5 young people who are fighting to stop climate change

Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)

Because of climate change, the world has seen an alarming rise in sea levels and more extreme weather events in recent years. Young people around the globe have stepped up to save the planet.

Here are five climate activists who are pushing for change.

Greta Thunberg

The Swedish climate activist rose to global prominence in 2018 at age 15. This was when she began a school strike outside the Swedish parliament to protest against climate change. This sparked the International Fridays for Future movement. Millions of students around the world have joined. Now 21 years old, Thunberg has been named Time’s Person of the Year and has spoken at the United Nations. She inspires young people with her passionate advocacy.

Lesein Mutunkei

The Kenyan teenager combines his love of football and the environment through his “Trees4Goals” campaign. Since 2018, he has vowed to plant 11 trees every time he scores a goal. Mutunkei has also encouraged schools and clubs to be more sustainable. He has even planted a tree with Kenya’s president. The teen hopes to get Fifa to adopt a similar tree-planting approach.

Licypriya Kangujam

This 12-year-old Indian girl started fighting for climate action at the age of six. Inspired by Thunberg, she protested outside the Indian parliament in 2019. She campaigned for laws to reduce pollution levels and require schools to teach climate-change literacy. The young activist has since addressed world leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. She has also founded “The Child Movement” to call for climate justice.

Luisa Neubauer

The 28-year-old is one of the main organisers for Germany’s “Fridays for Future” school strikes. In 2021, she won an important court ruling against the German government over climate change policy. Neubauer has also published books on the climate emergency. She has also been recognised as one of Time magazine’s 100 global emerging voices.

Woo Qiyun

The Singaporean environmentalist uses art and social media to teach people about climate change. She is best known for her Instagram page “The Weird and Wild”, which has more than 22,000 followers. She creates fun videos to educate viewers about climate change. Woo works as a sustainability consultant. She hopes to make climate education easy for everyone to understand.

Use the puzzle below to test your knowledge of the vocabulary words in the story.

Suggested answers

• Before you read: It is causing sea levels to rise and creating more extreme weather events.

• Stop and think: Licypriya was inspired by Thunberg’s activism. Both girls started activism at a young age, and Licypriya protested outside of her country’s parliament just like Thunberg did when she was younger.

• Consider: As a football player, Lesein created a campaign to plant trees whenever he scores a goal. He is encouraging football fans to become more invested in sustainability.