“I wish adults knew that I really care about the environment and want to help, but I sometimes feel like my ideas don’t matter because I’m just a kid.”

This is what a nine-year-old respondent told us when we asked how they feel about the environment.

In today’s current political climate, many adults seem resigned to climate catastrophe and even dabble in climate change denialism. However, our survey of 1,000 youth aged eight to 14 from Canada and the United States found that children care deeply about the planet and are ready to take action.

The findings from our report were produced as part of an ongoing study with the Humanity in Motion Society, a Canadian non-profit organization focused on engaging youth as key stakeholders in advancing environmental stewardship.

Almost 90 per cent of the kids we spoke to recognize climate change as a real and urgent problem, calling for intergenerational collaboration and bolder environmental mitigation and adaptation commitments.

It turns out that our nine-year-old respondent speaks for many children. Kids know what’s at stake, want a seat at the table and need adults to act with them.

Many of the kids told us they regularly take action to mitigate their carbon footprint, including recycling, embracing reusable items and conserving energy. Their accounts are consistent with numerous academic studies on youth involvement in

© The Conversation