All the inhabitants of Planet Earth are experiencing a global crisis that is deadlier than all the wars and violence taking place in the world. No corner of our planet is free from this crisis.  It reaches from the Arctic glaciers to the hidden depths in the sea. This is an unfair emergency, where the most disadvantaged are paying for the consequences of the wasteful life of the privileged.

Why do we call Climate Change to the greatest crisis facing humanity? “Changes” can be for the better or for the worse … but Crises always force us to think over, seek for solutions and take action. So… why don’t we use the right words? What is actually the Climate Crisis?

Check out our episode guide at the end of the article after watching the episode!

The first Earth Day

On the first Earth Day in 1970, more than twenty million people flooded the streets of the United States demanding a healthy, safe and clean environment. That day of April the 22nd would go down in history as one of the largest demonstrations ever in the North American country. But who organized this very first day of environmental claim?

“We only have one earth, so we need to take care of her”

US senator Gaylord Nelson had a vision. After the terrible 1969 Santa Barbara oil slick, Nelson came up with the idea of ​​holding a national class on environmental education. He recruited Dennis Hayes, a young activist involved in protests against the Vietnam War, to organize what would eventually become Earth Day.

Together, Hayes and Nelson managed to get 10% of the American population to demonstrate in favour of the first environmental protection laws in the US. That first Earth Day gathered together, for the first time, many local groups under one idea: the struggle for the environment.

The youngest, in the first line of environmental defense

Nowadays, Earth Day is the most celebrated non-religious holiday in the world. More than 1 billion people in more than 190 countries mobilize for the planet every year. But the environmental fight is not a matter of one day in a year. More than 50 years later, young people like Dennis Hayes are in the first line of defense of Nature and the Planet.

Greta Thunberg and the fight for the environment

In August 2018, after the hottest summer in Europe’s history, a 15-year-old Swedish girl decided not to go to school on fridays until her country’s politicians took real action against the Climate Crisis. She wrote “school strike for the climate” on a poster and sat in front of the Swedish parliament. She did it alone the first day, but little by little she was joined by other classmates, friends and even strangers. Her action did not go unnoticed and helped raise awareness in favor of the defense of Nature.

Just three years after her first appearance, Greta Thunberg has already become the most recognizable face in the fight against the Climate Crisis. But she is not the only one. Before her, there were many attempts to raise awareness in favour of Nature.  A very young Severn Coullis Suzuki gave a heart-wrenching speech at the Rio Summit in 1992 to warn against the climate crisis. Later on, other initiatives have raised among youth and students such as those for the climate in Australia (2010), United Kingdom (2011) or the global school strike  coinciding with the Paris conference in 2015. As today, other girls and young women such as Alexandria Villaseñor or Licypriya Kangujam, have followed suit. In fact, these young activists have inaugurated this edition of Earth Day.

As a result of Greta Thunberg’s protests, Fridays for Future was born, an organization that brings together more than 14 million people in 7,500 cities around the world. Every Friday, on the streets or on social media, they continue to demonstrate for their future and for the Planet.

Green Generation, for the generation that will change the world

For young people like the members of Fridays for Future to take up climate action, they must first be properly informed. Environmental education is not just scientific. Children must understand that the climate crisis is also a complex social, political and economic issue. But in many countries this type of environmental education remains a pending issue, although it is increasingly important for the future of the next generations.

We share the same concerns about the environment, the planet and the future as Fridays for Future, Greta Thunberg, Greenpeace and so many other people, institutions and non-governmental organizations. We are animation professionals, and we have decided to take advantage of our experience with educational children’s series to create a series that answers the questions that children ask themselves about the environment, the planet and the future. This is how Green Generation was born.

Green Generation is an animation series aimed at raising awareness among children about the Climate Crisis. The 5-minute chapters address different topics related to the protection of Nature and the defense of the environment, such as fossil fuels, zoonoses, the excessive use of plastic, etc. Our goal is to inform and educate about the great environmental challenges that we are facing and offer solutions to achieve, together, a better world.

To get our message across the world, we have expanded Green Generation into a universe of contents. We seek to make the world a more natural, sustainable, fair and supportive place.

Although environmental awareness is on the rise, this kind of critical projects are not very well received by the mainstream media. For decades, large corporations and multinational companies have enriched themselves by destroying the environment. They are the owners of the money and the media and they do everything possible to silence the voices which are critical of their activity. Green Generation’s message, in favor of a more natural, just and supportive world, clashes head-on with the practices of these great industrial monsters.

We are critical of their development model and their depredation of the environment. And although our work is expensive and requires a lot of time and a lot of work from highly specialized professionals, we refuse to receive funds from companies or institutions that are not firmly and effectively committed to protecting the environment. It is David’s fight against Goliath. The David of environmental thinking against the Goliath of a predatory system based on endless greed.

How can I support Green Generation on Patreon?

We have opened a subscription page on Patreon, a crowdfunding platform that allows people like you to directly support content creators. Our sponsors will have access to our animation episodes exclusively each month. Join us and you will get tools and resources to create environmental awareness and will become part of an active community in climate education and awareness.

Green Generation’s Climate Crisis Episode Guide

We have created this short guide to facilitate and encourage mothers, fathers and educators to talk about the climate crisis with children. This small section complements the first episode of Green Generation, the Climate Crisis

How can we explain the Climate Crisis to children?

We have created this short guide to facilitate and encourage mothers, fathers and educators to talk about the climate crisis with children. This small section complements the first episode of Green Generation, the Climate Crisis

Facts and thoughts on the Climate Crisis

• When you have a fever, your temperature only rises a couple of degrees Celsius, but you feel very sick. In the last 100 years, the temperature of the Earth has risen more than 1 degree. Now we can see the effects of this illness of the Earth in the form of droughts, heat waves or the extinction of species.
• If you’ve ever had a fever, you probably remember how worried adults were that your temperature would rise too high. The same thing happens to the planet. We are concerned that the temperature will rise further, because the effects of the disease on Earth will be terrible for everyone.
• Watching or reading the news together can be very useful to see the effects of the Climate Crisis. The news just show us the facts, but we must explain our children that these droughts or forest fires have a reason. Although we cannot see it, Climate Crisis is always there, just as we do not see the virus or bacteria that cause our fevers. Here are some facts of 2020 related to the climate crisis:
  • “Hurricanes are getting more and more violent “. Last year the record for tropical storms in the US was broken. This New York Times article explains the relationship between hurricanes and the climate crisis.
  • “Higher temperatures melt the poles and rise the sea level.” The permanent ice decline in the Arctic is accelerating as the planet’s temperature increases. This National Geographic report explains that in 2035 there may be no ice left in the Arctic in summer.
  • “New diseases appear that nature kept away from us.” It is very possible that COVID-19 has reached us because of deforestation, as it also happened with Ebola or HIV. Here the Scientific American delves into the subject.

Three activities to change our lifestyle

We do not want to scare children, but to educate them so that they become aware of how our actions and lifestyle affect the health of the planet. A simple way is to change habits at home or at school and be aware of the importance of individual actions. We recommend  to take easy actions like these:

1. Next time you go to the mountains or to the beach, bring garbage bags with you. You can collect the garbage that you come across together and talk about how important it is to keep nature clean.
2. If you like handcrafting, why don’t you take the chance to give a plastic bottle a second life? It is a good opportunity to introduce reuse and recycling and value the importance of reducing our consumption of polluting goods.
3. Another way to reduce our waste is to start composting food scraps. Thus, boys and girls will be able to see that nature takes advantage of everything and that we must do the same. You don’t need a lot of space, just a small garden, a balcony or a terrace. Your plants will thank you!

Recommended Resources

• The Environmentalist. This Greenpeace blog collects the latest news on the Climate Crisis and Greenpeace campaigns. Other resources that we recommend from this NGO are:
  • Fire Drill Fridays: Join activist and actress Jane Fonda’s live broadcast every first Friday of the month and get the latest news about the fight for the environment. You can follow it on Facebook, Youtube or Instagram.
  • Instagram Greenpeace: videos and images depicting and creatng awareness on the Climate Crisis.
• “Our house is on fire: scenes of a family and a planet in crisis” (2020) Malena Ernman, Greta Thunberg, Scante Thunberg and Beata Ernman. A book written by Greta Thunberg’s mother about how her family experienced her daughter’s activism. Here is a review on The Guardian.
• Newsletter for Future. Fridays for Future monthly newsletter with global news about the movement, future actions and interesting recommendations