Firing up the young ones

Game changers: Young people are fighting some of the world’s most pressing problems like environmental degradation, social injustice and gender discrimination. – Photo: 123rf

AT the age of 18, Melati Wijsen was featured in the 2018 Time magazine’s annual list of most influential teens in the world for successfully banning plastic bags, straws and Styrofoam in Bali, Indonesia.

Gitanjali Rao, a Colorado teenager who invented a mobile device to test for lead in drinking water, was named the first-ever Time’s Kid of the Year 2020 for her “ability to apply scientific ideas to real-world problems – and her desire to motivate other kids to take up their own causes”.