By Ayaan Soorma, age 9 At the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the monumental March on Washington concluded with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. giving his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963, exactly 60 years ago. More than 250,000 flooded the streets of Washington for the March for Jobs and Freedom …
By Jessie Mitnick, age 15 Affirmative action, a policy which allows elite universities to make conscious decisions about diversity within their student body, has been effectively ended by the Supreme Court of the United States following an appeal in June. For many Black, Latinx and other students of color, affirmative action policies act as a …
By Nikhil Sabnis, Age 10 The Jardim Gramacho landfill in Brazil, spanning almost 150 acres, was one of the largest and most infamous landfills in Latin America. Remarkably, this massive landfill has now been transformed into a thriving mangrove forest. Gramacho was built on ecologically sensitive marshland in Guanabara Bay in 1978. Before being finally …
Transforming a Toxic Wasteland into a Climate-Saving Tool Read More »
By Ayaan Soorma, age 9 Levels of certain air pollutants considered safe by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards are still causing negative impacts on children’s brains between ages 9 to 13. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, published in Environment International in June, examined 9,497 children in 21 different areas across the United States. In …
New Study Reveals That Even “Safe” Levels of Pollution Are Harming Our Brains Read More »
By Anna Brinkman, age 10 In June, the New York City Council passed a law that will require everyone to compost their food waste to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from landfills. Under the Zero Waste Act, composting will be mandatory in all five boroughs by April 2025. The rollout will begin in October 2023 with …
Zero Waste Act Brings Compulsory Composting to NYC Read More »
By Connor Korrell, age 12 Scientists recently discovered that the Earth is shifting eastward at a rate of 1.7 inches every year. The study, which was published in June in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, suggests that the shift is due to years of groundwater extraction and relocation. When the Earth spins, its rotational poles …
By Jenifer Hernandez, age 10 Imagine a world where there are no animals. Without them, would humans even survive? A 2022 report published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services found that billions of people rely on around 50,000 wild species of animals and plants for their food, medicine and income. How …
Personal Report: The Devastating Consequences of a World Without Animals Read More »
By Luca Cantagallo, age 13 and IndyKids staff Hundreds of youths skipped school for another Youth Climate Strike on March 3, 2023, to protest against climate change. As the group grew, the chants of “People over profit!” rang through the air. This annual event originated with Greta Thunburg’s 2018 Fridays for Future (FFF) protest that …
Youth Climate Strikers Continue to Push for Change Read More »
By Chris Ramírez, age 11 Surely just one tree could never grow a whole fruit salad? Well, it turns out one can, and it’s all thanks to Sam Van Aken, an art professor at Syracuse University in New York. The Tree of 40 Fruit does exactly what its name suggests: It grows 40 different fruits …
Frankentree: The 40 Fruit Tree We Didn’t Know We Needed Read More »
