Nonprofit of the Week: Inconvenient Youth

A group of teenagers has taken the fight against global warming into its own hands. Inconvenient Youth, a nonprofit based in Menlo Park, Calif., has created a national network of teens to mobilize young people to educate their communities about climate change and global warming using a youth-focused version of "An Inconvenient Truth.We are pleased to name Inconvenient Youth our nonprofit of the week.

"The world's youth have a huge personal stake in global warming," said Inconvenient Youth founder Mary Doerr, a high school senior. "After all, it is our future that hangs in the balance. The Inconvenient Youth network will give a voice to the many youth around the world who want to make difference now." The group's mission is all about its generation assuming accountability for today's problems (from http://www.inconvenientyouth.org/):

We, The Inconvenient Youth, are a network of teens across America who give a damn about our future. We feel that the time has come to act in the face of climate change. We believe that, given the urgency of this incredible problem, we can no longer rely on others to take responsibility on our behalf. We see solutions to this problem, and they are within our reach. We know that as a generation, we can solve it. Act today. Join us.

Several weeks ago, the organization hosted a 3-day workshop on the Stanford University Campus to train and educate 80 teen participants from all over the globe. From the workshop, participants will return to their own communities and enlist thousands more teens through local workshops, climate change clubs, presentations and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. It's pretty amazing that a group like Inconvenient Youth has risen to the challenge of solving the global warming crisis.  It's quite another thing that it is spearheaded and run by teenagers. I can not give enough kudos to these kids for stepping up to the plate. If you are a teenager and interested in joining the Inconvenient Youth network, please go to their site and sign up!  You will also find many resources, information and data about global warming on the site — it's a terrific resource.

Photo source: Inconvenient Youth website.