Meet young activists of color who want to combat climate change and save the planet

Merdie Nzanga | USA TODAY

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story misidentified the lawsuit filed by Jamie Margolin against the Washington state government and the classification of the nonprofit Our Children's Trust.

If you ask Jamie Margolin and Nadia Nazar how they came to be co-founders of an environmental activism group, the answer is simple: social media.

Last summer, after Nazar, a 15-year-old from Baltimore, read a story about climate change that featured Margolin, from Seattle, she followed her on Instagram. Soon after, the two started talking about bringing awareness to climate change.

And that led to the creation of Zero Hour, an organization of young people of color working to raise awareness about climate issues.

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” Margolin, 16, said. “It’s clear that elected leaders haven’t been thinking about our future as they stall on action and continue to let fossil fuel companies pollute.”

Climate change is affecting human health worldwide, the British medical journal The Lancet reported, from the spread of infectious diseases to exposing millions to air pollution and heat waves.

And that's what worries the members of Zero Hour. The group's platform includes:

demanding politicians stop taking money from oil companies

asking people to depend less on industrial agriculture by growing food in all neighborhoods

demanding politicians create affordable transit systems in small and large cities.

Margolin took Zero Hour's platform to heart when she filed a lawsuit in February with the help of the nonprofit organization Our Children's Trust. Margolin and 12 other young people filed a lawsuit against the Washington State government, accusing the government of "denying ... rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" by allowing dangerous amounts of carbon dioxide in the sky.

Margolin's lawsuit is far from the only lawsuit from young people that aims to take on climate change in the legal space. According to its website, Our Children's Trust has advocated for young people across the country, including eight who sued the state of Florida in April for "perpetuating an energy system that is based on fossil fuels."

The organization also supports the 21 young people in Juliana v. United States, who are suing the federal government for knowingly contributing to climate change for decades. The Supreme Court last month refused to halt the federal lawsuit.

In response to Margolin's suit, Andrew Wineke of the Washington State Department of Ecology said his department "shares the children's urgent concern with addressing climate change and the belief that people need to do more to decrease carbon pollution."

However, he said the lawsuit was not an "appropriate" way to address climate change.

Climate change issues are complicated, he said, and require legislative action.

"The issues raised by climate change are so broad and so complex, comprehensive solutions will require legislative action," he said.

He added that his department and other agencies are "working very hard within" its "existing authorities to reduce greenhouse gases."

Last month, King County Superior Court in Seattle heard the state's motion to dismiss the case. Judge Michael Scott said he would issue a written ruling by this Friday.

Margolin said that, whatever the ruling may be, Zero Hour would continue to fight climate change, though she did not specify how.

Zero Hour goes to Washington

Last month, Zero Hour marched on Washington and met with congressional lawmakers to urge them to stop accepting money from fossil fuel companies.

Among those members of Congress who met with the group was Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

At the end of the meeting, Sanders reaffirmed his commitment to environmental justice by emphasizing to them why it's important to move “aggressively” away from fossil fuels to renewable energy and thanked them for helping lead the climate change conversation. Sanders had already signed the pledge to stop accepting money from fossil fuel companies before meeting with the group, according to his office.

Other lawmakers that met with the group, including Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Tammy Duckworth D-Ill., decided to take more time to look over the pledge and to respond at a later time.

While in Washington for the march, 18-year-old hip-hop artist and environmental activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez explained that he believed climate change would affect his age group the most. Martinez is one of the plaintiffs in the climate change lawsuit against the federal government.

"Climate change is the defining issue of our time," said Martinez, who is from Boulder, Colorado. "Our generation is being robbed of our youth because we are being pushed to the front line to protect our life-giving systems that we all depend on."

It's an idea that was reiterated by Havana Chapman-Edwards, 7.

Chapman-Edwards, of Virginia, first gained national attention in April when she was the only student at her school who sat outside in protest of gun violence. The moment went viral on social media. After that, she turned her attention to climate change.

"Kids have more to lose when it comes to climate change than adults do because we are going to live longer," Chapman-Edwards said. "I am here to make sure the adults making the laws think about us, too."

Moving forward, Zero Hour plans to get young people to register to vote before the upcoming midterm election and to speak up at town hall meetings.

"We will do campaigns to educate youth about the platform so they can implement those changes in their local communities," Margolin said.