School-age kids lead the fight for a greener future in Nigeria's Borno State

The residents of Kikandwa, Uganda, came together to create the Kikandwa Environmental Association to implement nature-based solutions in their community. The solutions are combatting climate change and generating more income than options with a negative environmental impact. For example, many people traded cutting trees to make charcoal for selling seedlings at the local tree nursery.

The nonprofit World Wildlife Fund is working with elementary schools in the United States to develop programs that teach students about food waste in hopes of encouraging environmental responsibility. They practice ways to reduce their waste at lunch, learn how to compost and sort garbage, and keep track of the amount of waste they’ve reduced.

Students at Catholic University of America in a net-zero design course are analyzing church structures and making suggestions for green improvements to address the climate crisis, reduce carbon emissions and support the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ mission to conserve energy and protect the planet. Though in its early days, the course has proven beneficial for U.S. dioceses, and students say it’s impacted the way they see architecture and design, and how it can have implications tied to the environment.

The Foundation for a Better Environment partners with public and private schools across Nigeria to make waste reduction a part of the curriculum. It's focused on teaching youth to reuse, recycle, and compost through practices like making art and building gardens.

Local governments in France are educating residents about waste reduction and finding ways to incentivize the behavior change necessary to meet the country’s ambitious zero-waste goals. Roubaix, for example, teaches residents simple lifestyle changes that will also save them money. Whereas, Smicval transitioned from door-to-door waste collection to a central collection point where residents drop off trash themselves.

In Nigeria, the Arewa Women Initiative For Climate Change Advocacy And Environmental Sustainability works to educate people on climate change and empower them to make informed, environment-friendly decisions. Through events like tree planting campaigns, the initiative spreads awareness on a variety of issues while coordinating action.

Plant Your Future is working with Peruvian farmers to reforest the Amazon rainforest by helping them earn an income while growing trees instead of doing so by cutting trees down. The charity does outreach, teaches farmers about agroforestry, intercropping, and the carbon market, and then supports them throughout the transition to those practices.

Saving Hawai‘i’s Forests plants koa trees and other native plants to reforest plots of land degraded by grazing livestock. As a result, the group has noticed the return of native wildlife to the plot, many of which are endangered or threatened species.

City Plants, an organization in Los Angeles, is partnering with other nonprofits, government agencies, scientists, and residents to create a more equitable urban forest throughout the city. By working together and using technology, they have planted more than 65,000 trees to combat climate change, systemic racism, and high temperatures that affect all Angelenos.

The Clean Green initiative empowers Yezidi women who escaped the 2014 ISIS genocide to rebuild their lives and enviornment by planting more than 2,000 trees, specifically chosen to withstand Iraq’s shifting climate. The grassroots group started with just five volunteers, but now has more than 40 members.