LEADERS

SETTING THE PACE

CARLOS ALVARADO QUESADA | 39

By Ban Ki-moon

Costa Rica is a small country, but its President, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, has shown great ambition in tackling the climate crisis. He recognizes the need to confront this existential challenge with innovative and urgent action. This year, the U.N. recognized Costa Rica’s trailblazing approach and ambitious climate policies with its highest environmental honor, naming it a U.N. Champion of the Earth.

Since becoming President in 2018, President Alvarado has established a bold path for Costa Rica, setting targets to reform transport, energy, waste and land use. He is building on his nation’s rich legacy of sustainable development and environmentally mindful growth.

In an age of populism, isolationism and polarized politics, President Alvarado’s defense of the multilateral system and his commitment to finding global solutions to global challenges are highly commendable. His actions serve to remind the world that even small nations can take the lead.

Ban is a former Secretary-General of the U.N. and the deputy chair of the Elders, a group of global leaders advocating for peace, justice and human rights

FIERCE FIRST

LAUREN UNDERWOOD | 33

By Cory Booker

Last year, Lauren Underwood became the youngest Black woman ever elected to serve in Congress. During her speech on election night, she noted that it had been almost exactly 50 years to the day since Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman ever elected to Congress and that, like Chisholm, she would be “unbought and unbossed.”

In her time serving the people of Illinois’ 14th District, she has done just that.

She has stood up to fight for families in her district and across the country: for an end to the gun-violence epidemic; for an economy where everyone has access to opportunity; and for every person’s right to quality, affordable health care, regardless of pre-existing conditions.