how to amplify the voices of young people around the world in the areas of climate change and sustainable development.
One of his initiatives is the Global Youth Storytelling and Research Lab (GYSRL). Launched in 2023 with the support of the United Nations Foundation and Penn State’s Institute of Energy and the Environment, GYSRL is a collaborative storytelling and research ecosystem building bridges between youth-centered academic research, multimedia storytelling, and policy work.
“Our emphasis is on translational and transformational work that elevates and amplifies the perspectives, stories, and lived experiences of young people in the most impacted communities and regions,” said Ortiz, who founded and directs the lab.
His research focuses on how youth engage in climate activism within their communities and how their actions contribute to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, such as climate action, affordable clean energy, and peace and justice work.
“It’s long been recognized that young people are one of the communities most impacted by climate change and climate injustice,” Ortiz said. “I believe that the kind of world we are leaving for future generations is not going to be a good one if climate action is not taken and not prioritized, and those concerns inspire my research.”
Ortiz employs qualitative methodologies and storytelling techniques to understand and describe the experiences of young individuals most affected by global issues. While youth movements have attained a larger presence in both policy spaces and the media, such as the Fridays for Future school strikes, certain voices are overlooked in the discourse, according to Ortiz.
“I think there are still a lot of voices being left out of that conversation, specifically voices from young people from regions in Global South countries that are experiencing climate impacts right now,” Ortiz said. “It’s not so much an issue for the future for these communities as it is a question for today on how to deal with day-to-day realities. It’s important in my work to broaden the climate conversation to draw those different impacts into focus.”
Another initiative involves collaborating with leaders from the Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar and other experienced youth researchers. They are exploring how young people from the Middle East and North Africa are engaged in the United Nations climate policy process.
Over the years, Ortiz has interviewed more than sixty youth advocates from thirty different countries, but he said one participant’s story most closely summarized his research.
“I was talking to a young person in Ghana who had worked with a lot of young people for many years but had never received much funding or media attention,” Ortiz said. “He would watch the school strikes demanding action for the climate crisis and saw certain people getting major media attention.
“That contrast between working on the issue and experiencing the impacts, versus talking about the future impacts of climate change, was striking. It summarized a lot of what I found in my research. There is a lot of inequity not only in the impact of climate change but also in terms of who’s getting attention, and that really stuck with me.”
Ortiz is involved with numerous youth and intergenerational climate justice organizations and has served as an expert panelist and consultant for international organizations focused on youth empowerment, such as IDEO and the U.N. Foundation. He has also been a delegate to U.N. climate change and sustainable development meetings around the world.
“What I’ve been really impressed by with the youth movement and the young folks that I’ve worked with is that there’s a real spirit of building community across traditional boundaries—boundaries that they’ve kind of inherited from older decision-makers or adults—and really trying to build new alliances and solidarities, which I think is really important,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz was elected as an Emerging Leaders for Climate Action Fellow by Globally, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating communities of emerging leaders who are committed to addressing the most pressing global challenges of our time. He is also part of the inaugural cohort of the American Association of Geographers’ Elevate the Discipline program, designed to provide training opportunities and resources to help geographers connect their work to public and policy arenas.
Ortiz said there are many avenues at Penn State for students to get involved.
“One thing I’d advocate for is getting involved in community networks and organizations,” Ortiz said. “If you’re a student at Penn State, there are a variety of different organizations that are student-led and contributing to campus-wide sustainability.
“I would also recommend getting involved with Penn State researchers doing cutting-edge work on climate justice and climate impacts. I think it’s important for young people coming of age today to really be aware of the environmental dimensions of everything we do. As geographers, I think we’ve always kind of thought about the environment and humanity as intersecting. I think being aware of the environmental climate dimensions that will define a lot of young people’s life opportunities is important.”
Ortiz earned a bachelor of arts degree in interdisciplinary and religious studies from the University of Alabama in 2015. He earned a master’s degree in 2017 and a doctoral degree in 2022, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ortiz was appointed assistant professor of geography, effective July 1, 2024. He is also a co-funded faculty member of Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute and an affiliate member of Penn State’s Institute of Energy and the Environment. He served as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow from July 2022 to June 30, 2024.