# data[].attributes.headline
13-Year-Old Animal Rights Advocate: Genesis Butler

# data[].attributes.subject
13-Year-Old Animal Rights Advocate: Genesis Butler

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- A 13-year-old animal rights advocate in Long Beach will soon be a hero in the Disney+ series "Marvel Hero Project" thanks to her activism.

Genesis Butler has been a real-life hero to many four-legged creatures in her local community for a while.

The 13-year-old girl is an animal rights advocate who continues to make strides in addressing the protection of animals.

"Animals are like the same as us. They have feelings. They have emotions and they feel sadness," Butler said.

Soon, her advocacy work will be featured on a Disney+ original series where Genesis turns Marvel hero.

"I didn't think I'd be on Marvel ever, but I think this is really cool that I'm able to be a part of this," Butler said.

She spends a lot of her free time volunteering, speaking at public events and fundraising for her nonprofit Genesis for Animals to donate to animal sanctuaries.

Her journey began back when Butler was just three years old. That's when the toddler discovered, in order to have chicken nuggets, chickens have to die. Butler and her family went vegetarian.

A year later, while mom nursed her little sister, Butler asked about the milk the rest of her family drank.

"She told me how we had to get it from mom cows. I didn't want to drink it ever again so my whole family ended up going vegan," Butler said.

Butler took her message all the way to the Vatican last year where she tried to ask the Pope to go vegan for Lent.

"We got a lot of other people to go vegan for lent and it brings a lot of awareness about veganism," Butler said.

Butler's work then caught the attention of folks with Marvel's Hero Project.

The show features young, real-life heroes who make a difference in their communities.

Genesis and her family got a big surprise: a jacket complete with a Marvel patch and a comic featuring Butler inspired by the young activist's work.

"My dad was actually put in it and my dog," Butler said.

The teen also got her very own episode on Marvel's Hero Project, which is scheduled to air on Disney+ on Feb. 21.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
13-year-old animal rights advocate in Long Beach named Marvel hero

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A 13-year-old animal rights advocate in Long Beach will soon be a hero in the Disney+ series "Marvel Hero Project" thanks to her activism.

# data[].attributes.headline
Five Child Activists You Need to Know About

# data[].attributes.subject
Five Child Activists You Need to Know About

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Across the world, children and young people have been protesting and speaking up about what matters to them. Why? Because they feel country leaders are not listening to concerns on issues which impact children now, and into the future. While a wave of protests by children has gained momentum over the past few years, child rights activism is nothing new. We take a look at five young activists using their voice to make change.

1. Malala Yousafzai

At just 15-years-old, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head on a school bus by the Taliban in Pakistan for daring to speak out against a ban on education for girls. It is a story that is known across the world.

Malala survived and has gone on to become a role model for women globally. She has devoted her life to being a voice in the fight to ensure all girls receive 12 years of free, safe, quality education.

In 2020, the Malala Fund teamed up with UNICEF and other partners to deliver the 'Building back equal: girls back to school guide', which gives policymakers and other decision-makers the tools to ensure girls' education continues to be an important part of the COVID-19 response. Learn more about our work in education.

Follow Malala on Instagram.

2. Greta Thunberg

Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg started a school strike for the climate outside the Swedish Parliament. Since then, Greta has become a global phenomenon and has helped spread the movement, dubbed Fridays for Future, around the world.

Greta has spoken at climate rallies in Stockholm, Helsinki, Brussels and London. In 2019, she gave a searing and emotional speech at the United Nations, calling on decision-makers around the world to commit to meaningful climate change action.

Greta has inspired other young activists too. In Australia, 14-year-old activist, Izzy Raj-Seppings, led thousands of protestors in "School Strike 4 Climate" protests through Sydney, becoming a face of Australia's youth climate movement when she stared down riot police outside of Kirribili House.

In what Greta Thunberg called 'a huge win for the whole climate movement', Izzy and seven other teenagers, won a class action lawsuit against the Federal Government, which ruled that the Minister for the Environment has a duty of care not to act in a way that would put young people at risk of climate-related harm.

Thunberg has also spoken about the need for an equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. She donated 100,000 euros (AUD $155,000) from her Foundation to the WHO Foundation in support of COVAX and UNICEF to help achieve this goal.

COVAX is part of the global effort to ensure equitable access of vaccines to the most at-risk around the world, including health workers and older people. As part of COVAX, UNICEF aims to deliver more than 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines.
Yet cases of deadly COVID-19 continue to devastate vulnerable communities across the globe. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Learn how you can play your part.
Follow Greta on Twitter.

3. Thandiwe Abdullah

By her seventeenth birthday, Thandiwe Abdullah already had an impressive list of achievements. She co-founded the Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard, helped create the Black Lives Matter in Schools program (subsequently adopted by the National Education Association), and successfully campaigned to end random police searches in the LA Unified School District.

Thandiwe's mother, Melina Abdullah - a prominent activist in her own right - began taking her daughter to political rallies from a young age. By the age of nine, Thandiwe was already involved in the growing BLM movement, giving an impromptu speech at a rally for Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old fatally shot by police in her hometown of South Los Angeles.

In 2018, she spoke in front of a crowd of 500,000 people during the Women's March in Los Angeles, and she was featured in TIME magazine as one of that year's 25 Most Influential Teens.

"For me, success and my work should always be connected to the community. Making sure that I'm continuing to support and uplift-even if it's not my own people-anyone who is oppressed, anyone who is in need or being subjugated. That's my job."

Follow Thandi on Instagram.

4. Bana Alabed

At just seven-years-old, Bana Alabed became well known for documenting her experience of the siege of Aleppo in Syria through Twitter.

With the help of her mother, Bana told of the suffering for people inside and outside of Syria and gave a face to the everyday reality of life in Aleppo. Her Twitter account urged leaders to do more for the millions of children stuck in the middle of conflict.

Bana and her mother were evacuated from Syria in late 2016. In 2018, the child activist received the Atlantic Council Freedom Award. Learn more about the conflict in Syria and how you can help children.

Follow Bana on Twitter.

5. Children around the world

"I saw Greta Thunberg speak at COP24. Her example showed me what I had to do," says Alexandria Villasenor, then 13, to a group of young people protesting in favour of climate action outside the United Nations in March 2019.

On Fridays, throughout the winter, Alexandria took a cue from Thunberg and sat on a bench in New York to protest the lack of action on the environment.

The marchers also demanded that leaders take to heart the landmark October 2018 report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimating the planet was only 12 years away from catastrophe unless "far-reaching and unprecedented changes" are taken.
Children have the right to have an opinion and expect to be heard.
In the past year, thousands of young people across Australia and around the world have taken to the streets to protest about what is important to them and what they feel is being ignored by the world's leaders.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Across the world children and young people have been speaking up about what matters to them. Learn about those who are making their voices heard.

# data[].attributes.headline
Meet Teen Mental Health Activist Anwar Boutahar

# data[].attributes.subject
Meet Teen Mental Health Activist Anwar Boutahar

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
On National Child Day, meet teen mental health activist Anwar Boutahar | CBC Kids News

# data[].attributes.headline
Teen Activist Makes "Trashion" to Help Environment

# data[].attributes.subject
Teen Activist Makes "Trashion" to Help Environment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teen Activist Makes 'Trashion' to Help Environment

# data[].attributes.headline
Teen Activists Mobilize Through Social Media

# data[].attributes.subject
Teen Activists Mobilize Through Social Media

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teen activists mobilize massive Black Lives Matter protest through social media

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.headline
Never again: How 11-year-old Naomi Wadler became a rallying voice of black protest 

# data[].attributes.subject
Never again: How 11-year-old Naomi Wadler became a rallying voice of black protest 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.headline
U.S. Teen "Unstoppable" in Fight for Girl Power in Africa

# data[].attributes.subject
U.S. Teen "Unstoppable" in Fight for Girl Power in Africa

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Newsela | U.S. teen "unstoppable" in fight for girl power in Africa

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
U.S. teen is an advocate for girls' education reform in Africa.

# data[].attributes.headline
Malala and Teen Activists on Learning to Speak Out 

# data[].attributes.subject
Malala and Teen Activists on Learning to Speak Out 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Malala and teen activists on learning to speak out

# data[].attributes.headline
The Wijsen sisters were able to ban plastic bags in Bali

# data[].attributes.subject
The Wijsen sisters were able to ban plastic bags in Bali

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Five years ago, two young women decided they were going to do something about the plastic problem on their island of Bali.

And Bye Bye Plastic Bags was born.

How young? So young one of them couldn't make it to our midweek interview. "She's at school," explained 18-year-old Melati Wijsen, talking about her 16- year- old sister Isabel.

"She's just halfway through grade 11 and she's putting her focus more into graduating high school."

About 'The Plastic Tide'

Bali is part of the island nation of Indonesia, which is the world's second biggest polluter when it comes to marine plastic, trailing only China. And when ocean currents carry that plastic to the tourist island of Bali, it's a public relations nightmare. This video taken by British diver Rich Horner last year pretty much sums up the scale of the problem as he tries to navigate through a sea of plastic just below the water's surface.

The two sisters got the idea for Bye Bye Plastic Bags in 2013 after a lesson at school about influential world leaders - change-makers - including Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

"My sister and I went home that day thinking, 'Well, what can we do as kids living on the island of Bali?' " Melati Wijsen says.

"You see, we didn't want to wait until we were older to start making a difference. It wasn't even a question, really. It was more like, what can we do, as kids, right now."

The answer was right in front of them. Literally. On the beach in front of their home.

"It got to the point where on weekends when we would go to our childhood beach, if we went swimming there, a plastic bag would wrap around your arm, Wijsen says. "And you say just, enough is enough."

They went online and discovered that over 40 countries had already banned or taxed plastic bags.

"We thought, 'Well, if they can do it, c'mon, Bali! C'mon, Indonesia! We can do it, too!' " Wijsen says. "So, without a business plan or a strategy or a budget, like my mom will tell you, we went forward with a pure passion and intention to make our island home plastic bag free."

They got some friends together, went online to start a petition and got 6,000 signatures in less than a day, Wijsen says. They spread awareness through school and community workshops. The organized massive beach cleanup campaigns, all the while drawing international attention and that of local politicians too. Especially when they decided to up the ante optics-wise.

"I think one of the biggest tools that pushed us forward was our decision to go on a food strike," Wijsen says, inspired, she says, by one of the tools used by Gandhi. "He also had peaceful ways of reaching his goals, of getting attention, So that was a huge inspiration for us."

The sisters put the word out about their plan on social media. Local media picked it up, and that's prompted the governor at the time, I Made Pastika, to do what any savvy politician would do when faced with two teenage girls threatening a hunger strike. He invited them to come see him. "Within 24 hours, we had a phone call and then the next day we were picked up from school and escorted to the office of the governor," Wijsen says.

Pastika signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the sisters to work toward eliminating plastic on the island - and later pledged to rid Bali of plastic bags by 2018. That didn't happen, but the sisters kept engaging government at every level - local, municipal and national - to keep up the pressure. Melati Wijsen says she learned a lot about dealing with politicians in the process.

"Yeah, well, being 14 and skipping school on a Tuesday because I had to learn about draft regulations and suggestions really was an interesting learning curve for me," she says. Dancing with politicians, she says, is like three steps forward, two steps back and again, and again. It's almost like the cha-cha. I learned a lot of different things."

Wijsen says that in the past year she's spent about 100 nights on the road with speaking engagements to get out the anti-plastic message and to talk about youth empowerment as well. The sisters have given a TED talk, spoke at the U.N. in New York and again last year at the IMF World Bank Forum in Bali. World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva called Melati "a girl that is changing the world around her."

They've also been named among the world's most influential teenagers by Forbes, Time magazine and CNN.

And just last month, the new governor of Bali announced a law banning single-use plastic in 2019, thanks in part to the sisters' efforts and those of like-minded NGOs.

Businesses have six months to comply or face having their business permits revoked.

Melati Wijsen was thrilled with the news. But she says there's still lots of work to be done spreading the no-plastic gospel not just in Bali and Indonesia but around the globe.

So Bye Bye Plastic Bags is multiplying. "We're actually now in 28 locations around the world, and it's all led by young people," Wijsen says. "We've created a starter kit and a handbook that guides them through this process of how to start a movement."

She says this global expansion is one of the most inspiring parts of being part of Bye Bye Plastic Bags "because ... we literally prove that kids can do things, and Bye Bye Plastic Bags has become this platform where kids can feel like their voices are being heard."

She wants to continue being heard - and demanding change. And she wants other young people to do the same: "For us, everything is happening in our lifetime, right? So we have to be the ones to start working toward the future and the world that we want to be a part of."

In addition to efforts in Bali, the Indonesian government has pledged to do its part in eliminating the scourge of plastic pollution. It's committed to reducing plastic pollution by 70 percent by 2025. Melati Wijsen will be closely monitoring their efforts.

She's graduated from high school but is committed to her campaign: "This is my No. 1 focus right now," she says. "It consumes almost every thought in my body. I mean, it's like a full-time job."

Is she obsessed or just focused? "A healthy chunk of both," she says, laughing, adding that her mother helps keep her balanced. "Some days, she'll just be like, 'Melati, take a day off, like go to the beach with your friends and just don't pick up the plastic, just sit there.' " She is going to the beach - on Feb. 16, when Bye Bye Plastic Bags is planning its biggest beach cleanup ever.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Teenage Sisters Pushed Bali To Say 'Bye-Bye' To Plastic Bags

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Plastic is choking our oceans. Inspired by Gandhi's activism, two young women on the island of Bali are on a mission to do something about it.

# data[].attributes.headline
Mari Copeny and the Flint, Michigan Water Crisis

# data[].attributes.subject
Mari Copeny and the Flint, Michigan Water Crisis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
​

Mari is a 16 year old from Flint, Michigan known globally as Little Miss Flint. Born on July 6th, 2007. She first entered the public spotlight when her letter to President Obama about the water crisis prompted him to visit the city and survey the water crisis for himself. That visit ultimately led to him approving $100 million dollars in relief for the city of Flint. Her young age has not prevented her from making a significant impact on the dialogue around environmental racism and confronted the entire country with the reality faced by victims of state negligence. Her youthful honesty prevents political leaders from being able to ignore the consequences of neglectful leadership. She gives voice to the unheard hardships of Americans trapped by a collapsing and toxic infrastructure.

In 2017 Mari continued her dedication to social justice by becoming a national youth ambassador to the Women's March on Washington and the National Climate Mari. Mari is also dedicated to preventing bullying and works with the anti-bullying group Trendsetters Productions. She is also a member of the Flint Youth Justice League. She also sat on the 2019 Kid Box board of directors as the chairwoman of the board. She also proudly works with Eighteen by 18, a youth organization founded by her mentor Yara Shahidi. Mari has also spoken twice at the March for Science about how the Flint water crisis has affected her community. Mari has a doll that is modeled after her by the doll company Lottie. She also sits on the Flint Youth Justice League and the MDE Anti-Racism Student Advisory Council.

Mari has used her platform to not only bring awareness to the water crisis in her community but to also give back. Mari has raised over $700,000 for her Flint Kids projects including giving out over 19,000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies, a yearly Christmas event with thousands of toys, hundreds of Easter baskets, movie s creenings, and lots of other events centered around the kids in her community. Her book project where she gets books by authors of color into the hands of local children. Her dear Flint Kids letter project has received thousands of letters of support to the children of Flint from people all around the world. She also raised over $250k and given away over a million bottles of bottled water. But she takes the most pride in pivoting away from single-use bottled water to partnering with a company (Hydroviv) to produce her very own water filter, that is shipped all over the country to those that are facing toxic drinking water, to date she has raised over $700k to produce and distribute her filters.

Mari Copeny has been featured in Teen Vogue, The Guardian, VICE, TIME, Refinery 29, The Washington Post, NBC News, Rewire, Buzzfeed, and more for her vocal opposition to the injustices of environmental racism. When Mari grows up she plans on running for president in 2044.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
​ Mari is a 16 year old from Flint, Michigan known globally as Little Miss Flint. Born on July 6th, 2007. She first entered the public spotlight when her letter to President Obama about the water crisis prompted him to visit the city and survey the water crisis for himself.

# data[].attributes.headline
Hailey Hardcastle and Mental Health Days for Students

# data[].attributes.subject
Hailey Hardcastle and Mental Health Days for Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Oregon's suicide rate has outpaced the national average for the past three decades. In an effort to combat stigma around mental illness, four local teen activists took matters into their own hands and championed a proposed state law.

Oregon schools will now excuse student absences for mental or behavioral health reasons, as with regular sick days. In other words, if a student is feeling down, they can stay home from school without getting docked for missing classes.

Previously, students were only allowed to miss school due to physical illness, a family member's physical illness, doctor or dentist appointments or an emergency. According to state law, students are allowed up to five excused absences within a three-month period, the Associated Press reported. Further excused absences require a handwritten note to the principal.

The law, signed by Gov. Kate Brown last month, will take effect this coming school year and is widely believed to be one of the first of its kind in the country to treat physical and mental health equally.

The mental health of teens and young adults in the country has dropped dramatically since the mid-2000s.

"We're not talking about 'I just don't feel like going to school.,' We're talking about real disorders, real things that have real impacts," Chris Bouneff, the executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Oregon, told NPR. "It's hard to address them systematically if they have to stay hidden because of stigma and prejudice and shame."

Critics have argued that students can technically already take mental health days by lying or pretending to be sick. Taking a mental health day often carries a negative connotation, therefore some claim this new law will prompt students to find more excuses to miss school. Oregon has one of the worst absenteeism rates in the nation - during the 2015-16 school year, more than 1 in 6 children were chronically absent from school.

Bouneff said the new law not only creates equity for health care conditions that are commonly hidden away. It also allows students to be honest about their reason for not going to school. It may lead to greater acceptance and encourage individuals to seek help and get on track to recovery.

"You would have circumstances where students have a mental health disorder that impacts their ability to attend school at a given day but they would have to hide the reasons that generated their absences and you don't do that for any other health care condition," Bouneff said.

The national suicide rate increased 33 percent from 1999 to 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among Oregon residents aged 15 to 34, and the eighth-leading cause among all ages in the state, the Oregon Health Authority said.

Taking this statistic into account, 18-year-old Hailey Hardcastle, along with three other students, started lobbying for the mental health bill.

Exactly a year ago, Hardcastle was at summer camp for the Oregon Association of Student Councils where she assisted in holding workshops for students across the state regarding mental health issues. There, students brainstormed the importance of taking "Mental Health Days" from school.

"A big issue for students with mental health is when you have to miss a day because you're going through depression or you have a therapy appointment," Hardcastle told NPR. "It's really hard to make up tests and homework because teachers or the administration might not take it as seriously as a physical illness."

She realized nearly all of her peers had a story about someone they knew who had tried to commit suicide or was dealing with a mental health problem.

Hardcastle said she herself struggled with handling anxiety in high school where she was "always pressured to do as much as I can all the time so that way you could be competitive in college and jobs." Along with witnessing her closest friends struggle with depression, she knew it was time to help fix the problem rather than just hear about it.

Hardcastle will attend the University of Oregon where she plans to study political science. Despite feeling nervous talking to government officials for the first time, this entire process made her aware of how receptive the political system is.

"When I went down [to the Capitol] I saw people who looked just like me walking around and trying to make a difference so it really made me realize that if you believe in something, you can do something about it, no matter how old you are or where you come from or what you already know about politics," she said.

Inspired by the change she helped influence, Hardcastle said she hopes to become a lobbyist one day. For her, the new law is definitely not the end.

"I have three younger sisters who are in middle school right now...and part of the reason I do this is so high school and beyond will be even easier for them than it was for me," she said.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Feeling Blue? Oregon Students Allowed To Take 'Mental Health Days'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The state, which has one of the higher suicide rates in the U.S., hopes the law will combat stigma around mental illness. Four teen activists encourage others to "admit when they're struggling."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By entering your email address, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . Newshub and its affiliates may use your email address to provide updates/news, ads, and offers. To withdraw your consent or learn more about your rights, see the Privacy Policy .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Parkway student raises money for Australia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Parkway student raises money for Australia

# data[].attributes.headline
13 Year Old Water Activist Nominated for Peace Prize

# data[].attributes.subject
13 Year Old Water Activist Nominated for Peace Prize

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Source: Twitter

By Aimee Lutkin

Autumn Peltier, an Anishinaabe teen from Wikwemikong First Nation, has been nominated for the Children's Peace prize, making her the only Canadian in the running for the prestigious prize, according to CTV News. Peltier has been working as an activist for clean water since she was eight years old, and her relationship to the element is deeply personal.

"When I think about how polluted the water is already, I think of future generations and my grandchildren and their grandchildren. Will they even have clean drinking water?" Peltier told CTV Montreal. "Water is alive and has a spirit, and like water is so sacred."

In December 2016, Peltier briefly met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to talk to him about oil pipelines polluting water systems in the country. It was an emotional encounter and powerful to watch.

"I said I'm very unhappy with the choices you've made, and he said, 'I understand that,'" Peltier explained. "And then I started crying ... and all I got to say after that was 'the pipelines' and then he said, 'I will protect the water.'"

In the interview below, Peltier says she thinks it's important to be public with her advocacy because it will inspire other young people to start doing the same sorts of work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
13-Year-Old Water Activist Is Nominated For A Children's Peace Prize

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Aimee Lutkin Autumn Peltier, an Anishinaabe teen from Wikwemikong First Nation, has been nominated for the Children's Peace prize, making her the only Canadian in the running for the prestigious prize, according to CTV News. Peltier has been working as an activist for clean water since she was eight years old, and her relationship to the element is deeply personal.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
“I created a resource mobilisation project called Pencil Mountain that has delivered over half a million school resources to Ethiopian children,” Hannah Godefa, 15

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This week, in honor of Earth Day's focus on climate action, we're celebrating youth activists who have made it their mission to fight for our future. Learn more about them and other grassroots environmentalists in our People Who Make a Difference virtual gallery tour.
From shifting weather patterns to rising sea levels, climate change and its global effects can be seen everywhere we turn. Headlines about major floods, extreme weather, wildfires and rising global temperatures are becoming all too frequent.

Locally, we've already begun to see the effects of climate change. New York State has experienced increased annual temperatures, more frequent heavy rainfall and decreasing winter snow cover. As sea levels rise along New York's coast, homes and businesses are left more vulnerable than ever to major flooding events. If we stay our current course, these effects will continue to increase.

Thankfully, more and more young people around the world are using their voices and their platforms to combat climate change and find solutions for a sustainable future.

Meet Alexandria Villaseñor: School Strike Climate Activist

During a family visit in California, Alexandria Villaseñor witnessed the 2018 Camp Fire, the most deadly and destructive wildfire in California history. Suffering from severe asthma, the wildfires made the air around Alexandria toxic and caused her to become physically ill.

When Alexandria learned that increasing temperatures due to climate change had contributed to the wildfire's severity, she decided to take action.

Inspired by Greta Thunberg, 14-year-old Alexandria began a solitary school strike in front of the United Nations in New York City to protest the failures of the UN's Climate Change Conference. "When I go out and protest, it's one of the ways that I feel like I have a say in what's going to happen," Alexandria says.

Now Alexandria uses her voice to convince global legislators to take action on climate change. Through her organization, Earth Uprising, Alexandria leads by example, and inspires youth around the world to take a stand for the environment and for their futures.

Meet Felix Finkbeiner: Founder of Plant-for-the-Planet

At the age of nine, Felix Finkbeiner had an idea: if kids in every country planted one million trees, they could offset global carbon emissions all on their own.

Inspired by Wangari Maathai's Greenbelt Movement in Kenya, Felix started Plant-for-the-Planet, an organization that plants trees and supports kids around the world to organize and do the same.

At 22, Felix has given speeches around the globe, relaying the seriousness of climate change and explaining how planting trees can help save our planet.

Felix says, ""When we children come together, we can really make a difference. One mosquito cannot do anything against a rhinoceros, but a thousand mosquitoes can make a rhinoceros to change its direction. When the kids unite and plant trees all over the world, then we act as global citizens to change the world."

Meet Xiuhtezcatl Martinez: Indigenous rapper and activist

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, has been speaking on behalf of the environment since he was six years old. Now 19, Xiuhtezcatl is one of 21 young people suing the United States government for failing to take appropriate action on climate change.

These young people believe that the results of climate change are robbing them of their futures. As a rapper, Xiuhtezatl uses his music to spread positive messages and act as the voice of the people.

Songs like "Young" and "One Day" call on youth to rise up, be themselves, and stand up for what they believe in. "Not everyone is outspoken, but we all have a significant part to play. So channel your fear, channel your hurt and channel your hatred into action," says Xiuhtezcatl.

Alexandria, Felix, Xiuhtezcatl and other young people like them are doing their part to fight the effects of climate change and hold global governments responsible for their role. These young people inspire us to make a difference for our climate and we hope you will join them in fighting for a better climate for all.
Learn more about these youth climate activists and other change makers in our People Who Make a Difference collaborative poster project that celebrates inspiring grassroots environmentalists who may not have always been recognized-including people of color, women, youth, Native Americans and members of other indigenous groups. Take a virtual gallery tour of posters honoring these extraordinary people created by graphic design students from Dutchess Community College.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Celebrating Youth Climate Activists - Scenic Hudson

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This week, in honor of Earth Day's focus on climate action, we're celebrating youth activists who have made it their mission to fight for our future. Learn more about them and other grassroots environmentalists in our People Who Make a Difference virtual gallery tour. From shifting weather patterns to rising sea levels, climate change and ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teen activist Anya Dillard. (Jean Pierre Dillard )

About US is a new initiative by The Washington Post to cover issues of identity in the United States. Sign up for the newsletter.

Like many in her generation, 17-year-old Anya Dillard has been politically engaged for much of her life. She began following the news closely at 13 years old and has put on protests in support of racial justice long before the swell of support for Black Lives Matter last summer. In June, Dillard helped organize a protest in her community of West Orange, N.J., drawing more than 2,000 people.

The political engagement of Gen Z, whether it is about climate change, racial justice or gender equality, is fast becoming a defining feature of the generation. Many are still teenagers, with the oldest among them turning 25 this year. They are more diverse than previous generations and more likely to say that Black people are treated less fairly than Whites in the United States, a 2019 Pew Research Center survey found. As Dillard said, "I had lived to see the first Black president, but I also lived to see the murder of Trayvon Martin."

Dillard is a senior in high school. In between classes, she sat down with About US to share what it's like to be a Gen Z teen activist. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

You gave a moving speech at a Black Lives Matter protest in West Orange, N.J. over the summer that drew about 2,000 people. Can you describe what your writing process was like and what you were hoping to convey to people?

That speech was really surreal for me because, by the time of George Floyd 's death, I had been an activist since my freshman year of high school. I'm always the first person to organize an event or hold a discussion in my classes or my school when these things go down. But I often forget to feel. I often forget to mourn. And I often forget to react emotionally because I'm so focused on, 'We need to fix. We need to help. We need to empower.' And I didn't realize that was happening until I saw the George Floyd video and I recognized my numbness and it freaked me out.

I remember standing up there, and I remember speaking, and I just remember seeing that sea of people and not even being able to see the grass underneath all of them. Just seeing the sea of masked faces was such a surreal image to me because I was like, this is history right here. This is a time capsule of something that's so monumental, a new-age civil rights movement that's happening all over the world. And I'm looking at a piece of it.

What kind of reaction did you get?

Me and my peers who originally organized protests felt that we couldn't just manage all the support with just the seven or eight of us. So that was when my peers co-founded the West Orange Youth Caucus. And after that, the mayor, Robert Parisi, and the chief of police reached out to us and allowed us to sit in on meetings and asked our input when it came to reevaluating and editing town ordinances related to handling racial discrimination in schools, interdisciplinary programs that were previously biased towards children of color, the redistribution of funds for predominantly Black and Latin elementary schools over the predominantly White elementary schools. And it really showed our community and the rest of our peers that these efforts really do push forth legislative changes.

And it just really showed people that we're not just out here complaining, we organized exactly for this purpose, to garner the eyes that we need to make sure that the people in power understand that real concrete changes need to be made to the legislation in our towns and schools. And it taught me a lot because before, I had been involved in a lot of protests but I had never seen the concrete evidence of real progress being made, outside of just educating more people. So it was really kind of a turning point for me personally, because it showed me the real power in organizing and what the real end goal is when it comes to these large demonstrations.

The protests over the summer drew massive crowds and a lot of diverse crowds. Why do you think that this was so different from protests that you were involved in?

I feel like quarantine had a lot to do with it. Because these are things that have been going on for ages and ages, so it's not new to anyone. Because at the time, we had only been in quarantine for about three to four months, I feel like people were really glued to their phones and glued to the television and were always constantly trying to figure out what's going on on the outside.

I feel as though people outside of the Black community were particularly affected by the George Floyd video because it kind of put it in their face in a way that the deaths of innocent Black people were never put in their faces before. And I think that parents felt that pain, and I felt that children felt that pain, because you could see the humanity in this man. I feel like for a good amount of days, everyone was just kind of looking at this video and being like, wow. No one could explain it, no one could really put reason to it, no one could make it make sense. And I think because of that, people started realizing, like, this isn't about politics at all. This isn't about religion. This isn't about upbringing. This is purely about whether you think innocent Black people should be murdered.

I think that Gen Z was so fed up with being put in these positions to reeducate the generations that have preceded us. I think that we, as a generation, really had a huge impact on making this movement what it was, whether it be by educating our parents or confronting that racist uncle at the dinner table or organizing a protest or simply sharing about the events that were going on via social media or donating or investing in Black businesses. All of these things that happened were largely influenced by Generation Z. And I think that because of that, so many people started to care and so many people were like, well, my kid is willing to stand out here with these people and possibly get arrested or possibly get pepper-sprayed or possibly face consequences to change something. And seeing that will force a lot of adults to pay attention. And I think that's what it did.

With President Trump out of office, what are your thoughts on how the racial justice movement should move forward in a Biden administration?

One of the things that I stress to people is that getting Trump out is a victory. That's a win. We have to acknowledge that is a win. Two, I don't think that we should jump to criticize Kamala, because she's a Black woman in office. Kamala's job was to prosecute. She prosecuted a lot of Black men and sent a lot of Black men to jail. That is not something that I am 'Hurrah, Kamala!' about.

But there are many White men that have taken her position that have done worse things, and we often don't criticize those White men because they're White men. And as members of the Black community especially, we have to give her a chance to influence the policies that will ultimately influence the Black community, Black women, Black youth, incarcerated Black men and women.

That's not to say that people should just be happy that she's in office and shut up, because absolutely not. We still have a voice. We put those people in office. So we should still have influence on what goes on. But I think that people, especially members of the Black community, should not be so quick to criticize Kamala for her past, because she's a Black woman and we need to understand that we often nitpick our own more than we nitpick members of other communities who are in positions of power.

So I'm optimistic about the Biden administration. I'm very hopeful that, in the coming months, in the coming years, we will see significant progress made in the areas of social and racial justice and police brutality.

How did the work of the civil rights movement in the '60s help inform your activism?

So much. The civil rights movement influenced me in so many ways, whether it be from educating me about activists that aren't typically taught about in school, to educating me about the art of protest and about the political influence that protest mobilization can have. And I think that especially over the course of my high school career, I had of course always been knowledgeable of the work of Malcolm X, the work of Rosa Parks, the work of Martin Luther King Jr. And I think that we often forget the scope and the vastness of members of the Black community that were really involved in the uprisings, in the reorganizations of our social and racial climate. I think that understanding just how the civil rights movement impacted so many of the current-day movements and the current issues that are placed in our face today is major.

How do you think President Obama being your president, at least until you were a teenager, influenced you?

I think it had a major impact on how I viewed myself as a young Black woman, because prior to that, I wasn't as aware of racism as many other young Black people had been because of where I grew up. I was never picked on for my race. I was never singled out. I had never, before getting involved in STEM, I was almost never the only Black girl in the room. And so I never felt like my Blackness was something that set me back.

And seeing Barack Obama as president and seeing him execute that at that level, he really empowered me - even before I fully understood just how much society puts up against Black people and Black youth. And being that I [grew] up on that example, before I understood the idea of racial oppression in our present day, that really solidified my confidence as a Black person and my pride because, if you don't see it, you can't be it. And if I hadn't grown up seeing a Black president, if I hadn't grown up seeing as many Black icons and as many political leaders as I had, I probably would have been much more discouraged in getting involved in politics and raising my voice.

What advice would you give to other young Black women looking to get involved in this work?

I've always been a huge advocate for standing in your truth always and standing up for what you believe in, no matter where you stand. That's the advice that I give to a lot of young girls that I mentor, that no matter what, you have to understand that there's power in your voice and that there's influence in your voice and that you have to value having an opinion and to not be scared to have an opinion, even if no one else in the room has opinions. And I often encourage young Black girls to deem themselves worthy because society often tells us that we don't have a place at the table or we're not asked to speak or we're not supposed to want to do this and we're not supposed to want to be this and we're not supposed to be confident in all these different things. And I always tell young Black girls to just completely erase that from your psyche and just understand that you have as much power as you give yourself.

Today's Headlines

The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gen Z is making change, one protest at a time

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
About US is a new initiative by The Washington Post to cover issues of identity in the United States. Sign up for the newsletter . Like many in her generation, 17-year-old Anya Dillard has been politically engaged for much of her life.