The following are some groups of (and/or for) young people who are leading and inspiring positive change and fighting for a livable future. These organizations represent various age groups (from children to teens to young adults / Gen Z and “millennials”), and they are building powerful social movements for climate action, intergenerational and environmental justice, and youth awareness and empowerment. Most of the following groups are based in the United States.
Many of the following groups could fall within any/all of the three categories listed below (environmental/climate action, education, and political/advocacy), but I’ve tried to put each group under the category that might be most applicable:
Environmental / climate action:
Sunrise Movement
Our Children’s Trust
Our Climate
Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE)
Defend Our Future
Fridays for Future
Zero Hour
OneGreenThing’s Gen Z Council
Earth Uprising
Youth 4 Nature
SustainUS: U.S. Youth for Justice and Sustainability
International Youth Climate Movement
Earth Guardians
Defend Our Future
Hip Hop Caucus
Brower Youth Awards
International Eco-Hero Awards (Action for Nature)
Turning Green
ECO2school youth leadership program
Education:
The Climate Initiative
Institute for Humane Education
Global Student Embassy
Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots
NatureBridge
Children & Nature Network
Learning for Justice
(And for often-informative teen media, see: Teen Vogue, the online magazine)
(Also see: Green Curricula and Environmental Learning Activities)
Political (including voting advocacy):
NextGen America
Voters of Tomorrow
Rock the Vote
HeadCount
Campus Vote Project
Gen Z for Change
Cap, Gown, Vote!
New Voters
18by Vote
VoteRiders (voter ID)
Voter Participation Center
TurnUp
Leaders We Deserve
Alliance for Youth Action
Black Youth Vote!
Hip Hop Caucus
Millennial Politics
Young Invincibles
Youth Empower (Women’s March)
March for Our Lives / Vote for Our Lives
Youth Over Guns
Students Demand Action
Young Democrats of America
College Democrats
You can find these and other youth/young-adult-focused organizations in our Twitter list.
What are some other youth-led or youth-focused groups that you think people should know about? Please mention them in the Comments!
Related posts:
- Green Curricula and Environmental Learning Activities
- Green Schools: Resources and Links
- Posts related to Democracy and Social Change
- Films and TV, Books, TED Talks, and Other Educational Resources
- Reputable, Fact-Based News and Information Sources
- Voting and Elections: Links, Groups, and a Personal Plea
- State by State Voting Information
- Make It Count: Protect your vote and the election
- Environmental Justice Groups and Multicultural Green Groups
- Climate and Energy-Related Solutions, Tips, and Resources
#ClimateStrike #GreenNewDeal #GenZ #youthvote
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi there,
I am emailing you today because I thought you might be interested in participating in our youth engagement event. My name is Sanjana and I am the youth representative for the Small-FIle Media Festival. I have done work in the past with Small File Media Festivals, and also run my own organizations including YWMTU, myEsprit, and radio show The Reality Is.
The Small File Media Festival celebrates low-bandwidth movies that stream with no damage to the planet! Streaming video has an alarmingly high carbon footprint: it’s the cause of about 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.* But these movies at under 5 megabytes each—about the size of a small PDF file—show that great cinema doesn’t have to mean great big files.
I am putting together an hour-long event during the festival which is running August 19th at 10 am, where I’d like to have three or so industry/community leader’s talk about their experience adapting their work with the environment in mind, and how youth can engage with these concepts within their own lives. We will be chatting with Dr.Laura Marks (the founder of Small-File Media festival, filmmaker Sophia Biedka, environmental advocates, and data streaming experts! I will also be hosting a Kahoot game at the end of the discussion where our youth viewers will be challenged to test their knowledge!
If you are interested in participating in our event, please follow the link below to sign up!
https://forms.gle/w1Zm2hkGfj2EXfZw5
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you! Please do let me know if you are also interested in hearing further details regarding the festival
Cheers,
Sanjana
Please extend your program to Liberia.
Hello! I am the recruiter for a clean energy company called Common Energy. We have a youth- collective that does outreach to sign individuals up to community solar projects, within our regions. Our mission is to reduce carbon emissions by advocating for community solar, which connects people’s utility accounts to our community solar projects. I am reaching out to inquire about a possible partnership opportunity, or a chance to spread the word about our program to the youth within your networks. We are a team of young, passionate environmentalists trying to make a positive change for our Earth, at a grassroots level. I look forward to hearing from you, and am excited to discuss the opportunities to connect!
Thank you for sending this information, and for the good work you do. We’ll add this organization to the post!
Youth4Nature is a youth-led international initiative advocating for natural climate solutions. In pursuing climate action, political leaders cannot forget young people and they cannot forget nature. We are empowering young people around the world to mobilize for nature and climate and hold our political leaders to account on both the climate and ecological crises. Visit our website to help build this movement!