gigirl: my name is alexaxandria villaseñor. boy: my nameme is adiglia brbra. boboy: i'm cararl smit boy: my name is david ackley. [g[girl speaking native lalangu] girl: : my name is ayakha melithafa. boy: m my name is s raj tanagi. girl: my n name is yur kapadaea. boy: my nameme is litokne kabua. girl: my name is g greta. we a are actualllly sayi that tu are viololating children'sightss while yoyou have--you hahave rectctifiethe un conveventn ofof

the righghts of ththe child, and therefe,e, we are ing g you. i think that i is veryry powerfl thing.g. alexandra:a: my generation wille the most vulnerable by the climate crisis. carlrl: my village is built on permafrorost, and it's startinio thaw away. ayakhaha: a lot ofof people exexperience climatete change, but they d don't know that it's clclimate change. litokne:e: we want a a sustaabae planetet to live in in the futu. [camamershutter clicking] 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 crackling]

[water rushing] [wind howling] man: every child bororn today wl experience a fundadamentally altered d world, which will increase their probability of dedeath and serious disease or illness bebecause of the change the climimate. there are a grgreat many efforts brought by young people around the world--cases brought domestically a against govererns for failing g to do what those governments pledged to do in the paris agagreement. b but what fm would allow you to talk to all of humanity atat one time? t ths the united nations. we conducted interviews to basically put together the best diversity and array of young people from different parts of the world being affected in different

ways by the crisis. a number of organizations, including greta thunberg, conveyed to us the dedesire to formulate, i if possible, , a single legal stratetegy in order r to respopo a challenge that a affects allll nations. greta: i am m very much shown nn the media, a and thereforet t is extremely y important at we e ao highlighththe other plplaintiff. 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 important.

[litokne spepeaking marshallese]

[waves crashing] the waves came, and then they removed the piece of land that used to be over here. so over here is what used to be ourr outside bathroom, and then it was knocked away. this was used to be e a basketbl coururt area foror small kids, t it destroyed. all this area was impacted, and it was flooded. 6060% of the c community h heren ebeye has s been damagaged or affecteded by the rirising seasd climatchchange. [chihildren talking indistinctl] woman: the world talkeked about climatate change b before us. .s an existential threat. foror the 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 the m marshall islands is n the line. it's hard to just clclose our eyes and hopope that this is not t gonna get worse, because we s see it getting wore and worsrse every yeyear. [flames crackling] alexandria: in november of 2018, one ofof the biggegest wildfiria california's history broke out. [ala beeping]] i am originalllly from davavis, california. and during my trip back h home to california, i i s really c caught in t the smoke f the e paradise f fire. [firefighter talking indistinctly] alexandria: and so i started to realally research abouout wildf, because i wawanted to knknow wht

was going g on 'cause californi- it's on fifire all yeaear round. there isis no wildfifire season. it's just t california. from thahat research, i startedo see the link between c climate change and californinia's wildfifires, and that made m met to d do something, but i didn't knknow how until seeing grgreta thunbergrg speak at t cop24 in poland. greta: this is the biggest crcrisis h humanity has evever . we neeto get angryry and hold the older generations accountable for the mess tha they h have created. [shouting in native languages] [rhythmic drumming] alexandriaia: could wewe have te first ththing on ourur agenda be e-mailil that was just sent to l of you guys? girl: can yoyou text me thagagea because ththe what'sapp hasnsn't

been workingng. alexandria: i was one of the fifirst climate strikersrs herin the e united statates. woman: she said, "i want to ststrike." and we bothth laughe. we didn't think ananybody would pay attention. in a period of 9 months, you know, we went from thisis place of just sititting a bench with a sign to, you know, organizing globally. [cheering] crowd: ♪ if you will fight for us, we're gonna fight for you will y you fight for us? ♪ alexandriaia: these dedemands ae directed at those in power who are inside the united nations climate summit. . and we will continueuo climate options till they hear us. [cheering] krkristin: right nowow, our livs are...just...overwhelming. it's difficult to keep up with our schedules. woman: i'd like for us to all

welcome alexandria. exandria: pepeople alwlways ask how we o organize for a global climate stririke. so really,y, w it's all done is it's done through social media. we use a lot of what'sapp, discord, slack. insnstagram's where a lot of, like, the youth are, 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, alexandria managed her social memedia. it's just she's's 14, d she ininsists on a allowing, y u know, direct messageges to reach her. and with the huge following that she's developed, there's just so many of those messages that are not appropriate. i mean, , she's ceiveded everythtg from deaeath threatsts to marrie propoposals--ha!a!--online and eveverything in bebetween. my first job is to be her parent, which h is to keep her safe andnd to keep her h health.

and i worry y there's real dang involved d in being a activivist. and so you just have to take prprecautions.s. you hao be carefeful. [engine chugging] carl: see, these are rabbits right there. rabbbbit snares. we set 'em as g as a man's's hand,ike this. usually it will get colder than this. right now, it's like 20 degrees, 15 degrees, but it should be, like, 0 to below 10. the mainin effects of climatee change around here 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 in the river dead 'cause there's no oxygen in the river. [engine chugging] [man speaking] carl: the permafrost is defrososting, and it's n not had enou f for theavaves to t. a and usualllly when the waveses hit,t just bounceses off and i it doet erode. nowadays, it's just too soft and it's just breaking down

the dirt on our land. [clifton speaking] [corn kernrnels rattliling] [clucking tongue] [chickens clucking] ayakhaha: in the e eastern capae majority of people here are farmrmers. this how we earn ouor livingng. this is s how we susud ourselves. but t the weatherer s been so o unpredictatable that e haveven't really had a chance to plant anything now. you can even see the clouds across. it's not that green or anything likee thatat because o of the drought. it's hard. it really is hard to live like this.

wowoman: the c climate issue isa serious issue e because itit's affecting g everyone, especially womemen, especiaially those e se women that are trying to make enends meet and they tryry to go maybe for r farming, a and they can't do because nowow that there's stones and everything. so she's standing g for 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 gononna manage. thn when you s see them becoming wht they are becoming, you feel so proud. ayakha: when you see something gegetting deststroyed thatat yoe and d value, you can't't just st around and do nothing. so i went to t the school l internet a and gogoogled in what is causising e drought, a and then there's lika lot that came up----the climatae change, global warming. so it's just like shock.k. like, wow, ts is a lot of informrmation about this, that it is a bigger movement going on beyond t the small fraction of drought that we are facacing here i in cape . [childreren talking g indistinc] ayakha: as a school student, i

decide, "ok, my school is my community. l let me starart from wiwithin." andnd we starteted s, and i i tried to o organize assemblies f for me to, , like, educate people, but even that was tough, 'cause school kids arare mean. when i was trying to, "guys, come look here, come look here," "ah, rich white pepeople stufff. this is fofor people t that have money anand rich." a and i'm li, "guys, we the onones that are getting affecteded first herere bebecause, likike, we the e vule ones." i can't really say, "oh, well, we'r're doomed, knowing gt ththere's somemething we c can l do." alexandria: 30 years ago, the world signed a contract between generations that the present world would leave a world worth inheriting to the future. you are defaulting on that contract, , and we're here to collect.t.

myself, along with 15 other children from all around the world, filed a complaint t to te committee on the rights of the child, stating that our r rights are being g violed b by argenti, brazil, germanany, turkey, and france. artiticle vi on the convention of the rights of the child say it's that we have an inherent right to life. but the climimate crisis with morere fl, wildfires, hurricanes--it's directly threatening that. greta: they promised to protect our rights, and they have not done that. carl: we usesed to be e able too hunt geese on.....any kind of hunt, berry picking. and now they're just disappearing. ayakha: you cacan start byby the smalall, daily activities s to t raise awareness in your community 'cauause eventuauallyt will s spread likeke a wildfire. woman:n: one of ththem is a 17-year-old who joined greta thunberg and 14 other global activists in signing a legal

complaint for r the united natis coconvention on the righghts ofe child. ayakha: it's almost t like the children of the world taking the world to court, for not upupholding ththe united nations rightsts of the child. i was very glad to be partf it 'cause it will mean that i was able to shed light on what's happening to my community, to my countrtry. they look k at co2 emissions.... nokukulunga:he was gonnana do te plastic surgeon and stuff, so oi 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. she wants to f fight for the climate, for the world, actually. grgreta: i it's veryry important we u e everyosossiblchanannel that we hahave, and ththe law is especialally powerfuful.

michael: the petition is seeking to demonstrate that it's not just climate in the abstract or the earth in a bell jar. it's every child bornrn today thahatl face the e effects, you knknow,f increased d global heating throughout their entire lives, generation after generation. greta: we'rere using our rights as c citizens of the worldld ans childrdren, and yoyou need too actually s step up whehen thingo totoo fa a and that's what we ae doing. boy: ha ha! [boy speaking marshallese] [litokne speaking marshallese]

[ukelele playing] [boy singing in marshallese] litokne: my family is one e of e mostst important families in the community. we are the ones who take the responsibibilities ofor traditional ways of living.

[people singing] man: here in the marshall islands, we still observe the social caste system. or within the caste system, you have 3 catetegories--the royals, , the chiefsfs; you hahave the landow, and the e commoners. the royal family is the kings. these are our advocate. they teach h us manners, they teaeacs the culture, and they provide our needs. litokne comes from ththe royal fafamily. knowing gs background means he knows where he's c coming from, and litotoks future herere will be very important. litokne:e: my closest familyly membmber to me is my mheher. my mother is the female traditional leader.. [speaking marshallese] lilitokne: i go around t the scs

here and encourage them to be youth activists, too. [litokne speaking g marshallese] alexandriaia: you really want to protect those around you and make sure that your family is safe and your friendnds are saf,

but the climate crisis is directly threatening your friends and your family. it's threatening everyone on this plplanet. [door squeaks] man: we lolost 85 and probably some more that we e don't realay know a about 'cause therwawas a hohomeless popopulation up here. we'v've got 40,000 people e whoe it off this ridge driving through tunnels of fire. and some of the most powerful momements for me is when w we hd ababout some o of our yoututh gp said they called their parents and said good-bye. [voice b breaking] s sorry. that getets me every timime i tk about itit. so many people thought, really 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 u think so often, "ok, it burns, youou clear it, and you o back."." but this s devastatiois soso complete that peoeople have gone f 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] carl: what's up,p, rasiene?? rasiene: hey. we n no longer h have 4 seasonse

onlyly have 2 seasons, w which e summer a and winter. so, splply, either we'rere facing an extreme heat, , or we are having, lilik, heavy y rains whicich goes floodings. carl: thatat's kind of scary. rasiene: yeah. we also have heavavy snowfall, bubut i don'tt ththink that i it is as much asu guys he-e-- carl: : yeah. . we don't---- rarasiene: because you live in-- cacarl: you guys are prorobably hahaving more e snow than us. il talk to yoyou maybe today or tomorrow. . ok, later, bro. rasiene: takake care. baby: boo. carl: i don't like mornings. always sleepy. so i drop one of mymyisters off to myununties, and thenen i drop onone off at e preseschool, then i go straighto schohool. boy: d did you have fun in n new yoyork? carlrl: yeah. boy: did y you get to meet gret? carl: yeah, because she was part of my group. before we went down

the prpress conference, she e hd me, likeke, get ready and whatever, like, 'c'cause i was nenervous. andnd then--'caususes used to itit. i met lolots of people from all around the world. my friend, he lives at the marshahall islands. he lost his homeme from rising sea leve. we just have to keep talking. michaeael: the comommittee wilie a a recommendadation as toto whr or not t there was a a fundamenl righght agreed t to by thesese natitions, which they haveve not lived d up to or h honored. thte enigma t then cos in what thosoe nations wiwill do in the facacef thatat finding and that rerecommendation. greta: what i wowould hope thiso reresultn n is that itit actualy chchanges ththe way wewe see t climate crisis a and the w way e

sesee th, , because itit's s syololic and thahat itilill sort ofhange the misetsts of people. [litokne speaking marshallese] ayakha: : in south a africa, the 1976 sowoweto uprising made kids from all ages are rirising up to fifight the apapartheid system f learning afrikaansns. so therers a popowerful movement, and it keeps s encouraging and swiwing me that youth cacan make a differenence. we canan make a mr difffference if we just puput or hearts and our minds to it. alalexandria: i hope thahat froe children verersus climate crisis complalaints that argegentina, brazil, germany, turkey, and frfrance that t they respond tot we have leled against t them. i

also want t to see thahat this complaint it raises s awarenesso what's happeningng to childrdrel araround the world. today, we are at city hall in san francisco. girl: what do we want? girls: climate justice! girl: whenen do we want it? girls: now! announcecer: "earth h focus" ise possiblele in part b by a grantm ananne ray fououndation, a a mat a. c cargill phihilanthropy;y; e orangege county cocommunity foundatition; and ththe farvue

[waves crashing] - at the beginning, before non-indians came here, we had a recorded population of about 10,000 people around here. by the tururn of the century, we had 12323 people listed on the censnsus rolls. so as a a kid growing up, i learned alall this. and i thoughght, "well, what happens to thahat knowledge when someone dies?" it goes with them. you can't teach someone after you're dead. [mellow striring music]] i i feel it's s a travesty if we dodon't share.e.