real—world solutions we already have to help us solve the biggest challenge of our lifetimes. each week, we'll be taking you on a journey, from our forests to the oceans, examining where we live, how we travel, and what we eat. we'll show you some of the paths for tackling the climate crisis, meeting the innovators, action takers and climate heroes who are truly making a difference. coming up this week, rewriting the textbooks. we visit students in the first us state requiring climate change in its classrooms. we look at the rise of eco—anxiety among young people and the strategies for dealing with fears about the climate crisis. from protester to agenda setter, we'll introduce you to america's youngest white house climate adviser. plus, a ground—breaking legal battle in montana, young people who sued to protect the environment in their own home state. we start this week with a little trip back to the classroom. everybody should be pulling up their presentation on one computer. today's lesson in miss gruetter�*s science class is something not every student in the us is taught. "as the earth's oceans absorb heat due to climate change, "sea water expands, leading to an increase in sea levels." how might those emissions from factories have an effect on climate? what are they actually releasing? this is an ap science class here at science park, and today the students have brought in their own group presentations. they're teaching each other about a climate change problem and solution. what's your presentation? our presentation is about the carbon emissions of extreme weather events. while these students study climate change, much of the nation could be learning from them. today's class is part of a unique programme preparing the next generation for our warming planet. this is science park high school in newark, newjersey, where around 1,000 students and their teachers are helping lead the way in climate change education. in 2020, newjersey became the first state in the country to require that climate change be taught to all students, from kindergarten to 12th grade. we follow a curriculum, so it begins with a driving question like, how do c02 emissions affect all biodiversity? the state's education standards are designed to teach young people about the natural world around them, why it's changing and what they can do about it. we actually got to calculate our own carbon footprint, and i thought it was actually such an amazing experience. i learn a lot in the classroom scenarios, outside of the classroom, but i think one of the biggest focuses is, "ok, this is what we're doing. "and because of this, this is happening." it's like a cause and effect type of lesson. and instead of focusing on doom and gloom, teachers emphasise proactive lessons. i don't think they come away from it anxious, i think because we touch on solutions and solutions on an individual basis and on a wider basis. but once they actually learn about the science behind it and what can be done actually to reduce the impacts, then i think they feel a lot more confident about it. climate change is not an abstract lesson in the garden state. from superstorm sandy and hurricane ida, to the canadian wildfire smoke that covered parts of the east coast in 2023, these students have already experienced climate—fuelled disasters first—hand. in newjersey, climate change education isn't just for science class. it's being integrated intojust about every classroom and every subject across the state. and that includes art. yeah, we got a giant killer whale here that's been covered with plastic. miss brewin�*s students have been building large—scale installations using recycled and reclaimed materials like plastic bottles. they wanted to show the ill effects that these bottles were causing to the environment. they believe that the environment is probably one of their biggest challenges in their lifetime, and they want the public to be aware that something needs to be done. the programme is already helping students learn climate lessons inside the classroom and out. i have had students come away from my class making real changes in their lives because of what they learned about in class. i've had students, like, change their diets, become vegetarians, eat less meat, change their, like, transportation habits and things like that because of what they learn in the class. it definitely makes an impact on them. in 2023, connecticut became the second us state to mandate a climate curriculum. this school here in newjersey hopes more will follow its lead. it makes me proud that we took on this idea and not only this idea, but this concept to learn about it, implement it in classrooms, because once again, it's part of our daily lives. we have to be informed. i think being informed allows our brains to want to make a change, gives us a drive to want to make a change, cos when you know something, you want to change it, especially in the case that you feel it's not as good for you. i would love other districts or, you know, states to see what's happening here and find ways that they too can integrate these topics into... across their disciplines. what would you tell other districts, or other states, if they came up and asked you, "hey, we want to do this, too"? what would you tell them? i would say, come on over and we'll show you how it's done right. so clearly young people are engaged. in fact, 81% of generation z in the us says that climate change is either somewhat or very important to them. that's compared to 74% for all americans, and gen z ranks climate change as the top societal issue in the us compared to sixth among all americans. so instead of shying away, many young people are leaning in, often in some creative ways. let's meet three of them now. heidi pan is a newjersey high school student and the host of her own podcast called 1.5 degrees. zion walker is a high school senior in ohio and the founder of the black teen mental health coalition. and sage palmedo is a scientist and artist linking sounds, music and nature. and i got the chance to chat with all three of them. heidi, ijust want to start with you. now, you are still in high school, but you already have your own podcast. it's called 1.5 degrees. what kind of perspective do you think you can bring with your show that us adults aren't able to do? the way i started this podcast is i realised that there wasn't many other perspectives of young people telling the stories of existing climate work from the perspective of a young person. but as an inspiring environmentalist, i wanted to learn more about this incredibly diverse and interdisciplinary field. so that's kind of the approach that i took with this podcast to try and bridge those intergenerational and experiential gaps. sage, i want to turn over to you now. your work as a scientist and as an artist really centres on the earth and climate change, but those would sound at least like two very different fields, so how are you trying to bring the two of those together, science and music? well, i've been heavily inspired by philosophies from non—western cultures. western science doesn't necessarily touch on these felt feelings of energy moving through your body and the experience of taking in energies from your senses and how those signals get processed and interpreted. there's not always space to really digest that energetic exchange through sciences and so that's what draws me to art. zion, i want to come over to you because you founded the black teen mental health coalition at age 17. this is helping to address mental health issues in your community, specifically in the black community. how are you working to support people of colour in the face of so many issues, but specifically in terms of climate change and that kind of anxiety that comes along with the way that the planet's changing. eco—anxiety, or eco—grief, it can affect anyone. - so, basically, it'sjust seeing the world around you, - seeing the natural disasters. and in the african—american - community, there are disparities i in terms of housing and locationi and some of the natural disasters happen in those communities. so african american teens can be disproportionately affected. - myjob, or my goal, is to provide them with the proper resources i and just guidance, too. heidi, how about you? is that something you've touched on at all in terms of your podcast? we need to remember and remind each other that we're not alone in this experience, that we're here to support each other. and the best way to go about environmental work has been to find support in community. as much as the climate crisis can be really overwhelming, i think it's also an opportunity just for this generation to lead the way and really reestablishing those communal networks that are so vital. you're also a musician and actually we have a clip here of one of your songs. so let's just quickly take a look. harmonising and indistinct background chatter. so, you've actually said that, you know, with your music, it's a lot about healing ourselves in order to heal the planet. what do you mean by that? talk us through that and the role that music can play in that. every living organism on this planet is moving, is vibrating, and is communicating on a vibrational level. there's a lot that we can learn through communication, especially vibrational communication and the act of deep listening. now, heidi, ijust want to turn back to you, and in listening to some of your podcasts, it seems like one of the themes you come back to is solutions and climate change solutions. we actually have a clip of one of the solutions that you've been discussing on your show. you highlighted a really amazing way to break down food waste. but, you know, now that you highlight, it's also there's kind of many more other, you know, incredible applications of the products that you make. so i guess, can you tell me a little bit more about the other ways that soldier fly frass can be used, and, i guess, the materials from fly frass? where we get our biomaterials from, we don't extract it from the frass, or the poo of the insect. we actually extract it from the cocoon shells. mm. interesting. so in a normal black soldier fly farm, they want the larvae for animal feed and the frass for fertiliser and the cocoon shells are a by—product, theyjust throw it away. 0h, isee. so we found a way to repurpose that and make this circular industry, the black soldier fly industry, even more circular. so why do you think it's important that climate journalism focuses on solutions? first off, there's so many incredible solutions that are already existing and that are in development and that they aren't having... ..or they haven't been covered is tricky because without that knowledge or understanding of these solutions that already exist, there's no way for funding to get to them and have them be implemented in the scale that we need, now more than ever. zion, you've actually said that your main goal with your group is to give people hope. what does that hope look like? how do you go about that, especially when it comes to such difficult issues that we've been talking about? to give people hope, i we need to notjust look at negative statistics, but positive ones. - what have organisations been doing? what have governments been doing to combat climate change? - i feel like that's very important. to also let everyone know that i they're not alone in this feeling, and your feelings aren't exaggerated at all. - it's good to appreciate what we have. - so this generation is active, but it's also worried about the state of the planet now and in the future. it's called climate anxiety, the distress that many of us can feel about climate change and extreme weather events, like what we've already been seeing, from the spread of wildfires, like what we saw in hawaii, or flash flooding, like here in new york city. and when people talk about their own climate anxiety, they often say it's linked to the vast amounts of negative and often scary news about our earth. so let's talk about how we can cope in a healthy way. for more, i caught up with sarah newman. she's the co—founder and executive director of the climate mental health network. you've said previously that climate change has created a global mental health crisis. what do these statistics say about how people are struggling to deal with the climate crisis? a 2021 study in the lancet of 10,000 youth worldwide in ten countries found that 75% said the future is frightening because of the climate crisis, and four in ten do not want to have children because of the climate crisis. and here in the united states, there was a study that came out that found that 68% of the gen z—ers that they surveyed across the united states said the climate crisis is impacting their mental health. and so i really think that it doesn't matter where you are living, all of the research shows that people across the globe are struggling with the mental health impacts. you mentioned that you're speaking with young people about this. what do they tell you? what are they going through? they'll talk to me about how their professional choices are focused on the climate crisis and that doing anything aside from addressing the climate crisis is not important to them. what steps can we take to combat this mental health crisis among kids when it comes to climate change? what should we be doing? having a range of climate emotions is a normal response to the climate crisis, and it's really, really important to acknowledge that and for people to not feel alone. and it's really important for people to be able to work across generations to be able to support each other. another thing that's really important is looking at... understanding that taking climate action, you know, people... everyone has a role to play in terms of taking climate action. one thing that's important to note is that we're not looking for climate heroes. we're looking for everyday people who have the ability to take meaningful action in ways that are using their skills, their interests, and their resources to take action in their community to make a difference. how do you keep your optimism and what gives you hope about this next generation of people, about gen z? taking action in whatever way is meaningful to someone, is so important to manage one's climate emotions. i started doing this work because i was struggling with my own climate emotions and looking for resources, and i realised i'm not alone. it's about each of us taking action. and for me, working on the mental health impacts of the climate crisis is my active hope. this is my taking action, and what really inspires me every day to do this work are the people that i work with, many of whom are gen z. as the generation that will inherit the climate we leave behind, young people increasingly want to help make decisions about what that climate will look like. for some, that's done through protests like the widespread fridays for future demonstrations that brought millions of students out of class and into the streets to demand action in the us and around the world, from hamburg, germany, to parliament square in london. now, the movement was sparked by one young activist in sweden, greta thunberg. she's a global icon now, but let's flash back to 2018 when her movement was still getting going and a relatively unknown greta took her now—famous sign to the un climate change summit in poland. i just want to make a statement. and if they drag me away, then they will drag me away. i am most nervous about if i'm not going to be able to stay here, if they're going to move me. now, many years later, greta is no longer a teenager, and many in her movement are taking their activism directly to the halls of power. i caught up with one school striker who has now become the youngest—ever white house adviser. jerome foster ii is a member of the white house environmental justice advisory council. so, jerome, you probably recognise this spot here in front of the white house where you were not so long ago, on fridays, protesting for climate change action. now you're advising the people inside the white house. talk to us about that journey a little bit. yeah, absolutely. i think, when i started climate striking in february 2019, i had joined what i felt like was a group of 10 to 20 young people who were using a sign and really iconic locations, like in sweden, like in washington, dc, in new york city, to send a statement to elected officials that climate action has to happen now. and soon, weeks after, i had young groups of young people, 400 young people that came all across maryland, virginia, washington, dc, and cities all across the east coast. what was your reaction when you became the youngest climate adviser to the white house, after standing outside the white house? my reaction was that when i got an email from the white house that i was going to be a part of that environmentaljustice advisory council was that i didn't think that it was going to be, like, such a massive statement from them that would actually make a lot of action. at first i was like, "oh, this mightjust be a council where they slap people's names on there and then they might not actually do anything". but after three years of now being a white house adviser, we've seen a myriad of our recommendations be implemented into policy actions. we saw this big wave of climate protests with youth out in the streets, especially in 2019, led by you, led by greta thunberg. what do you think those protests ended up changing? i think a lot of the climate protests, what they changed was beyond politics, was the culture around the climate crisis and understanding that it is a very much deeper issue than just science and technology around slapping solar panels on the climate crisis and saying, "oh, this is the end of it. we can call it a solution solved." the climate crisis shed a light on that and said, "hey, let's think about how environmental justice "is an opportunity for us to reinvest in communities." i think one of the bigger things that we did is that we showed the world that young people should be a part of the conversation and that young people have a very critical role, in a sense, because we don't have an agenda for money or agenda for power. we have an agenda for the fact that our future has already been written in a script of where it's now why so many young people have been able to change the conversations because we said, "hey, invite us to the conversation. "allow us to be a part of it." how does your age, do you think, either help you or hurt you when it comes to trying to get your message across to the government? i think that my age doesn't really impact it, in a sense, because like i feel like especially online now, like, everyone has the ability to have access to knowledge. but i think when i first got in the room, a lot of people that are part of the council have phds or are from community organisations in which they have been fighting for 50 years. so they know ground truth data. and i feel like from young people, a lot of our knowledge comes from, where do we think long term and how do we think systemically? and i think a lot of what has changed now is that young people are taken seriously. but when i firstjoined, it was energy of like, "what are you doing here?" but now we've seen a lot of change. and that is that i've been able to think about how do we make sure that a lot of the infrastructure we're building lasts much longer than the lifespans they're thinking around — like 10 to 20 years — but 70 years. i think that's going to change a lot more, young people will be taken much more seriously cos we're out in the streets while also being in every other space. do you think if we put young people at the centre of a climate change conference