when i was trying to, "guys, come look here, come look here," "ah, rich white people stuff. this is for people that have money and rich." and i'm like, "guys, we the ones that are getting affected first here because, like, we the vulnerable ones." i can't really say, "oh, well, we're doomed, knowing that there's something we can still 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. myself, along with 15 other children from all around the world, filed a complaint to the committee on the rights of the child, stating that our rights are being violated by argentina, brazil, germany, turkey, and france. article vi on the convention of the rights of the child say it's that we have an inherent right to life. but the climate crisis with more floods, wildfires, hurricanes--it's directly threatening that. greta: they promised to protect our rights, and they have not done that. carl: we used to be able to go hunt geese on...any kind of hunt, berry picking. and now they're just disappearing. ayakha: you can start by the small, daily activities to just raise awareness in your community 'cause eventually, it will spread like a wildfire. woman: one of them is a 17-year-old who joined greta thunberg and 14 other global

activists in signing a legal complaint for the united nations convention on the rights of the child. ayakha: it's almost like the children of the world taking the world to court, for not upholding the united nations rights of the child. 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 emissions... nokulunga: she was gonna do the plastic surgeon and stuff, so i 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 fight for the climate, for the world, actually. greta: it's very important that we use every possible channel that we have, and the law is

especially powerful. 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 born today that will face the effects, you know, of increased global 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 up when things go too far, and that's what we are doing. boy: ha ha! [boy speaking marshallese] [litokne speaking marshallese]

[ukelele playing] [boy singing in 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.

[people singing] 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 landowners, and 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 family. knowing his background means he knows where he's coming from, and litokne's future here will be very important. litokne: my closest family member to me is my mother. my mother is the female traditional leader. [speaking marshallese]

litokne: i go around the schools here and encourage them to be youth activists, too. [litokne speaking marshallese] alexandria: you really want to protect those around you and 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 lost 85 and probably some more that we don't really know about 'cause there was a homeless population up here. we've got 40,000 people who made 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 they called their parents and said good-bye. [voice breaking] sorry. that gets me every time i think about it. 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 think so often, "ok, it burns, you clear it, and you go back." but this devastation was so complete that people have gone 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, rasiene? rasiene: hey. we no longer have 4 seasons. we

only have 2 seasons, which are summer and winter. so, simply, either we're facing an extreme heat, or we are having, like, heavy rains which goes floodings. carl: that's kind of scary. rasiene: yeah. we also have heavy snowfall, but i don't think that it is as much as you guys have-- carl: yeah. we don't-- rasiene: because you live in-- carl: you guys are probably having more snow than us. i'll talk to you maybe today or tomorrow. ok, later, bro. rasiene: take 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 preschool, then i go straight to school. boy: did you have fun in new york? carl: yeah. boy: did you get to meet greta? carl: yeah, because she was part

of my group. before we went down the press conference, she helped me, like, get ready and whatever, like, 'cause i was nervous. and then--'cause she's used to it. i met lots of people from all around the world. my friend, he lives at the marshall islands. he lost his home from rising sea levels. we just have to keep talking. michael: the committee will make a recommendation as to whether or not there was a fundamental right agreed to by these nations, which they have not lived up to or honored. the enigma then comes in what those nations will do in the face of that finding and that recommendation. greta: what i would hope this to result in is that it actually

changes the way we see the climate crisis and the way we see this, because it's so symbolic and that it will sort of change the mindsets of people. [litokne speaking marshallese] ayakha: in south africa, the 1976 soweto uprising made kids from all ages are rising up to fight the apartheid system of learning afrikaans. so there was a powerful movement, and it keeps on encouraging and showing me that youth can make a difference. we can make a major difference if we just put our hearts and our minds to it. alexandria: i hope that from the children versus climate crisis complaints that argentina, brazil, germany, turkey, and france that they respond to what

we have filed against them. i also want to see that this complaint it raises awareness to what's happening to children all around the world. today, we are at city hall in san francisco. girl: what do we want? girls: climate justice! girl: when do we want it? girls: now! 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

amy: from new york, this is democracynow. >> our message for today is quite simple -- free julian assange. amy: famed dissident and professor noam chomsky, pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg, and former british labour leader jeremy corbyn are all calling on president biden to drop charges against imprisoned wikileaks founder julian assange, who faces extradition to the united states.