Hollywood Reporter. Author of
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Teenagers are changing the world in many widely different fields, from social and political leadership to new technologies that battle the effects of climate change. Many of them did so in the difficult year of 2020 even while facing great personal challenges. All the exceptional teenagers profiled here also appear in Encyclopaedia Britannica’s new Shapers of the Future series, highlighting 200 brilliant, already highly accomplished women and men under age 40 in all fields of endeavor.
Coming from every corner of the world, these young people serve as inspirations for the rest of us, young and old, to do better and try harder. This is especially true of 12 such people who were teenagers in 2020: they have located problems and delivered solutions, continuing to fight the good fight against the social and environmental woes that beset us everywhere.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The future is unwritten. It is also right around the corner, and, if, as science fiction author William Gibson noted, it is not evenly distributed, more and more young people around the world are reaching toward it to shape it, improve it, and make it more equitable. These “shapers of the future” work in many fields and endeavors, embracing every corner and intersection of health and medicine, science and technology, and business and entrepreneurship. They are people of ideas, framing the intellectual questions and concerns that will guide future thought. They are scholars, builders, designers, architects, artists, teachers, writers, musicians, and social and political leaders. While under the age of 40 (as of January 2021), the 200 shapers of the future that we will highlight in this series have already left their mark on the present, and we expect to see much more invention, innovation, creation, and interpretation from them in times to come.
Wednesday, 20 January 2021, 7:27 am
World Future Council Members and Right Livelihood
Laureates call for the abolition of nuclear weapons to
assure a sustainable future
In a joint
statement released today, 57 members of the World Future
Council and recipients of the Right Livelihood Award called
on governments to take action on nuclear risk reduction and
disarmament in order to assure a sustainable
future.
The statement was released to coincide with
the inauguration of U.S. President Joseph Biden on January
20, the entry-into-force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on January 22, and the 75th
Anniversary of the very first resolution of the United
Clean water for First Nations critical during the COVID-19 pandemic: Activists
Activists in Northeastern Ontario continue the fight for safe, clean water after the Liberal government announced in December that it would not fulfill its commitment to end all long-term water advisories by March.
Jan 10, 2021 12:46 PM By: Colleen Romaniuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Autumn Peltier, 16-year-old water-rights activist from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and chief water commissioner for the Anishinabek First Nation, gained international recognition for confronting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in 2016. Katherine Takpannie/Takpannie Photography.Colleen Romaniuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Article content
Activists in northeastern Ontario fighting for safe, clean water in First Nations communities across Canada are getting tired of broken promises.
After five years and millions in spending, the Liberal government announced in early December that it would not fulfill its commitment to end all long-term water advisories on reserves by March 2021.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser. Clean water for First Nations critical during pandemic: Activists Back to video
Although some progress has been made – 97 advisories have been lifted since November 2015 – there’s still a long way to go.
There are 59 active long-term water advisories in 41 communities across the country, and activists maintain that clean water should be a priority for the federal government, especially during a global pandemic.