These kids aren't all right. 7 photos show you a world of change.
Their stories really hit home.
Children are already living it.
Photographers from around the world share photos of kids to help us see what climate change really looks like.
1. Fire.
This young man from Shuswap, British Columbia, is hanging out in his family pickup, watching the world around him go up in flames.
A photo posted by Everyday Climate Change (@everydayclimatechange) on
Photo by @nina_berman @noorimages
The tiny pine bark beetle, thriving in hot, dry summers and mild winters, is causing millions of acres of trees to die all over the western U.S. and British Columbia. And what do hot, dry summers plus acres of standing dead timber mean?You guessed it: big, hot wildfires. They've gotten so severe that it's become a pastime to go out at night and watch the "fireworks."
2. Sea level rise.
Body surfing is fun, but these kids on Kiribati have too much of a good thing. Rising seas beat against the seawall that provides the only protection for their families' homes.
A photo posted by Everyday Climate Change (@everydayclimatechange) on
Photo by @ashleycrowtherorg
Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific, is anticipated to be the first country to lose all its land to rising seas caused by climate change. Can you imagine growing up in a place that you knew was disappearing under the waves forever?
3. Shrinking Arctic ice.
Heading back to the family hunting camp, a young boy near Kivalina, Alaska, helps his dad carry a precious catch. Thin, mushy ice is making finding food much harder.
A photo posted by Everyday Climate Change (@everydayclimatechange) on
Photo by @timmatsui
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Less coastal ice in the winter means less time and space to hunt, as well as less wildlife. And villages along the coast are much less protected during powerful winter storms.
(Polar bears, walruses, and other animals rely on the winter ice for hunting too. )
4. Strange weather.
Two very serious tour guides from Xikrin greet a photographer visiting their Kayapó community in the Brazilian Amazon.
A photo posted by Everyday Climate Change (@everydayclimatechange) on
Photo by @carobennett
Their ancestors have passed down stories about their environment for generations. Will their knowledge be able to guide these children in the future?
5. Super storms.
Kids can make a game of anything. Three girls play in a fog of mosquito repellent near bunkhouses that remain home for thousands of refugees from Typhoon Haiyan. When will the next storm hit?
A photo posted by Everyday Climate Change (@everydayclimatechange) on
Photo by @coleenjose
The "super typhoon" left almost 4 million people homeless, 6,300 dead, and 1,061 missing. The Philippines is #1 on the list of countries expected to be most affected by intensifying storms, floods, and heat waves.
6. War.
What to make of her new home? A Syrian girl looks pensive in the Al Za'atri refugee camp in Jordan. Conflicts over water remain the root of Syria's civil war.
A photo posted by Everyday Climate Change (@everydayclimatechange) on
Climate change and one of the worst droughts in modern history have been directly connected to the war in Syria, which has displaced millions and devastated an entire nation.
7. Drought.
Friends hang on the parched streets of Stratford, California, where the economy is drying up along with the land.
A photo posted by Everyday Climate Change (@everydayclimatechange) on
Photo by @mrobinsonchavez
Drought is a slow, quiet killer of wildlife, livestock, crops, and ways of life. For a fourth straight year, lack of snow in the Sierra Nevada has meant low meltwater to feed many rivers and irrigated fields in California. 430,000 acres of choice Central Valley agricultural land will lie fallow during the growing season of 2015 due to lack of rain and snow.
A lot of us can relate to what at least one of these kids is facing.
We can change direction. We have the technology to shift away from climate-changing fossil fuels.