I find that the best thing about nature is the beauty of it. The brilliant colors of flowers in the summer and spring, the fiery vibrancy of the leaves that fall in autumn, the shimmer of the sun glimmering through the clouds onto the snow in winter.

After almost a year in planning, Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh arrived at the Wellington airport on January 3, 2017. His new year began by boarding the plane for New Zealand on New Years’ Day. New Zealand is the land of first light, the first country to see the new day and the new year, and this is where the Kid Warrior (now deemed ‘Mana Warrior’ by me), initiated his year of massive challenge and accomplishment.

An article was published recently by CNN illustrating the success of British entrepreneur, Leo De Watts, with his recently-formed company, Aethaer. They are marketing, selling, and shipping 550mL (20oz) containers of fresh Britain countryside air to buyers in China who have become sick of breathing the heavily polluted atmosphere currently existing there, mainly due to the dominant coal industry.

This past November, the UN Conference of Parties popularly referred to as COP22, ended in Marrakesh with Countries from all over the world coming to an agreement named the Marrakesh Action Proclamation. COP22, which was beautifully hosted by the government and people of Morocco, most importantly set a deadline of 2018 for the completion of a rule book that will guide the implementation of the Paris Agreement from COP21.

People always ask me how I ended up getting February 15, 2017 declared as Plastic Pollution Awareness Day in the state of Georgia. After all, I am just a 14 year old girl. The short answer is passion and hard work, but I know that's overly simplistic. So here is my story.

At a very young age, I found my self fascinated by both science and nature. My love for both formed around the same time and by the time I was six I had developed an inventor's mentality, the “what can I fix today” mindset. I wanted so badly to put an end to global warming, pollution, and anything harmful to the earth. I had plenty of great ideas, but no one listens to children.

As a little girl when people said democracy, I thought it meant we don't have a king, or one person in charge of everything. The common people have more of a say in decisions, and we vote every four years to elect the leader that we want. I thought it was all fair and equal. Then I grew up.

Plastic is having a devastating effect on our oceans, our wildlife and ultimately on us as a human species.The introduction of plastic in the 20th century has led us to become increasingly reliant on its use and now a large percentage of almost everything we buy contains plastic. However, while we are happy to use it we are less adept at recycling it and the sad fact is that less than 10% of the plastic we produce gets recycled.

This is my story of how I came to be at Standing Rock and what I witnessed while being there.

The biggest fear on the Earth nowadays is about climate change. The legacy we should leave for the future generations is engaged in a dangerous situation. The Earth needs a new way of development, a new vision of production and consumption, a new kind of leadership, and also the ability for young people to take matters into their own hands and shape the future they want.

It was around 3:00 in the afternoon when I was sitting in my room preparing for my evening shift at work when I heard a siren go off. Within seconds my mind triggered: Is it Wednesday morning?

Kiribati - There are 33 low-lying coral atolls of Kiribati that straddle the equator; have a total land area of 849 sq km and a population of about 110,000. According to Pelenise Alofa, Coordinator of the Kiribati Climate Action Network; “Kiribati Is Water Land”. The coral atolls are just some 3 meters above sea level except for Banaba which is a raised island.

It’s another morning in southern Colorado’s Conejos Land Grant Region, a region that has seen more sweat and tears than I will ever know, a region with so much promise, resiliency and aspirations for a brighter future.

Earth Guardians Uganda and AFOGWAD's Go Green Global Campaign: They need our support to get this awesome project going!

The burgeoning climate movement has successfully mobilized millions of people worldwide to take direct action in the fight against the fossil fuel industry.