Kids vs. warming

Young people across the country may soon become impossible to ignore on the subject of climate change. In fact, an iMatter March on Mother’s Day will have teenagers gathering in cities across the planet, attempting to wake up the world to the dangers of global warming.

Sacramento’s youth (along with some of their parents and supporters) will be joining this global effort on Sunday, May 8; locals will be meeting up at Cesar Chavez Plaza and marching to the Capitol.

The iMatter March is the brainchild of Alec Loorz, the Southern California dynamo who, at age 12, after watching Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, started an organization called Kids vs. Global Warming. Now 16, Loorz is slated to speak at the Sacramento march before heading off to another iMatter march in San Francisco.

We dare you to be uninspired by Loorz and the impassioned speech he gave at a Bioneers conference (search “Loorz” and “iMatter” to find it on YouTube) where he exhorted his peers to get ready for the fight of their lives.

Loorz: “We [youth] have an inherent sense of calling about climate change. We know that it will affect our generation more than anybody else, and we are ready for our voices to be heard. …

“If we as a species don’t make the right decisions now, then my generation will be stuck dealing with the disaster the generations before us have created. … The Earth is calling us. Future generations are screaming at us.

“So I believe it is up to us, the youngest generation, to stand up and ignite a movement that will change the mindset of every person on this planet. … ”

The power and vibrancy of the young and people like Loorz has set off revolutions throughout history (recently, Egypt comes to mind), and no one can doubt that inspired people, gathered in huge numbers, can topple dictators, renovate governments, inspire revolutions, transform the future. We take the upcoming iMatter march as a sign of hope for the planet and an indication of great things to come from the young people of America.