Therefore, we are suing you. I think that is a very perful thing. Alexandra my generation will be the most vulnerable by the Climate Crisis. Carl my village is built on permafrost, and its starting to thaw away. Ayha a loof people experience Climate Change, but they dont know that its clate change. Litokne we want a Sustainable Planet to live in in the future. [camera shutter clicking] announcer earth focus is made possible in part by a grant from anne ray foundation, a margaret a. Cargill philanthropy; the Orange County community foundation; and the farvue foundation. [helicopter blades whirring] [flames crackling] [water rhing] [wind howling] man every child born today will experience a fundamentally altered world, which will increase their probability of death and serious disease or illness because of thehange in the climate. There are a great many efforts brought by young people around the worldcases brought domestically against goverents for failing to do what those governments pledged to do in the paris agreement. But what forum would alw you to talk to all of humanity at one time . Thats the United Nations. We conducted interviews to basically put together the best diversity and array of young people from different parts of the world being affected in different ways by the crisis. A number of organizations, including Greta Thunberg, conveyed to us the desire to formulate, if possible, a single legal strategy in order to respond to a challenge that affects all nations. Gret i am very much shown in the media, and therefore it is extremely important that we also highlight thother plntiffs. We need to get better of listening to everyone, and therefore there is also one other reason to why this petition is so powerful and so important. [litokne speaking marshallese] [waves crashing] the waves came, and then they removed the piece of land that used to be over here. So over here is what used to be our outside bathroom, and then it was knocked away. This was used to be a Basketball Court area for small kids, but it destroyed. All this area was impacted, and it was flooded. 60 of the community here on ebeye has been damaged or affected by the rising seas and Climate Change. [children talking indistinctly] woman the world talked about Climate Change before us. Its an existential threat. For the marshallese youth, we have 3 that are signature to the petition. We are very proud that the 3 have taken a role in that very important challenge because the lives of people in countries like the Marshall Islands is on the line. Its hard to just close our eyes and hope that this is not gonna get worse, because we see it getting worse and worse every year. [flames crackling] alexandria in november of 2018, one of the biggest wildfires in californias history broke out. [alarm beeping] i am originally from davis, california. And during my trip back home to california, i was really caught in the smoke of the paradise fire. [firefighter talking indistinctly] alexandria and so i started to really research about wildfires, because i wanted to know what was going on cause california its on firell year round now. There is no wildfire season. Its just california. From that research, i started to see the link between Climate Change and californias wildfires, and that made me want to do something, but i didnt know how until seeing Greta Thunberg speak at cop24 in poland. Greta this is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. Weeed to get angry and hold the older generations accountable for the mess that they have created. [shouting in native languages] [rhythmic drumming] alexandria could we have the first thing on our agenda be the email that was just sent to all of you guys . Gi can u text me the agenda because the whatsapp hasnt been working. Alexandria i was one of the first climate strikers here in thunited states. Woman she said, i want to strike. And we both laughed. We didnt think anybody would pay attention. In a period of 9 months, you know, we went from this place of just sitting on a bench with a sign to, you know, organizing globally. [cheering] crowd if you will fight for us, were gonna fight for you will you fight for us . Alexandria these mands are directed at those in power who are inside the United Nations climate summit. And we will continue t climate options till they hear us. [cheering] kristin right now, our lives are. Just. Overwhelming. Its difficult to keep up with our schedules. Woman id like for us to all welcome alexandria. Alexandria people always k how we organize for a Global Climate strike. So really, how its all done is its done through social media. We use a lot of whatsapp, discord, slack. Instagrams where a lot of, like, the youth are, and then twitters where youll see the climate scientists, and then facebookits like, whats on facebook . [laughter] kristin in the beginning, alexandria managed her social media. Its just shes 14, and she insists on allowing, you know, direct messages to reach her. And with the huge following that shes developed, theres just so many of those messages that are not appropriate. I mean, shes received everything from Death Threats to marriage proposalsha onne and everything in between. My first job is to be her parent, which is to keep her safe and to keep her healthy. And i worry theres real danger involved in being an activist. And so you just have to take precautions. You have to be careful. [engine chugging] carl see, these are rabbits right there. Rait snares. We set em as big as a mans hand, like this. Usually it will get colder than this. Right now, its like 20 degrees, 15 degrees, but it should be, like, 0 to below 10. The main effects of Climate Change around here are less snow, and its just icy out on the river. And during the summer, it sometimes gets so hot that fish start floating in the river dead cause theres no oxygen in the river. [engine chugging] [man speaking] carl the permafrost is defrosting, and its not hard enough for the waves to hit. And usually when theaves hit, it just bounces off and it doesnt erode. Nowadays, its just too soft and its just breaking down the dirt on our land. [clifton speaking] [corn kernels rattling] [clucking tongue] [chickens clucking] ayakha in the eastern cape, the majority of people here are farmers. This how we earn our living. This is how we sustained ourselves. But the weather has been so unpredictable that we havent really had a chance to plant anything now. You can even see the clouds across. Its not that green or anything like that because of the drought. Its hard. It really is hard to live like this. Woman the climate issue is a serious issue because its affecting everyone, especially women, especially those single women that are trying to make ends meet and they try to go maybe for farming, and they cant do because now that theres stones and everything. So shes standing for the voiceless, if i can put it that way. Her father died when she was 6. Youve got those fear that how im gonna manage. Then when you see them becoming what theyre becomg, you feel so proud. Ayakha when you see something getting destroyed that you love and value, you cantust sit around and do nothing. So i went to the School Internet and googled in what is causing the drought, and then theres like a lot that came upthe Climate Change, global warming. So its just like shock. Like, wow, this is a lot of information about is, that it is a Bigger Movement going on beyond the small fraction of drought that we are facing here in cape town. [children talking indistinctly] ayakha as a school student, i decide, ok, my school is my community. Let me start from within. And we started school, and i tried to organize assemblies for me to, like, educate people, bueven that was tough, cause school kids are mean. When i was trying to, guys, come look here, come look here, ah, rich white ople stuff. This is for people that have moneand rich. And im like, guys, we the ones that are getting affected first here because, like, we the vulnerable ones. I cant reay say, oh, well, were doomed, knowing that theres something we can still do. Alexandria 30 years ago, the world signed a contract between generations that the present world would leave a world worth inheriting to the future. You are defaulting on that contract, and were here to collect. Myself, along with 15 other children from all around the world, filed a complaint to the committee on the rights of the child, stating that our rights are being violated by argentina, brazil, germany, turkey, a france. Article vi on the convention of the rights of the child say its that we have an inherent right to life. But the Climate Crisis with more floods, wildfires, hurricanesits directly threatening that. Greta they promised to protect our rights, and they have not done that. Ca we useto be able to go hunt gee on. Any kind of hunt, berry picking. And now theyre just disappearing. Ayakha you can start by the small, daily activities to just raise awareness in your Community Cause eventually, it will spread like a wildfire. Woman one of them is a 17yearold who joined Greta Thunberg and 14 other global activists in signing a legal complaint for the United Nations convention on the rights of the child. Ayakha its almost like the children of the world taking the world to court, for not upholding the United Nations rights of the child. I was very glad to be part of cause it will mean that i was able to shed light on whats happening to my community, to my country. They look at co2 emissions. Nokulunga she was gonna do the Plastic Surgeon and stuff, so i said, my hand is up. I hope im the first one. Its been long since i wanted to be young again. She said, oh, ill make you young. But now were not talking about that anymore. Now shes talking about the climate issue. She want to be a lawyer. She wants to fight for the climate, for the world, actually. Greta its very important that we use every possiblchannel that we haveand the law is especially powerful. Michael the petition is seeking to demonstrate that its not just climate in the abstract or the earth in a bell jar. Its every child born today that will face the effects, you know, of increased global heating throughout their entire lives, generation after generation. Greta were using our rights as citizens of the world and as children, and you need to actually step up when things go too far, and thats wh we are doing. Boy ha ha [boy speaking marshallese] [litokne speaking marshallese] [ukelele playing] [boy singing in marshallese] litokne my family is one of the most important families in the community. We are the ones who take the responsibilities of our traditional ways of living. [people singing] man here in the Marshall Islands, we still observe the social caste system. Or within the caste system, you have 3 categoriesthe royals, the chiefs; you have the landowners, and the commoners. The royal family is the kings. These are our advocate. They teach us manners, they teach us the culture, and they provide our needs. Litokne comes from the royal family. Knowing his background means he knows where hes coming from, and litoknes future here will be very important. Litokne my closest Family Member to me is my mother. My mother is the female traditional leader. [speaking marshallese] litokne i go around the schools here and encourage them to be youth activists, too. [litokne speaking marshallese] alexandria you really want to protect those around you and make sure that your family is safe and your friends are safe, but the Climate Crisis is directly threatening your friends and your family. Its threatening everyone on this planet. [door squeaks] man we lost 85 and probably some more that we dot really know about cause there was a Homeless Population up here. Weve got 40,000 people who made it off this ridge driving through tunnels of fire. And some of the most powerful moments for me is when we heard about some of our youth group said they called their parents and said goodbye. [voice breaking] sorry. That gets me every time i think about it. So many people thought, really believed that they were going to die as they drove through the fires. The mental anguish and the stress is still gonna be going on for a long time. We just had a load of food come in on friday, but you can see its already pretty much gone. When you think about the fire, you ink so often, o it burns, you clear it, and you go back. But this devastation was so complete that people have gone from this area to almost all 50 states and into other countries. Everyones lost their friends, their community, the things they know. Everything is gone. [electronic tone] carl whats up, rasiene . Rasiene hey. We no longer have 4 seasons. We only hav2 seass, which are summer and winter. So, sply, either were facing an extreme heat, or we are havi, like, heavy rains which goes floodings. Rl thatsind of scary. Rasiene yeah. We also have heavy snowfall, but i dont think that it is as much as you guys have rl yeah. We dont rasiene because you live in carl you guys are probably having more ow than us. Ill talk to you maybe today or tomorrow. Ok, later, bro. Rasiene take care. Baby boo. Carl i dont like mornings. Always sleepy. So i drop one of my sisters off to my aunties, and then i droone off at the preschool, then i go straight to school. Boy did you have fun in new york . Carl yeah. Boy did you get to meet greta . Carl yeah, because she was part of my group. Before we went down the press conference, she helped me, like, get ready and whatever, like, cause i w nervous. And thencause shes used to it. I met lo of people from all around the world. My friend, he lives at the Marshall Islands. He lost his home from rising sea levels. We just have to keep talking. Michael the committee will make a recommendation as to whether or not there was a fundamental right agreed to by these nations, which they have not lived up to or honored. The enigma then comes in what those nations will do the face of that finding and that recommendation. Greta what i wod hope this result in ishat it actually changes the way we see the Climate Crisis a the way we see this, because its so symbolic and that it will rt change e mindts of people. [litokne speaking marshallese] ayakha in south africa, the 1976 soweto uprising made kids from all ages are rising up to fight the apartheid system of learning afrikaans. So there was a powerful movement, and it keeps on encouragi and showing me that youth can make a difference. We c make a major difference if we just put our hearts and our minds to it. Alexandria i hope that from the children versus Climate Crisis complaints that argentina, brazil, germany, turkey, and france that they respond to what we have filed against them. I also want to see that this complaint it raises awareness to whats hpening tchildren all around the world. Today, we are at city hall in san francisco. Girl what do we want . Girls Climate Justice girl when do we want it . Girls now announcer earth focus is made possible in part by a grant from anne ray foundation, a margaret a. Cargill philanthropy; the Orange County community foundation; and the farvue. To a growing population we have tripled exploitation of Natural Resources and just forty is. As a result of the bostick mining activities not so ecosystems have lost nearly hoff that area and oal