gigirl: my name is alexaxandria villaseñor. boy: my nameme is adiglia bra. boboy: i'm cararl smith. boy: my name is david ackley. [g[girl speakiking native e lan] girl: : my name is ayakha melithafa. boy: m my name is raj tanagigi. girl: mymy name is yur kapadaea. boy: my nameme is litokne kabua. girl: : my name is greta.. we a are actlllly sayi that t yu are violating ilildren'sightss whilyoyou ha----you have rectctifiethe un convevention of the righghtsf ththe chil a and

therefore, we are suing g you. i think that i is veryry powerfl thing. alexandra:a: my generation wille the most vulnerable by the climate crisis. carl: my v village is built on permafrorost, and d it's startio thawaw away. ayakhaha: a lot of people exexperience climate chahange, but they don't knoww that it's climatate change. litokne: we e want a sustainable planet to live in in the future. [camera shutter clclicking] 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 cracklining]

[water rushing] [wind howling] man: every child born today will experience a fundamentally alaltered world, which w will increase t their probability of death h and serious disease or illness because ofof the changnn the climate. ththere are a a great many effos brought by young people around the world--cases brought domesticalally againstst governs for failing to do what those governments pledged to do in the paris s agreement.t. but what tm would allow you to talk to all ofof humanity y at one time? ths the unitited nations. we conducd interviews to basically put together the best diversity and array of young people from different parts of the world being affected in different

ways b by the crisis. a number f organizations, including greta thunberg, conveyed to us the desire to o formulate,e, if possible, a single legal strategygy in order r to respono a challengnge that affects all nations. greta: i i am very much shshownn the media, and thereforere it is extrememely importt t thate alao hihighlight t the other plainti. 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 soso importantnt.

[lititokne speaking marshallese]

[waves crashing] the waves came, and then they removed the pipiece 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 e a basketbl coururt area for small kids, but it destroyed. all this area was impapacted, and d it was floode. 6060% of the community h here on ebeye has s been damaged or affecteded by the rising seas sd climate chchange. [children talklking indiststinc] wowoman: the world talked d abot climate change b before us. . is an e existential threat. f for e 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 thehe marshall l islands in the line. it's h hard to just close our eyes and hope that this is not gonna get worse, because we see it getting worse and worse evevery year. [flames crackling] alexandria: in november of 2018, one of thehe biggest w wildfiren california's history broke out. [alarm beeping] i am oririginally frfrom davis, californiaia. and duriring my tp back home e to california, i i s really caught in the s smoke of the pararadise fire.e. [firefighter talking indistinctly] alexandria: and so i started to realally research about wiwildf, becaususe i wanteded to know wht was s going on 'cause calilifor-

it's's on fire a all year rorou. ththere is no wildfire season. it's's just california. from that research, i i startedo see the link between climate change and california'a's wildfires,s, and that made me wt toto do someththing, but i i dit know how u until seeining greta thunbeberg speak a at cop24 inin polandnd. greteta: this is the biggest crisis humumanity has ever face. we n need to get angry and hold the older generarations accountatable for the mess that theyeyave createted. [shouting in native languages] [rhythmic drumming] alexandrdria: could d we have te first t thing on o our agenda ae e-mamail that wawas just senentl of you guys? girl: can you tetext me the agea because the whwhat'sapp hasn't

been working. alexandria: i was one of the first climate strikers here inin the e united states. wowoman: she said, "i want to strike."." and we both laugh.. wewe didn't think k anybody wowd papay attention. i in a period 9 months, you know, we went from this place of just sitting on aa bench with a sign to, you know, ororganizing globally. [cheerining] crowd: ♪ if you will fight for us, we're gonna fight for you will you fight foror us? ♪ alexandria: these demands 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: r rightow, , oulivess are...just...overwhelming. it's difficult to keep up with our schedules. woman: i'd like for us to all

welcome alexandria. alexandria: people always ask how we orgrganize for r a global climate e strike. soso really, w it's all done e is it's done through social media. we use a lot of what'sapp, discord, slack. instagramam's where a lot ofof, like, the youth arare, and then twitter's where you'll see the climate scientists, and then facebook--it's like, "what's on facebook?" [laughter] kristin: in the beginning, alexexandria managed her social media. it's just s she's 14, and shshe insists s on allowing, you knowow, direct messages toto reh her. and with the e huge followg that she's developed, there's just so manyny of those e messas that are not aroropriate. i memean, she's rereceived everytg from death thrhreats to mamarrie proposals-s--ha!--onliline and eveverything in betwtween. my first job is to be her parent, which is to keep h her safe and to keep her healthy.

and i worry there's real dangerer involved d in being an activistst. and so y you just he to take prprecautions. you haveo be careful. [engine chugging] carl: see, these are rabbits right there. rabbit snares. we seset 'em as g as a man's hand, like this. usually it will get t colder thn this. right now, it's like 20 degrees, 15 degrees, but it should be, like, 0 to below 10. ththe main effffects of clclimae change aroround here a are less snow, and it's just icy out on

the river. and during the summer, it sometimes gets so hot that fish start floating i in te river dead 'cause there's no oxygen in the river. [engine chugging] [man speaking] carl: the permafrost is defrosting, and it's not hard enouough for thehe waves to o hd ususually when the waves h hit,t just bouncnces off andnd it doet erode. nowadays, i it's just too soft andnd it's justst breakingn

the dirt o on our landnd. [clifton speaking] [c[corn kernelels rattlingng] [clucking tongue] [chickens clucking] ayakha: in the easastern cape,ee majority of pepeople here are farmerers. this hohow we earn nr living. this is how we sustataid ourselves. but the weather has been so ununpredictable that wee haven't really had a chance to plant anything now. you can even see the clouds across. it's not that green or anything like that b because of the droughght. it's hard. it realally is hardro live like this.

womaman: the clilimate issueue a serious issue because it's affecting everyone, especially women, especialllly those single womemen that a trying toto make ends meet and d they try to go maybe for farming, and they cacan't do because now t that there's stones and everything. so she's s standing fofor the voiceless, if i can put it that way. her father died when she was 6. you've got those fear that how i'm gonna m manage. thn when y you see them becomingng t theyey are becomoming, you feelo proud. ayakha: whenen you see somethihg getttting destroyed that you loe and value,e, you can't just sit around and do nothing. so o i wt to the schchool internrnet and googleled in what t is causing e drdrought, and thehen there's la lot that c came up--the clclimae change, global warming. so it's just like shock. like, wow, this is a a lot of informrmation abot this, atat it is a b bigger movement going on beyond the small fraction of drought that we are facing here in cape town. [chihildren talklking indiststi] ayakha: as a school student, i decide, "ok, my school is my

community. let me start from within."." and we started schoo, anand i tried d to organizize assemblies for me to, like,, educate peopople, but even that was tough, 'cause school kids are meanan. when i was trying to, "guys, come look here, come look here," "ah, rich white people stuffff. this is fofor people t that have money anand rich." a and i'm li, "guys, we the ones that aree getting affected first here because,e, like, we the e vulnee ones." i c can't really say, "oh well, we're doomed, knowing that there's something we can still do." alexandriaia: 30 years ago, the world signed a contract between generations that the present world would leave a world worth inheriting to the future. you arare defafaulting othatat contract, , and we're e he to collecect. myself, , along with 15 otother

chilildren from all around the world, filed a complaint to the commmmittee onon the rights of e child, stating that our rights are being g violated b by argen, brazil, geanany, turkey, and frfrance. titicle vi on ththe convention of the rights of the child say it's that we have an inherent right to life. but the climate crisis witith more flol, wildfires, hurricanes--it's directly threatening that. greta: they promised to protect ouour rightsts, and they have nt done that. carl: we used d to be ablele too hunt geese on...y y kind of hunt, berry picking. a and now they're just d disappearing. ayakha: : you can start by thehe small, d daily activivities to t raise awareness in your community 'cause eventually, it will spreaead like a wildfire. woman:n: one of them is a 17-y-year-old whwho joined g gra thunbergrg and 14 other glglobal actitivists s in signing a legal compmplaint for the e united nas

conventionon on the righghts ofe chchild. ayakhaha: it's a almost likeke e childrdren of the world taking e world to court, for not upholding the united nationsns rights of the chchild. i was very glad to be part of it 'cause it will mean that i was able to shed light on what's happening to my community, to my country. they look at co2 e emissions... nokulunga: s she was gonna do te plastic surgeon and stuff, s soi said, "my hand is up. i hope i'm the first one." it's been long since i wanted to be young again. she said, "oh, i'll make you young." but now we're not talking about that anymore. now she's talking about the climate issue. she want to be a lawyer. shshe wants to fight foror the climate, foror the world, actually. greta: is very importanthahat we use everyossisible chanannel that we have, and the law especicially powererful.

michael: the petition is seeking to demonstrate that it's not just climate in the abstraract r the earth in a a bell jar. it's every child born today t that wl face the effects, you knknow, of inincreased glglobal heating throughout their entire lives, generation after generation. greta: we're using our rights as citizens of the world and as children, and you need to actually step upup when things o totoo far, a thahat's whatat wee doing. boy: ha ha! [boy speaking marshallese] [litokne speaking marshallese]

[ukelele playing] [boy singing in n 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.

[p[people singnging] man: here in the marshall islands, we still observe the social caste system. or within the caste system, you have 3 categories--the royals, the chiefs; you have the landownere, and d 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 fafamily. knowowing hs background means he knows where he's coming from, and litokne's future herere will be e ve important.t. litokne: my closest familyly membmb to me is s my mother. my mother is the female traditional leader. [speaking marshahallese] litokne: i g go around the schos here and encouragege them to be

youth activists, too. [lititokne speaking marshallese] alexandriaia: you realally wanto protect those arouound you andnd make sure that your family is safe and your friends are safe, but the climate crisis is

directly threatening your friends and your family. it's threatening everyone on this planet. [door squeaks] man: we lolost 85 and probably sosome more that we don'n't reay know aboutut 'cause there was aa homeless p population up here. we've got 40,000 p people who oe 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 thehey called t their pares and said good-bye. [v[voice breaking] sorry. that gets meme every timime i tk ababout it. so many y people thought, realay 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 it's already pretty much gone. when you think about the fire, you think so often, "ok, it burns, y you clear it, and you o backck." but this devastatations so complete that p people have gogone from this area to almost all 50 states and into other countries. everyone's lost their friends, their community, the things they know. everything is gone. [electronic tone] carlrl: what's up, rasiene? rasiene: hey. we no longer h have 4 seseasonse only have 2 seasons, w which are

summer andininter. so, simplply, either w we're facing an extxtre heheat, or we e are havingng, l, heavy rains which goes floodings. carl: that's kind ofof scary.. rasiene: yeaeah. we alsoso have heavy snowfall, but i don't think that it is as much a as yu guysys have-- carl: yeah. we don't-- rasiene: because y you livive i- cacarl: you guys are probably having more snsnow than us. i'll talk to you maybe todaday or tomorrow. ok, lalater, b bro. rasiene: take e care. baby: boo. carl: i don't like mornings. always sleepy. so i drop one of my sisters off to my aunties, and then i drop one off at the preschchool, then i go straiaigo schoolol. boy: did you have fun in new yorkrk? carl: : yeah. boy: did youou get to meet gret? carl: yeah, becaususe she was pt of m my group. before wewe wentn the presess conference, she hehd me, likeke, get readady and

whatever, , like, 'cauause i was nervrvous. and t then--'cause ss used to it. . i met lots o of people from m all arouound the world. my friend, he lives at the marshahall islandsds. he lot his home from risingng sea leve. wewe just haveve to keep talkin. mimichael: the committeeee wille a recommmmendation a as to whetr or n not there w was a fundamenl right agrereed to by these nations, w which they y have not lilived up to o or honoreded. te enigma then comes in what thosee nationons will do in the facacef that finding and that recommendation. greta: what i i would hohope tho result i in is that itctuaually changeges thwaway weee t the climate e isis and theheay we see this, becaususe it's s so

symbmbolic andnd that it will st of change e the mindsets off ople. [litokne speaking marshallese] ayakha: in south africa, the 1976 soweto uprising made kids from all a ages are rising up to fight the apartheid system of learningng afrikaansns. so thers a popowerful movovement, and it keeps on encouragingng and showg me that youth can mamake a differenence. we canan make a mr difference if we just put our heartsts and our m minds to iti. alexandria: i hope that from the children versus climate crisis complaints that argentina,a, brazil, gegermany, turkey, and france that they respond to what wewe have filed against them. i also want t to see that this

compmplaint it r raises awarareo what's happeningng to childrdrel around the w world. today,y, we are at city hall in san francisco. girl: what do we want? girls: climate justice! girl: when do we want it? girls: now! anannouncer: " "earth focucus" e popossible in n part by a a gram anne r ray foundation, a marargt a. cargigill philantnthropy; the orange county commununity fofoundation; and the fafarvue

announcer: funding for this program was provided by the novo foundation and the minerva nolte estate. [music playing] wowoman: people are e getting wr in tirir hom [man speakaking spanisish] woman: we needed gender eqequal, and wewe need thisis reflected n national priitities. narrator: it's been a century since the suffragettes, after 70 years of struggle, finally won the right to vote. and yet, at current rates of change, we are still decades away from global gender equality. in some countries, women are overcoming barriers to leadership.