Opinion: How kids are calling for change in the

world
By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.12.19
Word Count 504
Level 570L

Image 1. Malala Yousafzai talks to more than 6,000 people at ICC Sydney Theatre in December 2018, in Sydney, Australia. Yousafzai is a
Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. Photo: James D. Morgan/Getty Images for The Growth
Faculty

Children's ideas make people talk. Sometimes they also change things.

Dianne Feinstein is a lawmaker from California. She met with children and teenagers from her
area. They brought a large handwritten letter. It asked Feinstein to vote "yes" for the Green New
Deal. It is a plan for lawmakers to slow climate change.

Climate change is also called global warming. It is the heating up of Earth's climate. Scientists say
that it is because of the fuel that people use. People burn these fuels to make energy. Many things
from cars to electric lights run on this energy. Burning fuels creates greenhouse gases. The gases
become trapped in the air above. They store heat, making the world hotter.

Their Message Was Heard

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Feinstein said the plan would not pass. Other
lawmakers would not vote for it. She said the program
is expensive and there is not enough support. "I know
what can pass, and I know what can't pass," she said.

Some people said Feinstein was rude. But she said

that she listened to the children. She wants to pass
other climate change laws.

Ideas Can Be Shared And Supported Online

American kids are not alone. Children all over the

world care about climate change. Greta Thunberg is a teenager in Sweden. She wants to stop
global warming, too. Instead of going to school, she sat outside a government building every day
for three weeks. Other students also missed school in Germany, France, Britain, Belgium and
Australia. They were supporting her.

The Internet helps to share these children's voices.

There was a terrible shooting at a school in Parkland,

Florida. Emma González and other students want to
prevent more shootings. She quickly got 1.2 million
followers on the Twitter website.

We Can Speak Up Or Join In

Children often call on adults to do better. They ask us

to follow their example and speak up or join a cause.

Feinstein's meeting shows that children can get

people to talk about problems. People who work with
children know that kids often ask hard questions.
They want true answers. They have a strong sense of
what is right and wrong.

I have heard kids gasp when I tell them about Malala

Yousafzai. She works to get girls into school. Many
children are surprised that girls do not go to school in
some countries.

Yousafzai was shot in Pakistan by the Taliban. It was because she encouraged girls to go to school.
She has supporters around the world because of her work to change unfair rules.

Karen Leggett is a journalist and children's book author living in Maryland. Her nonfiction
picture books include "Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words" (2019).

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Quiz

1 Which section of the article gives information about how different kids around the world have gotten people in other countries to
pay attention?

(A) Introduction [paragraphs 1-3]

(B) "Their Message Was Heard"

(C) "Ideas Can Be Shared And Supported Online"

(D) "We Can Speak Up Or Join In"

2 What does the section "We Can Speak Up Or Join In" show the reader?

(A) how Dianne Feinstein reacted to her meeting with children

(B) how kids react to hearing about Malala Yousafzai

(C) what the Green New Deal says about climate change

(D) what Greta Thunberg thinks about global warming

3 Read the paragraph below from the section "Their Message Was Heard."

Feinstein said the plan would not pass. Other lawmakers would not vote for it. She said the
program is expensive and there is not enough support. "I know what can pass, and I know what
can't pass," she said.

What does Dianne Feinstein think of the Green New Deal?

(A) It is a good idea that she will share with lawmakers.

(B) It is a good idea that she plans to vote for soon.

(C) It is not a good idea because it would not work.

(D) It is not a good idea because people will not vote for it.

4 The author has an opinion about why children are good at calling for change in the world.

Which sentence from the article shows this?

(A) But she said that she listened to the children.

(B) Emma González and other students want to prevent more shootings.

(C) They have a strong sense of what is right and wrong.

(D) Many children are surprised that girls do not go to school in some countries.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.