Robby Novak
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Bringing a little more joy to the world can make a kid incredible, which is exactly what Robby Novak, aka Kid President, did with his series of YouTube videos. Made with the help of his older brother-in-law, Kid President began in 2012 when Novak was just 8 years old in order to make the world less "boring" and more awesome by spreading messages of love and positivity. His outlook on life was inspiring, especially given that Novak has the brittle bone disease osteogenesis imperfecta, and his popularity grew. After taking a break to focus on school and just being a kid, Novak, now 16, has started a second YouTube series, a motivational travel show focusing on kids across the country. Try these acts of kindness you can do to change the world.
Marley Dias
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For many people of color, particularly girls, it's frustrating not to see themselves represented in the books they read. That's exactly how 11-year-old Marley Dias felt about the books she was assigned in school. But she didn't just want to find black female protagonists for her own reading—she wanted all black girls to have access to those stories as well. So in November 2015, she launched the campaign #1000BlackGirlBooks to collect and donate 1,000 books featuring black girls—and so far, she's raised over 11,000. In 2018 at age 13, Dias published her own inspirational children's book, Marley Dias Gets It Done—And So Can You. Check out more of the best children's books ever written.
Melati and Isabel Wijsen
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These Indonesian sisters are on a mission to stop plastic bags from ending up in the ocean off their island of Bali. Indonesia is one of the world's biggest polluters of marine plastic, so in 2013, the then 10- and 12-year-olds decided to do something about it after being inspired by a lesson in school on influential leaders like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. They started a petition to get the government to take action on the plastic issue, organized beach cleanups—and even decided to go on a hunger strike as Gandhi did. That last action, publicized on social media, scored them a meeting with the governor. After years of working with local and international leaders, including speaking at the United Nations, the sisters made major progress when the Balinese government announced a law banning single-use plastic in 2019. The Wijsen sisters' organization, Bye Bye Plastic Bags, also helps kids around the world start anti-plastic initiatives in their own communities. Check out the brilliant ways other countries are replacing plastic.
14 Incredible Kids Who Changed the World in the Last Decade, Source:https://www.rd.com/culture/kids-who-changed-the-world-in-the-last-decade/
