I think it’s fair to say that our planet is in need of rehabilitation. If we continue neglecting and abusing all that earth has to offer, it will deteriorate at an even faster rate. Luckily, many  people are working towards restoring it, a few of them being teenagers such as us. 

Greta Thunberg: 

The 16-year-old Swedish climate activist has motivated more than 1.6 million teenagers to become what is today’s youth climate movement due to her founding of the Fridays for Future movement, as well as her presence in multiple climate summits. Her powerful speeches have left politicians speechless worldwide while inspiring many other teenagers such as herself and letting them know that they can enact just as much change as adults.

“I’ve learned you are never too small to make a difference. And if a few children can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school, then imagine what we could all do together if we really wanted to,” Thunberg said in a 2018 COP24 address to world leaders. 

Jerome Foster II:

This 19-year-old climate activist is an author, National Geographic Explorer, Smithsonian Ambassador, and Founder and Editor in Chief of The Climate Reporter. Some of Foster’s other accomplishments include helping in the passing of the Clean Energy DC Act and founding OneMillionOfUs which is an international youth voting organization uniting five youth social movements: gun violence, climate change, immigration reform, gender equality, and racial equality. 

“For the young girl in Guatemala starving because of drought; for the young boy in Sumatra whose entire rainforest community is set ablaze for the extraction of palm oil; for the mother in Beijing who attended her 3-year-old daughter’s funeral because she breathed in the toxic air of the city,” Foster said. “I speak for the millions suffering at the destructive hands of the fossil fuel industry.”

Leah Namugerwa: 

Leah Namugerwa and her fellow youth climate activists miss school every Friday to go on strike for climate justice in Uganda. Leah was inspired by Greta and decided to take matters into her own hands. Namugerwa is currently demanding a Ugandan plastic bag ban.

“Most people do not care what they do to the environment. I noticed adults were not willing to offer leadership and I chose to volunteer myself. Environmental injustice is injustice to me,” Namugerwa said.

Lily Platt:

At the mere age of 9, Platt began fighting to end plastic pollution. Platt is a Youth Ambassador for the Plastic Pollution Coalition and a Child Ambassador for HOW Global and World Cleanup Day. She initially found out about plastic waste when picking up plastic bottles alongside her grandfather and counting them in Dutch as a learning exercise. 

“You don’t have to be a grown up to do something. Children are allowed to help the environment,” Platt said. “If they don’t, they won’t have a future. They won’t have anything to go to school for.”

 A recent study by UNICEF found that today’s kids will live through three times as many climate disasters as their grandparents. In that case, what can you do to help? 

Regardless of your age, you could start petitions to ban specific products such as plastic straws, bags and harmful packaging. If you like gardening, you could start a plot in a community garden. If you’re an artist, you could make art out of recycled materials to bring awareness to the issue. There are also countless places all around the world filled with litter that would benefit greatly from a cleanup. 

Things such as turning the lights off when leaving a room or biking instead of driving can all make a difference. Teenagers are sometimes left feeling intimidated by older, better known climate activists because they feel that they too must have an articulate plan to truly make a difference, but that is not the case. 

Small individual actions can and have led to systematic change. Don’t feel overwhelmed by the climate movement. Instead, try to think of things you can do to participate, to get the word out. If you’re a teenager wanting to act on climate change just remember you are not alone and you can do whatever you put your mind to. Don’t doubt yourself.