Children vs Climate Crisis
Sixteen children from across the world are petitioning the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to hold five of the world’s leading economic powers accountable for inaction on the climate crisis.
Sixteen children from across the world are petitioning the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to hold five of the world’s leading economic powers accountable for inaction on the climate crisis.
“I’ve been forced to organize a revolution instead of doing normal kid things.”
It was less than a year ago that Alexandria Villasenor, a fourteen-year old living in New York City first understood what it meant to be impacted by the climate crisis. Alexandria was visiting her hometown of Davis, California in November 2018 when one of the deadliest wildfires ignited just 100 miles away in Paradise, California and blazed across 153,336 acres, destroying nearly 14,000 residences and killing about 85 people. Alexandria’s experience with the Paradise fire inspired her to speak out about the consequences of climate change. Inspired by Greta Thunberg, Alexandria began protesting outside the United Nations, where she has held a sign with the worlds “School Strike 4 Climate” every Friday since December 14, 2018. Alexandria has become a leader of student strikes for the climate in the United States and has also launched her own youth-led nonprofit, Earthuprising.org.
“If the world leaders listen to us, children can make a difference in this world, because we’re the ones that are going to be affected.”
Seventeen-year-old Carl Smith is a member of the indigenous Yupiaq tribe. The Yupiaq are a self-sustaining people, who have practiced traditions of subsistence hunting, fishing, and gathering on the banks of the Kuskokwim River for as long as they can remember, all of which are integral to maintaining their livelihoods and the traditional cultural and spiritual practices. The climate crisis imperils these traditions. Warmer temperatures in all seasons have affected the men’s ability to hunt and fish and has created obstacles for the women as they gather berries and maintain the homes. All of these changes signify to Carl the loss of his way of life. After living in the city for part of his life, Carl is not hopeful that the Yupiaq would be able to maintain their culture and traditions if they did not live off the land in Akiak, like they have done for generations.
“It is our future and world leaders should hear us. If they don’t act to stop the climate crisis it is our future that will be affected.”
Catarina lives in Salvador, Brazil, located in the northeastern state of Bahia, and has spent a lot of time on Brazil’s beaches and in the ocean. Catarina has felt the rising temperature and the changes it has caused. She has experienced a much drier climate due to a lack of rain, which exacerbates forest fires and causes water shortages. The water shortages come without warning from the local government and can last for a day or two. Catarina is worried about the extreme temperatures and changing weather patterns. She urges all the world’s leaders to respect the limits of planet Earth.
“I’m truly mad. It’s not like ‘oh, I’m sad.’ I’m angry! We [the children] are alone here and there aren’t a lot of people that will take action. I’m mad.”
Chiara has lived in Haedo, part of the Greater Buenos Aires Pampa Húmeda ecoregion, her entire life. Haedo typically has hot summers, cold winters, and moderate precipitation. Recently, though, the previously moderate climate has become extreme, with weeks of intense heat in the summer and frigid cold in the winter. Sometimes, a week of unusual heat will uncharacteristically arrive in the middle of winter. The extreme weather has terrified Chiara, who fears what a future impacted by the climate crisis will bring; but these changes in the climate that she is experiencing have inspired her to speak up about the dangerous impacts of climate change.
“The climate crisis is not just the weather. It means also, lack of food and lack of water… places that are unlivable and refugees because of it. It is scary.”
When Greta Thunberg was eight years old, she watched a documentary in school on something called “climate change,” which she remembers terrified her and her classmates. When the documentary was over, her fellow students seemed to move on, and their worries shifted back to less existential concerns. But, for Greta, once she understood the climate crisis, she could not “un-understand” it – she stopped eating, she stopped speaking, she fell into a depression. Eventually, Greta sought all the information she could find about climate change and its causes and began changing her own habits to lessen her own carbon footprint. Greta turned to activism. In August 2018, she began protesting outside of the Swedish Parliament during school hours with a sign painted with the words, “Skolstrejk for Klimatet” (“School Strike for Climate”). Greta has continued striking every Friday, inspiring hundreds of thousands of children worldwide to follow her example.
“It just makes me angry. They’re supposed to be our government and they’re supposed to protect us… they don’t realize it will cost less money if we act now than if we act later.”
The first summer of sixteen-year-old Iris Duquesne’s life was the hottest summer in Europe since 1540. She was three months old when the deadly heat wave of 2003 swept France and became one of the worst weather events in the Continent’s history, killing as many as 70,000 Europeans, some 15,000 in France alone. Because the most vulnerable to heat stress are the very old, the very young, and the infirm, Iris’s parents were scared they would lose their baby girl to the heat. As Iris grew up, Bordeaux continued to experience climate change induced temperature extremes her family had never anticipated.
Iris thinks about climate change every day, often feeling powerless and betrayed by authorities. She fears what the future will bring.
“[The adults] didn’t really have to face all these problems and issues that we have to face now because in their childhood they didn’t have to think about these consequences.”
Raina Ivanova is a fifteen-year old who grew up in Hamburg, Germany. This summer, Germany recorded its highest-ever temperature of 40.5° C (105° F). Unsurprisingly, the unprecedented sweltering heat has severely affected people and the environment. For Raina, the sweltering heat has made her un-airconditioned classrooms unbearable, disrupting classes and making it difficult to concentrate.
The consequences of climate change disrupt Raina’s daily life, thoughts, and dreams. She and her younger sisters worry about the rising temperatures. Raina tries to soothe her little sisters’ worries, although she gets emotional when thinking about the climate crisis, because she knows that she and other young children in the world will be the most impacted.
“It is our duty as children to do anything no matter the cost to save our planet and to live in a safer world.”
Seven years ago, seventeen year old Raslene Joubali’s family moved to Tabarka, a small coastal town close to the border with Algeria. Tabarka is known for its natural beauty, beaches, vibrant coral reefs, and easy access to the extensive cork-oak forests of the Kroumirie Mountains.
Tabarka usually has mild and dry summers and rainy and cold winters, but Raslene is worried because the climate in Tabarka has changed considerably the past few years: summers have become extremely hot, with temperatures exceeding 40°C. Wildfires are increasing. Just last year, one wildfire came too close for comfort; Raslene’s home was spared, his neighbors’ homes were not.
“I will tell our world leaders to pay attention to the cries of their citizens about the effect of this climate change…”
Twelve-year-old Deborah (“Debby”) Adegbile has lived her entire life in Lagos, Nigeria. The usually tropical city has been undergoing significant changes because of climate change. Lagos had a rainy season that generally spanned from April to September, but now the rainy season extends to December. Every time it rains in Lagos, it floods. The frequent flooding is extreme and poses severe logistical and health problems. It becomes difficult to walk or commute by car, and the flooding gets so high that Debby’s parents must carry her and her siblings to school because they cannot walk in the high waters.
As a result of these changes, Debby has become an advocate for ocean protection. Last June, Debby participated in the Summit for Empowerment Action and Leadership through Heirs to Our Oceans. Through the program, she spoke to legislators in Sacramento, California, advocating for plastic reduction – which she has seen affect the ocean and marine species off the coast of Lagos.
“We, as society, have a chance now to change things.”
Seventeen-year-old Ayakha Melithafa lives in Eerste River on the outskirts of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Her mother works as a farmer in the Western Cape, where droughts there have threatened her income. Because if there is no water, they cannot plant or feed and water the livestock. Between 2017 and 2018, Ayahka, along with other residents of Cape Town experienced a period of unprecedented and severe water shortage, compounded by dam levels that had been declining since 2015 and very limited rainfall.
The changes around her have led Ayakha to become a dedicated climate activist in her community. She is part of the Project 90 by 2030 YouLead initiative and acts as a recruitment official for the African Climate Alliance. Ayakha shares her knowledge and experiences in climate activism with the people in her community and tries to show people how to live with a low-carbon footprint.
“I want a better future. I want to save my future. I want to save our future. I want to save the future of all the children and all people of future generations.”
Six years ago, Ridhima Pandey moved with her family from Nainital to the northern town of Haridwar, known as the “holy area” of India. Every year in July, there is a festival called Kanwar Yatra, which incorporates and is held near the holy Ganges River. But recently, it is much hotter in the summer and winter months. The hotter temperatures have threatened the Ganges River, which now faces lowering water levels from recent droughts – challenging the continuation of the religious rituals that are centered around it.
The few times it does rain, it rains very heavily. The rain causes the Ganges to reach the danger mark, threatening floods, and the increasingly intense rainstorms overwhelm the local infrastructure. In 2013, Ridhima and her family experienced one such devastating rainstorm in Haridwar that resulted in flooding and many casualties.
“We all have the right to enjoy our planet and we should all protect that right. Our generation is trying to prevent climate change for future generations.”
Carlos and his family moved from the Philippines to Koror, Palau nine years ago. His fondest early memories in Palau are spending full days at the beach with his family and friends. Carlos first learned about the climate crisis in ninth grade, and he began to understand that the changes he had noticed in Palau were part of a larger global phenomenon caused by the climate crisis, including increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, and more extreme storms.
In November 2013, super typhoon Haiyan devastated the island of Kayangel in Palau’s north and Carlos remembers that the typhoon’s incredibly strong winds completely wiped out the whole island forcing everyone from Kayangel to relocate.
“[Climate change] is the first thing you see when you go outside. It is happening a lot more, a lot more… you cannot ignore it.”
Litokne Kabua is a sixteen-year old Marshallese whose family has always lived on Ebeye Island. His home is a two minute walk to the ocean, and he grew up respecting the ocean’s central role in his life and community. Litokne’s family has relied on the ocean to provide a source of food through fishing, and to connect them to members of their family living on the Marshall Islands’ outer, more remote, islands. The climate crisis is threatening the way of life of the Marshallese people. Litokne knows that his home and islands will not last forever and are under an impending threat from sea level rise.
“I feel lost. I like to keep my mind off [climate change] because it scares me, but it still pops up a couple of times a day.”
David Ackley III lives on Majuro, the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, in a town called Uliga. David and his family moved permanently back to Majuro five years ago, and in just five years, David has seen Majuro change. David’s home, traditions, and way of life are at risk. He and his family talk about climate change fairly often: it is hard to avoid the topic when you can see the impacts of climate change creeping up onto your island with the rising sea.
David’s family wonders if they will have to move away from their home, which worries David, who wants to live in the Marshall Islands when he grows up.
“I don’t want to be underwater. I want future generations to experience what I experience, I want them to experience living on Ebeye. It still saddens me – I want them to experience the same things I did.”
Ranton Anjain has lived on Ebeye in the Marshall Islands for most of his life. Ranton appreciates that growing up on Ebeye allowed him to go swimming and fishing every day, something he realizes you cannot do in most places. However, severe climate crisis impacts are already affecting Majuro. The increasing heat has brought more frequent outbreaks of dengue, which is spread by mosquitoes and known as “bone-break fever” because of the pain it can cause. The dengue outbreaks during the summer of 2018 and 2019 were both grave enough for the government to declare a state of emergency. Ranton worries what climate change will mean for his future and discusses his concerns with his friends. He knows climate change is threatening his way of life and his home.