generation, our walls are kind of pinched now and spending a lot of money on gas is not something we want to be doing especially when you're in college when you have other financial things to deal with. i think it's natural tendency to shift toward the greener technology. financial reasons are just as good as any. i'm not going get a card unless i really need one. >> there's this move toward koe lab rative consumption. you both own cars. what kind are they? >> mine's a truck. i use it for work. sometimes i wish i didn't have a car because of insurance and gas and everything. it definitely comes in handy. >> i live in rural vermont.

getting to and from school with the state lacking basic transportation. >> our whole country is built around the need for having car. let's talk about who you respect in the environmental movement? who are some people that you really look up to that inspire you today? >> for me it's my executive director because she is committed to working at a grass root level. i really respect that. she want people to be on the streets and talks to people one-on-one. she's all about local. hiring local, growing your food local, strong local economy. when i started working with her i wanted to go to africa and go to mexico and go to these different places to help the world. she kind of grounded my roots

and made my roots strong where i was at. she made me understand that you don't have to travel to help the world and you can make a stronger impact when you stay in your community because you already know a network of people. she really aspired me. that's why i feel like i'm where i'm at today. >> i would probably say without the energy and excitement and the enthusiasm and relentless optimism of young people i work with, in the international climate movement is incredibly difficult because i feel like every time we have a great statement we come up with, we're not sure it's being heard.

we fund raise. we write policy statements. we're not sure if it's going to work out or not. we're always bringing humor and enthusiasm. i think i wouldn't be able to continue the work if it wasn't for that. it's a u.s. based organization run entirely by youth. it's that type of energy. >> i'm definitely going to echo abigail. it's a disservice to say any it's one person or group of people. i'd go with almost every one in climate change environmental movement. through my work i've met a lot of people. i'll get e-mails from people who

very little english, places like ghana and asking can you help. they are saying can you help with this idea. i was sure how to respond. people that are older than me. people that are willing to put everything out and no matter what their situation, try to make the community their lives and whether they know the world a better place. it's like inspirational to me. no matter how many obstacles, they will not quit. you could put ten brick walls and climb over it, breakthrough

or make the bricks like a house like ten people or something. it's so inspirational to see people that dedicated and that committed. >> one of the issues is the keystone pipeline. president obama announced he wants to expedite approval of half of it, that part that's already in the united states holding up the part that crosses the border to canada. it doesn't touch california or vermont. is this relevant to you and the people you're working with? >> definitely. it's very relevant. it's part of a bigger movement of trying to get dirty oil into communities.

dirty oil coming into communities and creating more environmental impact. >> to be clear, the tar sand oil would go to texas. it wouldn't necessarily come to california but other kinds of heavy crude. >> they want to bring from canada to california. >> how is it relevant to what you're doing? >> we're not getting a lot of direct impact. it's more about the principle. it's about how the oil companies are lying. the reports indicate not that many jobs will be made by this. it's not going to have major

impact on gas prices. it's not really convincing. the matter of principle is we can't say, it's okay because it's not really. it's not affecting us directly. we have to draw a line. if we say that's okay, then it's like giving the oil companies a free ride to do whatever they want. we can't say, it becomes harder and harder to stop. it really bolsters our chances for fighting them off in the future. >> i think it's an issue of how politicians are representing our

interests. >> it's going against that and siding with big oil, gas, coal, i think we need to hold them accountable. the climate movement has been fighting the battle in terms of trying to stop the pipeline and continuing to do so. i think it's another example of how corporate dollars are influencing our politicians. >> the line will form and our producer is putting her hand up. don't walk in front of this camera right here. we'll invite your question or

comment. how would you assess president obama's environmental performance so far? the energy is complicated. we have nuclear. we have coal. it's not going to go away immediately. what's wrong with all the above? >> i think we can do better. i think we can take a real position of leadership to say we're going to choose the most clean, safe renewable energy.

>> even if it costs more money? >> i think so. >> how would you evaluate president obama so far? >> i think contrary to a lot of people in the environmental movement. i takeless offense to a one above all policy. >> you favor nuclear? >> not favor. >> but it's necessary? >> yeah. speaking as an environmentalist, if done properly, we need to give every option its fair chance. big oil has a bad track record. i do think, i'm not his ideals in the sense he still wants

green, but his timetable is a little too long term for my liking. he's trying to be too nice to the gop. in an ideal world we have some amount of kroms and things still get done but when it comes to climate, compromise getting nothing done. it's kind of sad that it's reached this stage. anything that gets passed is really watered down compromise. we need to have some limits. >> tonya. >> i agree with the other two speakers. i think we have so much power as the u.s.

we can really lead the way and be more ambitious and really change things around. at the same time he doesn't have a lot of power. i'm understanding of that. >> let's have our first audience question. >> what can younger kids like under ten do to stop climate change? >> i work with students under the age of ten. they are very much involved. you, as little kid, can demand stuff from us. us that are in high school or older or adults. if you see something, you can tell us about it. i want to do this. i want to do that, and we'll listen to you. someone that works with little kids, all you have have so many interesting questions. you're so outgoing and so wanting to learn so many things.

you have so much power in you. you can do so much, but you need to start speaking out. when you don't see things that you don't like, speak out. tell people around you. that's start. that's something you can start doing now. >> do you do some things already? >> let me think of it. i haven't really had life. i have to remember. >> any other thoughts for what really young kids can do? >> what's your name? i got to know. >> ky. >> how old are you? >> six and three quarters. my birthday is in two weeks. >> i think you should tell. if you're interested in something tell people who are older in you that have more

resources and ability. i agree with everything that's been said, but a lot of, there will be people older than you who dismiss you because of how young you are, but ignore them. just do not, those people, it doesn't matter who doesn't give you. if one person listens and helps, it's totally worth it. i don't know what six-year-old do. it's been a long time since i've been six. ignore that and move on. if you passionately feel about something, no one can stop you. don't let anyone who is older than you say you're just six. the people who will take you seriously matter. >> okay. >> let's have our, thank you. >> i like you.

>> youngest question ever. >> i have a question for any of you that would like to answer. how do your family or parents respond to the path that you've chosen to take and environmental activism? i'm curious to hear your stories. >> tonya. >> at first my mom thought i was crazy. she wanted to take me to a psychologist. she couldn't understand why her little girl who wore tons of make up and dye her hair all the time wanted to be this activist and change the world. she thought some switch went off and wasn't working. after i kept on being persistent

with the work i'm doing, she see i'm serious. now she asks me for advice. >> what did your parents think when you interrupted an international negotiation? >> that's an interesting question. my father heard about it when he was listening to npr on the way to work. he sent me pretty quickly. he could have called but i was in south africa. he sent me an e-mail saying i wanted to make sure they got the name right and it wasn't one of your friends. i think it was interesting for them to see how passionate i want. my parents always thought that climate change is real and it's going the happen in the future, like the long future. i had been working on it for a while. because i had done something so

extreme, they sort of woke up. >> my parents are really supportive of me. i think their biggest concern is i am a very passionate and fiery individual. >> i'm getting that sense. >> yeah. i think a lot of people did. they are like rein it in. he's going to do it any way. free rein.

they're really proud of me. lucky me, i guess. >> what's our next question. >> do you feel like all the corporate america is really taking environmental issues seriously, and if not, is there something we can do to change that? >> i think a lot of america isn't taking it seriously. if they are addressing, sometimes it's green washed. they will use the word environmental or green as a ploy to get us interested in their product. we have this idea of consuming sustainability and that we're buying green. maybe we need to look at our practices of should we be buying an extra recycled water bottle in the first place. i think we need to hold our corporations accountable as well and look where their money is

going and how that is influencing us. >> let's have our next question. welcome to climate one. >> i'm on the advisory board. i'm glad i know this amazing person. my question is one that bothers me all the time. we have an oil economy in our country, perhaps in our world. there are hundreds, if not thousands of people who are personally invested in keeping it this way. they created this system. they want to keep it. how are we going to convince them to transition to a clean energy economy? how is that going to happen? >> systemic change. >> i feel that a lot of those oil companies they will not budge until they see a more profitable option. that's the nature of the company. they need to make a profit. if p at some point oil becomes

less profitable, whether it be oil like supplies going down or breakthroughs happening and it becomes more profitable then oil companies will naturally switch. until that point, they have a very vested interest. from a company standpoint it's interesting. get people motivated. in the oil companies, they have only very few options. they can get behind us or get out of our way. it's as simple as that. >> i definitely think that holding them accountable for the environmental problems they cause. sometimes we look at their profits but they're not cleaning up their mess. once they start charging them to

clean up their mess, we'll realize a lot of their profits are going to cleaning up the mess they've made. even in the gulf oil spill, they don't know the magnitude and the amount of money that's going to dpo into cleaning this area. maybe they'll rethink the way they are making their profit. >> let's have our next audience question. >> my name is jeffrey. what to do when your peers, you talk to your peers about your feelings about climate change and if they disagree or how you can get them motivated about the topic in trying to help stop

climate change? >> i would say make it accessible and make it fun. those are two reasons why i'm involved. c there's these things in the atmosphere and we're polluting. we have to make it tangible. we can see it and see that our actions have a difference. i think that making it fun and making it a party. making sure that we celebrate our successes and maintain good spirits about it so that it's not something that depresses us or drains us but something we can really rally around and get excited about. >> there's a lot of doom and dploom sometim gloom sometimes. >> i totally agree. i think another way is you don't necessarily talk, i think it's true for everyone, you don't need to talk to them about climate change. a lot of things you do.

you can sell it as do you want to make the world a better place. who wants to say i don't want to make the world a better place. if you see it like that, people are a lot more accommodating towards you. >> i also think that relating it to issues that they are personal to those people. climate change calls under this super big umbrella. there's so many connecting peoples to it. finding what your friends are interested in and connecting it to climate change. >> we're talking about youth advocates at climate one today.

let's have our next audience question. >> my name is roberto. how can i get other kids around my school get active and help the world become a better place and get them away from video games? >> solar powered video games maybe. >> i think one of the first things is to get outside and part of that is having a community of people who are working on similar issues and maybe you can speak more about that and how you get people outside. >> being outside is really fun. i play with my students. they really enjoy it. one of the things that's important is how do you make it hands on. how do you make it not so much of a lecture.

>> i think the most important thing is really hands on and tangible impact mainly because, i think school gardens are a really great way. it's like the idea that nine times out of ten, you can't eat your homework. you can but it tastes terrible and b you have bigger problems if you're eating your homework. if you plant a school garden, if you take care of it, you can eat the results. it's a lot more tangible and tastier too. i think really go a long way to make people interested. if you plant this garden, you put in fertilizer and put in work, you can reap the benefits of it. it does a lot.

>> what do you think it will take to get the u.s. involved on this issue and with the role of the youth movement? >> i'm sorry. i didn't hear that. >> you want to get the u.s. more engaged internationally. abigail, you are engaged. respond to that. >> i think right now we have politicized climate change to be l liberals on the side of environment and conservatives on the side of jobs. we have to figure out way to flame it so it's not so divided. i think we need both parties involved in the solution.

>> let's have your next question. >> i invest in different projects. my question to each one of you is, besides a reusable toothbrush made out of yogurt kups, what sort of technology like mine like to assist in invest in the climate change? >> i think any technology marketed toward dissolving third world countries around clean burning stoves or solar powered lamps. in those countries, we're talking really poor people, in

those areas the big issue is can i get food, can i get sherlt, heat for my family and a lot of those things are very dirty not only for the family but the environment as well. if you could invest in clean burning kerosene lamps or solar lamps that last longer. that does a world of difference in those areas. not only does it have an immediate impact, but it gets those people to t, the people in developing countries, it gets them to understand that you ku have economic advancement and still be clean at the same time. you can choose between jobs or health and the environment. you can teach those people at a very early stage it's not either or. you can do both at the same

time. >> let's have our next audience question. >> i'm also an undergraduate college student. i was wondering if you guys had any understanding of where your college endowments were invested and if there's any transparency with regards? our endowment was a lot of money and we have no idea where it's invested. we could be invested in something like exxon and contrary to our aim at a green college. >> to be perfectly honest i have no idea. i really hope the institution i go to holds itself up to, i