Meet three people inspired to fight climate change in different ways.

PASS NEW LAWS

Shannon Heyck-Williams works for the National Wildlife Federation, the group that publishes Ranger Rick. Her job is to convince members of the U.S. Congress and the President to pass and sign laws that would help combat climate change.

Shannon has wanted to protect the planet’s special places and species since she was a child. She visited the Amazon rainforest with her mother and saw people burning trees to make space for cattle ranching. Over time, she grew interested in not only protecting forests but also helping the world switch to clean energy.

What gives her hope are the people she meets who come up with creative solutions to climate change: scientists, farmers, teachers, artists, businesspeople, and many others. She wants people to know that progress IS happening, but more work must be done. Kids, she says, can help by speaking up for change: Encourage grownups to vote for people in Congress and the White House who will take action to protect the planet. Or write letters to elected officials, urging them to pass new laws that help cut greenhouse-gas emissions. You are never too young to help protect the planet!

SPEAK UP

Madhvi Chittoor was 5 when she watched a documentary about plastic pollution. Troubled by the problems facing our planet, she wrote a book called Is Plastic My Food? about a seabird that
swallows plastic and gets sick. Madhvi hoped kids would read the book and be inspired to use less plastic.

But that was just the beginning. Madhvi is now 14, and she has found ways to make her voice heard again and again. In her home state of Colorado, she helped convince her state government to pass a law that bans “forever chemicals,” known as PFAS, from things such as carpeting and furniture. (PFAS are known to cause health problems in people and wildlife.) She has also worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency keep PFAS out of drinking water. She encouraged state elected leaders to pass a ban on plastic grocery bags and plastic-foam containers in restaurants.
Now she is campaigning to get the U.S. government to join the Global Plastic Treaty, which would reduce plastic use worldwide.

Madhvi made history when she became the youngest child advisor to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. She gave a speech in Geneva, Switzerland, about kids’ right to a clean and healthy environment. On a vacation to her family’s hometown of Chennai, India, she organized a beach cleanup and spoke about climate change and pollution at schools. Her message to kids? You CAN make a difference. It just takes passion, persistence, and patience.

PLANT TREES

Nethanya Fonseka, age 16, has always felt a special connection to nature. She read Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, a story about a boy who lives in a world without trees. Nethanya already knew about
the dangers of climate change and how trees can help restore the balance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The story inspired her to protect and plant as many trees as she could and to
start an organization called Plant It Forward!

Leaders in her home state of Michigan have pledged to plant 50 million trees by 2030, and Nethanya is working hard to help reach that goal. She started by organizing a local event where she helped plant 100 poplar-tree seedlings.

In the future, she wants to help protect the mangrove forests along the coastlines of her family’s home country of Sri Lanka. Many acres of mangroves have been destroyed to make way for farms, homes, and other types of development. Pollution and other problems also threaten these forests. Mangroves create a natural barrier to protect coastal communities from flooding due to climate change. They also provide habitat for thousands of animal species.

Nethanya has taken one of the most famous lines from The Lorax to heart: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”