So I've definitely had to sacrifice things that I've definitely given up a lot of like things that other kids have but I honestly don't regret a thing. If I were to do it all over again I would do it exactly the same and I wouldn't change anything. So if you go back four and a half years ago I was pretty much a normal kid. I went to school every day, I went home and I did homework and I played video games. I liked learning and I enjoyed doing that but I mean there was nothing I really cared about. And all of that kind of changed the night that my mom rented an interview in Newt Chouth and convinced me to watch it. I was just completely blown away. I just kind of felt that I wanted to do something about this huge issue but I just kind of had no idea what it was that I could do. We are the ones who will be affected most by all of the disasters so we need to be the ones standing up and leading the movement. I began speaking to people at schools and conferences. I started a nonprofit organization called Kids vs Global Warming and when I was 13 I did this project called Slap, which stands for Sea Level Awareness Project. It's a fact that if we keep burning fossil fuels at the rate we are now we would be underwater right here. I also wrote a declaration of independence from fossil fuels and the big campaign starting when I was 16 has been the I-Matter March. I've just kind of been realizing lately that for the first few years of doing this work there just seemed like there was something missing. The actual urgency of the issue was just kind of not real to me. That began to change when I had an amazing opportunity to travel to Iceland. I actually got to go and walk on a glacier. It was really one of the most powerful experiences of my life. That glacier that I walked on it's going to be completely melted in less than 100 years if we don't take action on climate change now. For the first time in my life I could feel what's at stake if we continue living the way that we do now and made a vow right then that I would not let that happen. I think a lot of times young people aren't really hurt. They're not really considered as equal members of society that contribute just as much as anyone else and I think that that's wrong. I've read books, I've talked to scientists, I've spent four years thinking about this and I believe that we still have a chance to avoid the worst effects of this problem. If we want to solve climate change we need to transition to a mindset of sustainability. I believe that our leaders have it in them. We are asking the courts to stand up and do the brave thing on behalf of their children and grandchildren and our entire generation. Because our government has legal responsibility to protect the atmosphere for future generations. It's really going to take a brave judge who is able to stand up and make a decision on behalf of something bigger than themselves. And make a decision on behalf of their children and grandchildren's generation and generations to come because that's who's at stake. This is not about politics or money, this is not about what's most convenient at the time. This is about the survival of my generation. It's about the survival of your children and grandchildren's generation. It's about preserving this for every generation to come. My name is Alec Lewis. I play the guitar in a bunch of other instruments. I really would love to study philosophy, psychology, sociology kind of things like study of how cultures and how minds and how people think. I'm 17 years old and I'm a climate change activist. You