Some have joined Fridays for Future, the international student protest movement, and decided to strike; others have taken different paths; some protest against plastic, others against the use of fossil fuels. Yet they all share the same goal: saving the Earth. We travel the world to find out who the young people are — beyond Sweden's Greta Thunberg — who are fighting for the climate. Among them, some Italians too.

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Who are the young people trying to change the world

Italy, Miriam, 16 years old

Miriam Martinelli is 16 years old and has charisma to spare. She is one of the faces of Fridays for Future in Milan, and her voice is the one heard leading the chants during the strikes. With long hair and round glasses, she attends an agricultural college. She dreams of graduating and going into politics — and she certainly has the attitude for it. On 1 February she took to the streets for the first time and has never stopped since. "I will keep going until the laws change," she says with confidence.

"I realised that if I wanted to change the world, I had to change myself first"Miriam, 16 years old

"The media are only looking for personalities, but they don't listen," is her reply to those who say Italy lacks a leader to identify with. At home she does what she can, like everyone else: she pays attention to recycling, she is working towards becoming vegetarian, she travels only by public transport and tries to keep the heating as low as possible. Small daily actions that make a difference, because to change the world we must first change our habits.

Italy, Alice, 10 years old

Ten years old and a colourful sign reading "save the world". That is how Alice Imbastari won the hearts and minds of the people of Nettuno, in Lazio. Since February of this year, every Friday afternoon she goes to the beach in her town and collects whatever litter she finds. A simple, effective way of doing her part for the world. For three years she lived in the United Kingdom with her parents, where she first heard about Greta Thunberg. "I have always loved nature, plants and animals. In fact, I want to become a vet. Greta talks about exactly what matters to me — what she was doing seemed like a wonderful thing."

"The planet is going bad like fruit"Alice, 10 years old

So once she returned to Italy she looked for a way, suited to a child in fourth grade, to help — because as Greta says, "no one is ever too small to make a difference." At first it was just her and her parents cleaning the beach, but her passion soon spread to her classmates and beachgoers, creating a real watch team for that stretch of shore. Her initiative led her to open the first Fridays for Future general strike in Rome on 15 March, and to speak at the Cortile di San Francesco on 20 September — a gathering and dialogue event for leading figures from civil society, the economy, religion, culture and the media, held in Assisi.

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United States, Xiye, 17 years old

We met seventeen-year-old Xiye Bastida during the New York strike on 20 September. Originally from Mexico, she is one of the faces of Fridays for Future in the United States and has taken part in the strikes since the very beginning of the movement, calling for a halt to the use of fossil fuels, a just transition to renewable energy and greater justice for frontline communities.

"We are not telling you, 'it was your fault.' We are saying that we are aware of what is happening and we need you"Xiye Bastida, 17 years old

She is enthusiastic about how last Friday's day of action unfolded and about the fact that it was a multigenerational protest. "We need adults — they have the power to vote," she told us, "they can use democracy to save our future." On Saturday 21, at the Youth Climate Summit, she spoke at the United Nations alongside Greta Thunberg.

Uganda, Leah, 15 years old

Leah Namugerwa @NamugerwaLeah

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It's not too late to stand up for #ClimateAction. Stand up today and be part of a caring generation. @GretaThunberg #ClimateStrike #ClimateCrisis

♥ 190💬 2 15 set 2019 · Apri su X →

Leah Namugerwa, 15 years old, knows exactly what she thinks. Originally from the Mukono district of Uganda, over the years she has watched the landscape around her home change dramatically. The forest that spread across the surrounding hills has gradually shrunk to make way for housing. But she has had enough: "If adults won't take the initiative, I will." And so she organised demonstrations and protests, even though at first not even her parents took her seriously.

"Why should I stay silent and do nothing? Young people must speak about what matters to them, because governments change, but people remain."Leah, 15 years old

Then something changed and her father began accompanying her to every event. Leah created two separate but equally powerful projects: one to reforest the area where she lives, and one to reduce the use of plastic bags. The first, promoted under the hashtag #birthdaytrees, aims to encourage young Ugandans to plant trees on their birthday, because "we waste so much food celebrating, but we never celebrate the Earth." So, to lead by example, on her own birthday she went out into the street and planted 200 trees, inviting others to do the same.

Leah Namugerwa @NamugerwaLeah

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We're girls from Uganda we celebrate our birthdays by planting trees.

I've free tree samplings for everyone who would like to celebrate his/her birthday like I do. #Birthdaytrees

♥ 614💬 12 24 set 2019 · Apri su X →

The second project, meanwhile, aims to reduce the number of plastic bags in use, which are considered one of the biggest contributors to pollution in Uganda. Also thanks to her efforts, interest in the environment has grown across the country: "she simplified the message and made it understandable to everyone," her fellow citizens said, enthusiastic about the two initiatives.

Thailand, Lilly, 12 years old

Having grown up in a family that has always been mindful of the environment, Ralyn Satidtanasarn, known as Lilly, feels like a child at war with the world. At the age of eight she was shocked by the amount of plastic on Thailand's beaches and decided to do something about it. At first she thought she was too young, but then she heard about Greta. So she joined the group I'm a Trash Hero and started collecting abandoned rubbish. "When I used my paddle, I was literally paddling through rubbish," Lilly recounted. And that is where her fight began.

"I try to be optimistic, but inside I am furious: our world is disappearing"Lilly, 12 years old

She too had started with strikes outside parliament, but politicians were paying her no attention. She was not discouraged, however. "If the government won't listen to me, I need to speak directly to those who hand out the bags." And so, after a few months, the first victory arrived: Central, a major Thai retail chain, agreed to stop distributing single-use bags one day a week, and other chains committed to doing the same by 2020. Her mother, a former environmental activist, was pleasantly surprised by her daughter's determination: "at first I thought it was a whim, but you should see her determination with your own eyes."

Read also: Who is Gabby Tan, the Malaysian girl fighting for the oceans

Bolivia, Adriana, 19 years old

Adriana Salazar is a law student who is asking the world's governments to formally recognise the rights of the Earth. She is 19 years old and comes from a small indigenous community in the Andes. Here, farmers were unable to survive the 2016 drought and were forced to move to nearby cities, already overcrowded. After the drought, her community was hit first by a severe cold snap that completely destroyed the harvests, and then, more recently, by the Amazon fires. "I don't know what world my children will live in," she says.

"The Earth must be recognised as a legal subject, not as an object"Adriana, 19 years old

But Adriana refuses to give up. At university she works hard, studies and hopes one day to be able to make a difference. And she is already doing so: for some time she has been working to raise more money for the Green Climate Fund, whose purpose is to support the efforts of developing countries in responding to the challenge of global warming, by limiting greenhouse gas emissions or promoting adaptation policies.

India, Nikhil, 24 years old

Nikhil Kalmegh has made climate communication his battle. In March, he took to the streets of his city, Mumbai, together with his friends, and began educating people about the effects of climate change. His interest was sparked by a report from the Ipcc, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which urged nations to curb CO2 emissions. Last Friday he spoke at Kalsekar College in Mumbra and said he was rather surprised by the lack of concrete action against the climate crisis: "the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, but it seems that no politician is making the slightest effort to honour it."

"We need to talk about this issue because people know about the problem, but they don't understand its severity"Nikhil, 24 years old

Nikhil sees climate change affecting his life every day and knows that farmers will be the first to disappear: "there is a permanent water crisis and we are forced to buy drinking water; people die every day because of air pollution and nobody does anything." He wants India to declare a climate emergency as soon as possible: "We will only have a chance if the government makes the climate crisis its priority and stops deforestation in the name of progress." On Friday the 27th he will take part in the third global climate strike and is trying to gather as many people as possible in order to finally push the government to act.

South Africa, Ruby and Ayaka, 18 and 17 years old

Ruby Sampson and Ayakha Melithafa are two girls from Cape Town who witness the impacts of the climate crisis on a daily basis. "We live the way everyone will live when the climate crisis hits." Droughts that seem never-ending and water stress that has serious consequences for the health of communities. Ayaka has experienced first-hand what she talks about: "the water from our tap was contaminated. My brother drank it by mistake and fell ill." For a period they had no drinking water at home and were forced to ration what they managed to collect. "I see how much all of this affects the lives of people of colour," she says, "but sometimes, when it comes to climate change, they don't know how to give voice to their problems. I hope to be that for them: a voice."

"You will die of old age, we will die of climate change"Ruby and Ayaka, 18 and 17 years old

Ruby had a similar experience: together with her family she travelled to more than 36 countries across Africa and was shocked by what she saw. "This is no longer about saving the bears, it's about saving ourselves," she says. Together they founded the Youth and pan african climate alliance, in the hope of uniting all the small activist groups. To date they have managed to reach 37 schools and together they are calling loudly for an end to the use of fossil fuels, oil and gas. Exactly like the young people of Fridays for Future. They do not skip lessons, however — "it's not ethical: our parents have made great sacrifices to give us an education."

Read also: Greta Thunberg and her sisters, who are the girls fighting for the climate

During the Youth Climate Summit, held in New York on Friday 21 September, sixteen young people from all over the world submitted a petition to the UN