© 2026 ABC News

He said its especially to see candidates who say they stand for the environment take money from fossil fuel industries, which is one of the demands of politicians in the \"This is Zero Hour\" platform.

Martinez is the youth director for an environmental advocacy group called Earth Guardians and said its important for young people who want the government to address climate change to put forward their own candidates to represent their views and their communities, especially the latino and indigenous communities.

\"Ever since I was really little I viewed my sense, my place in this world, just really looking at myself and my life as having the potential to do something bigger,\" he told ABC.

Martinez's passion for climate change as an issue runs in the family, his parents are both environmental activists and his mother founded the Earth Guardians organization, which began as a school in Hawaii in 1993. He has spoken at conferences around the world from a young age, including speaking at national events starting when he was 6 years old. He has also lobbied against fracking and for more environmental policies in his hometown, Boulder, Colorado.

He said he's thinking of running for office before he turns 20, \"even if it's just to make a statement,\" he said, but he's also supporting his friend Jackson Hinkle who just turned 18 and is running for city council in San Clemente, California.

The amateur climatologist

I made this massive poster for the @ThisIsZeroHour march in Los Angeles this Saturday.

Why?

BECAUSE
THIS
IS
ZERO
HOUR! pic.twitter.com/qCOFGPhnN4

— Edgar McGregor (@edgarrmcgregor) July 20, 2018

Egdar McGregor, 18, lives in Southern California. He said he's always been interested in the weather and how it changes.

He told ABC News he started charting National Weather Service data, on his own, and saw how the graphs have changed over the last 100 years. McGregor said it scared him when he saw some of the trends and he became more interested in climate change instead of just the weather.

\"When I look to see what the forecast is over the next 100 years the warming accelerates California can’t live like this, we can’t continue to be one of the most agriculturally important states,\" McGregor told ABC News.

McGregor said he gets frustrated that his peers don't seem to notice climate change and that he wants his teammates on the speech and debate team to use their skills to speak out.

In 2017, when he was 17, he wrote an essay calling for action on climate change and to leave a better world for his generation and the next one.

\"We kids are the future, and we will live in the world that you have left us,\" he wrote. \"We are the children Carl Sagan asked you to leave a better Earth for, and to us, it seems as if you have not done so. We cannot wait any longer to solve climate change. Now, it is our turn to save this disaster.\"

This is the most powerful essay I have written, but it's a plea for help. My generations future is threatened, and we have to fight back. pic.twitter.com/p4WCafUWpG

— Edgar McGregor (@edgarrmcgregor) November 1, 2017

McGregor is speaking at the This is Zero Hour march in Los Angeles this weekend.

The changemaker

Therese Etoka has lobbied the Idaho state government to include climate change in the state's high school science curriculum and worked to push her hometown, Boise, to transition to renewable energy sources. She told ABC News she helped collect more than 1,000 postcards from students in support of the renewable energy campaign in her city.

Etoka, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, testified at state hearings urging the legislature to adopt better high school science standards that included educating students on global warming and climate change.

After she was asked by the committee chairwoman not to discuss climate change in her testimony, Etoka told a local paper that she made a point to attend the next day of the hearing to show the committee she wasn't afraid.

Etoka said she is working with a candidate for state superintendent, Cindy Wilson, and has volunteered for other Democratic candidates. She said a lot of students in the state want something new and that young people that have the power to vote should get involved to support candidates that represent their views and want to help the environment.

\"This is our future and this is our planet already and what we do now is really going to affect the next year, \" she told ABC News.

In addition to working with the Climate Justice League, an affiliate of the Sierra Club chapter, Etoka works with refugee families through her high school's humanitarian club. Etoka is attending Connecticut College in the fall to study international relations, with an emphasis in political science and French.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/Politics/18-18-young-people-vote-call-change-climate/story?id=56645176","legacySlug":"/news/story/18-18-young-people-vote-call-change-climate-56645176","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"08:11","publishDate":"07-21-2018","updatedTime":"08:10","updatedDate":"07-21-2018","socialImage":{"alt":"This is Zero Hour organizers Zanagee Artis and Aohayla Eldeeb.","credit":"This is Zero Hour","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/climate-voters-ht-er-180720_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"7/21/2018 08:11:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":56645176,"headline":"Young people call for action on climate change","mediaAssetTitle":"Youth climate voters","description":"First-time voters consider climate change when deciding how they'll vote in 2018","duration":"0:44","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/07/180716_vod_orig_globalwarmingmarchMIX_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["56620105","47103476","53464743"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"July 16, 2018","headline":"Youth group plans 3-day DC rally to highlight climate change ","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/youth-group-plans-day-dc-rally-highlight-climate-56620105","id":56620105,"image":{"alt":"Youth group plans 3-day DC rally to highlight climate change ","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/climate-march1-gty-hb-180716_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Scott Olson/Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"April 29, 2017","headline":"Tens of thousands join People's Climate March in D.C. on Trump's 100th day","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/peoples-climate-march-draws-massive-crowd-washington-dc-47103476","id":47103476,"image":{"alt":"Tens of thousands join People's Climate March in D.C. on Trump's 100th day","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/EPA-climate-march-portugal-3-jt-170429_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Antonio Cotrim/EPA","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"March 5, 2018","headline":"Young Dreamer has political awakening amid the midterms","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/shadows-young-dreamer-political-awakening-midst-midterms-53464743","id":53464743,"image":{"alt":"Young Dreamer has political awakening amid the midterms","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/18for18-daca-flores-portrait-abc-ps-180302_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Janet Weinstein/ABC News","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Young people call for action on climate change","description":"First-time voters consider climate change when deciding how they'll vote in 2018","duration":"0:44","uploadDate":"07-21-2018","publication":"07-21-2018","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/07/180716_vod_orig_globalwarmingmarchMIX_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/07/180716_vod_orig_globalwarmingmarchMIX_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/18-18-young-people-vote-call-change-climate-56645176"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131543053","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131432442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131121474","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131247079","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131228784","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131178806","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131142257","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131046664","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131048076","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131033212","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130999943","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130971027","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"Young people call for action on climate change","pubTime":"04:11","pubDate":"07-21-2018","modTime":"04:10","modDate":"07-21-2018","taxonomyTags":"none","id":56645176,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Young people call for action on climate change","mediaAssetTitle":"Youth climate voters","videoId":56645176,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/18-18-young-people-vote-call-change-climate-56645176"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/56645176","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/56645176","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};