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"We are the main characters of our lives."

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Marley Dias is the 13-year-old social activist behind #1000BlackGirlBooks, an international movement to collect and donate children's books that feature Black girls as the lead character. With the help of her mother's foundation, GrassROOTS Community Foundation, Marley launched the #1000BlackGirlBooks drive in November of 2015, leveraging the power of social media to reach a larger audience.

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Greta Thunberg: The disarming case to act right now on climate change

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In this passionate call to action, 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg explains why, in August 2018, she walked out of school and organized a strike to raise awareness of global warming, protesting outside the Swedish parliament and grabbing the world's attention. "The climate crisis has already been solved.

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A KId's Tribute to Military Service People

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A KId's Tribute to Military Service People

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Earth Day is April 22. On this day, people around the world focus on environmental issues. But you don’t have to wait for Earth Day to take action. You can improve our planet every day of the year. TIME for…

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There are couple of steps to the registration process in order for it to be a safe community. A child or young person needs a responsible adult to support them through the registration process.

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Students and Parents Advocating for a Healthier School Day (and more recess!) 

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Students and Parents Advocating for a Healthier School Day (and more recess!) 

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"We only had one recess today!" Beatrice Dathan complained to her mother after coming home from school one day. That was four years ago. Beatrice's family had moved from California to Connecticut. In California, Beatrice had 50 minutes of recess daily. In Connecticut, she had only 20 minutes.

Lucy Dathan is Beatrice's mom. She wishes Beatrice had more recess time. It "helps kids build relationships and be creative thinkers," she told TIME for Kids.

Clear Benefits

In 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and SHAPE America published a report about recess: Playtime encourages kids to be active. This can build healthy bodies. Plus, physical activity can improve brain function. And recess helps kids form friendships.

MITCHELL FUNK/GETTY IMAGES

The CDC calls for at least 20 minutes of daily recess for elementary school students. The average U.S. school offers 27 minutes of recess. But some schools offer none at all.

Powerful Voices

DARREN IRBY

Asa Hutchinson is the governor of Arkansas. He signed the state's recess reform bill into law on April 1. TFK Kid Reporter Belle Irby was on the scene at the State Capitol that day.

Hutchinson admires the kids' efforts. "Young people can have a powerful voice," he told Belle.

RANDALL LEE

Sidebar: Test Case

There is pressure on schools to ensure students do well on state tests. That's why some of them shorten recess. This makes more time for class. Some schools also take away recess as punishment for poor schoolwork.

JEFF CADGE-GETTY IMAGES

But cutting back on recess may not be the best way to improve test results. According to the 2017 CDC and SHAPE America report, recess can improve a child's memory. It can also improve a child's focus.

Stop & Think! What questions would you ask Izzy Kopsky and Governor Hutchinson if you were a TFK Kid Reporter? Who else would you have interviewed for this story?

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"We only had one recess today!" Beatrice Dathan complained to her mother after coming home from school one day. That was four years ago. Beatrice's family had moved from California to Connecticut. In California, Beatrice had 50 minutes of recess...

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Hawaiian Students Taking Action Against Ocean Plastic

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Hawaiian Students Taking Action Against Ocean Plastic

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William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

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At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family's home. Now at 22, William Kamkwamba, who speaks at TED, here, for the second time, shares in his own words the moving tale of invention that changed his life.

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The Ocean Cleanup's mission is to develop advanced technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic. Find out more about why and who we are here.

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Nature is in more trouble now than ever before in human history. More than 1 million species are on the brink of extinction. And species loss is happening hundreds of times faster than it did in the past.

All of that is according to a new report from the United Nations. It is the first U.N. report to take an in-depth look at the health of the Earth's plant and animal species.

The report was compiled by more than 450 researchers. They used 15,000 scientific and government studies to create it. A summary was released today, and the full 1,500-page report will be released later this year.

According to the report, the greatest threat to plants and animals is habitat loss. This happens when humans use land and water for purposes such as farming, fishing, and building cities. According to the summary, three-quarters of Earth's land-based environment has been "significantly altered by human actions."

The summary also says that plastic pollution is 10 times as bad as it was in 1980. And it warns that if global warming continues, climate change could harm species even more than habitat loss.

Andrew Purvis is one of the authors of the report. He and other researchers say it isn't too late to fix the problem. "The key to remember is, it's not a terminal diagnosis," Purvis told the Associated Press.

The authors are calling on nations around the world to strengthen their environmental policies. British scientist Robert Watson led the creation of the report. He says that "transformative change" will be necessary: "Business as usual is a disaster."

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Nature is in more trouble now than ever before in human history. More than 1 million species are on the brink of extinction. And species loss is happening hundreds of times faster than it did in the past. All of...

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UC Berkeley Students Use Social Media to Uncover Human Rights Violations

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UC Berkeley Students Use Social Media to Uncover Human Rights Violations

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The authoritative information on the status of approval, acceptance, accession and ratification of the Agreement is provided by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the respective internet page of the United Nations Treaty Depositary under: Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 195 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on 12 December 2015. It entered into force on 4 November 2016. Currently, as of 27 January 2026, there are 194 Parties to the Paris Agreement.

Its overarching goal is to hold "the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels" and pursue efforts "to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels."

However, in recent years, world leaders have stressed the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of this century.

That's because the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that crossing the 1.5°C threshold risks unleashing far more severe climate change impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.

To limit global warming to 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and decline 43% by 2030.

The Paris Agreement is a landmark in the multilateral climate change process because, for the first time, a binding agreement brings all nations together to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

How does the Paris Agreement work?

Implementation of the Paris Agreement requires economic and social transformation, based on the best available science. The Paris Agreement works on a five-year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action -- or, ratcheting up -- carried out by countries. Since 2020, countries have been submitting their national climate action plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Each successive NDC is meant to reflect an increasingly higher degree of ambition compared to the previous version.

Recognizing that accelerated action is required to limit global warming to 1.5°C, the COP27 cover decision requests Parties to revisit and strengthen the 2030 targets in their NDCs to align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2023, taking into account different national circumstances.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

In their NDCs, countries communicate actions they will take to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Countries also communicate in their NDCs actions they will take to build resilience to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Long-Term Strategies

To better frame the efforts towards the long-term goal, the Paris Agreement invites countries to formulate and submit long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LT-LEDS).

LT-LEDS provide the long-term horizon to the NDCs. Unlike NDCs, they are not mandatory. Nevertheless, they place the NDCs into the context of countries' long-term planning and development priorities, providing a vision and direction for future development.

How are countries supporting one another?

The Paris Agreement provides a framework for financial, technical and capacity building support to those countries who need it.

Finance

The Paris Agreement reaffirms that developed countries should take the lead in providing financial assistance to countries that are less endowed and more vulnerable, while for the first time also encouraging voluntary contributions by other Parties. Climate finance is needed for mitigation, because large-scale investments are required to significantly reduce emissions. Climate finance is equally important for adaptation, as significant financial resources are needed to adapt to the adverse effects and reduce the impacts of a changing climate.

Technology

The Paris Agreement speaks of the vision of fully realizing technology development and transfer for both improving resilience to climate change and reducing GHG emissions. It establishes a technology framework to provide overarching guidance to the well-functioning Technology Mechanism. The mechanism is accelerating technology development and transfer through its policy and implementation arms.

Capacity-Building

Not all developing countries have sufficient capacities to deal with many of the challenges brought by climate change. As a result, the Paris Agreement places great emphasis on climate-related capacity-building for developing countries and requests all developed countries to enhance support for capacity-building actions in developing countries.

How are we tracking progress?

With the Paris Agreement, countries established an enhanced transparency framework (ETF). Under ETF, starting in 2024, countries will report transparently on actions taken and progress in climate change mitigation, adaptation measures and support provided or received. It also provides for international procedures for the review of the submitted reports.

The information gathered through the ETF will feed into the Global stocktake which will assess the collective progress towards the long-term climate goals.

This will lead to recommendations for countries to set more ambitious plans in the next round.

What have we achieved so far?

Although climate change action needs to be massively increased to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, the years since its entry into force have already sparked low-carbon solutions and new markets. More and more countries, regions, cities and companies are establishing carbon neutrality targets. Zero-carbon solutions are becoming competitive across economic sectors representing 25% of emissions. This trend is most noticeable in the power and transport sectors and has created many new business opportunities for early movers.

By 2030, zero-carbon solutions could be competitive in sectors representing over 70% of global emissions.

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The authoritative information on the status of approval, acceptance, accession and ratification of the Agreement is provided by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the respective internet page of the United Nations Treaty Depositary under: Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change.

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Using a Dog's Instagram to Raise Awareness About the Refugee Crisis

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Using a Dog's Instagram to Raise Awareness About the Refugee Crisis

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Birke Baehr -- What's wrong with our food system? 

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Birke Baehr -- What's wrong with our food system? 

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Indigenous-led Conservation in the Amazon: A win-win-win solution - Amazon Frontlines

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Climate change, deforestation, conservation and protected areas - these topics now abound in the mainstream media. Some of the most recent studies have begun to look at the interaction between these current issues and indigenous peoples' land management practices. But what does it all really mean?