Focus

Increasingly long dry seasons in sub-Saharan Senegal are getting in the way of 14 year-old Fatoumata getting an education. Responsible for collecting water for her family, climate change is making it harder to do so. She must wait for the rain or travel hours to neighbouring villages to collect from their water tanks. Fatoumata takes the initiative to contact the World Food Program to help organize a more sustainable water source in her own village, improving the lives of everyone in her community.

Gagan’s fight against air pollution is personal: Punjab has the highest cancer rate in all of India and she has already developed a severe respiratory illness, despite being only 13 years old. She’s going head-to-head with local farmers to challenge the widely used method of crop burning and teaching the next generation that alternative ways of farming are possible.

At 12 years old, Nina is a small but mighty young activist on the frontline of the fight against plastic in her community. Many Western countries send their plastic to East Java, Indonesia, where she lives, polluting their water, soil, and sky. When she discovers waste coming from Germany, England, the U.S., and even Canada, she decides to take a stand. She’s got a message for the politicians of the world: stop sending us your trash!

Climate change denialism is rampant in Queensland, Australia but 11 year-old Sabyah sees its devastating effects every day. In a country where coal mining is one of the largest industries, Sabyah aims to educate peers and locals in an attempt to prevent the construction of the soon-to-be biggest coal mine in Australia and, in turn, help save the Great Barrier Reef.

Fed up with the inaction over climate change, the Sustainabiliteens was formed by a group of highly motivated teens whose future on this planet is in jeopardy. Carving out their own spot in the global youth climate action movement, this group organized the largest environmental strike in Vancouver’s history, pressures politicians for policy change, and is devoted to educating other teens about environmental justice.