May 27, 2011 - 1:30pm @ Masons Hall

"And a little child shall lead them," (Isaiah 11:6) is a Biblical proverb that the speakers on this program take to heart. It's not that they don't necessarily trust anyone over 30; it's just that they know they will be the ones cleaning up from the generations preceding them. In a variety of ways, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

Leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony has committed a series of atrocious crimes against humanity—including kidnapping and conscripting children—across several central African states. A group of young Americans formed Invisible Children to expose Kony's use of child soldiers and to rebuild infrastructure for children in war-affected areas. They are taking a multi-media approach, and Kenny Laubbacher, one of the founders, will talk about how music can make a difference on an issue as intractable as this one.

A junior in high school, Alec Loorz was 12 when he saw An Inconvenient Truth and started Kids vs. Global Warming. He has since spent much of his teenage life speaking to a remarkable number of kids about the specter of climate change. He also recently organized the iMatterMarch.

After he was arrested, Tim DeChristopher started Peaceful Uprising, an organization dedicated to empowering nonviolent action that will address the climate crisis at its root cause. The Salt Lake City-based group has grown rapidly, bringing its message all over the country, including to Washington, D.C., where it recently participated in Power Shift, a gathering of young environmental leaders.