In 2023, Nyasaina's senior research was focused on the Basel Convention on Transboundary Waste adopted by the United Nations member states in 1989. Her opinion of international environmental policies shifted.  Initially, she viewed such agreements as benevolent responses to global challenges. However, they have weaknesses in disregarding local contexts by advancing uninformed policies and exacerbating climate injustice in the Global South. This agreement upholds regulations that permit affluent nations to ship their waste to economically fragile countries. For 35 years, frontline communities in these waste-receiving regions have not been spared from health crises caused by air and water pollution. As a witness to this ongoing environmental atrocity, she decided to provide educational leadership to inspire change.

During her final presentation at the Environmental Defense Fund, she shared her research and discovered that her colleagues were unaware of this issue. She was motivated to make and post a video underlining the flaws in the Basel Convention. She covered the global waste trade and equal responsibility between the Global North and Global South. To her surprise, the video attracted over 25,000 views from concerned global citizens the world over. 

"This video catalyzed conversations among hundreds of concerned world citizens discussing ways they could make a difference. My efforts instantly became a conduit for passionate people to access interdisciplinary environmental education. The relevance of the video revealed a shared desire for accessible, authentic environmental education."Nyasaina.

Abierre Minor, found her interest in the overlooked corners of environmental injustice, places where the fight for the planet intersects with the fight for dignity. Her questions began with food systems in the United States. How could something as everyday as animal agriculture carry such a massive climate cost? The fact is that US animal agriculture accounts for 14% of greenhouse gas emissions. And communities affected by the consequent air and water pollution are low income and rural communities.

In searching for answers, she found more questions, especially about the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the world’s scramble for clean energy and technology rests on the backs of children working in dangerous cobalt mines. Over 70% of the world’s cobalt comes from the DRC, yet the communities who live closest to this resource suffer the most due to polluted rivers, toxic air, harmful work environments, and forced displacement.

These two realities, although distant, one in the Global North, the other deep in the Global South, helped Abierre understand that climate justice is not just about carbon. It’s about people. It’s about whose stories are heard, whose lives are valued, and who gets to shape the solutions.