If you have already celebrated your twenty-sixth birthday, you are officially too old.

That’s the philosophy at DoSomething.org, the largest organization for young people and social change in the country.

The organization’s age limit gives young people their own space to explore and take action on a variety of issues from bullying, homelessness, and poverty to animal welfare, the environment, and now climate change.

Gridley: “We run campaigns for young people between the ages of thirteen and twenty-five to give them ways to take action on any cause they care about at any time.”

That’s campaign manager Hilary Gridley. She says that the goal is to show young people that taking social action can be fun and relevant to their lives. The campaigns are backed by research to measure their effectiveness.

Gridley: “All of our campaigns are very, very simple calls to action…something that a young person can do usually in less than a week.”

An example in the climate change campaign includes the recycling initiative, which asks young volunteers to collect and recycle fifty cans. Other projects include petitioning schools to stop using styrofoam and going meatless once a week.

With 2.9 million young volunteers, DoSomething.org is making a difference.

Reporting credit: ChavoBart Digital Media.
Photos source: DoSomething.org

More Resources
DoSomething.org
DoSomething.org on facebook
American Teens’ Knowledge of Climate Change