We hear about inspirational stories of triumph against seemingly impossible odds all the time: Whether it’s Greta Thunberg or Malala Yousafzai, a young advocate for social changes is at it again, changing the world, one motivational poster at a time. How inspirational, right? These young teens have mobilized global attention, inspiring millions around the world. But unless you count loads of people going out on the street to wave posters around and shout cheesy variations of the same “Save the world!” message as bringing positive change to the world, have these people made a substantial difference? Last year, I volunteered for the school’s green committee. It was one of the biggest time-wasting decisions I made all year, but it made me realize how little my peers, the same people I saw rallying around Greta’s call for action in the Fall of 2019, cared: not enough to notice that they’d just shoved five plastic candy wrappers in the compost, apparently. It’s not just teenagers who get glorified, then sidelined, then forgotten. Important adults in lab coats with awards, research papers, and the prestigious title of “doctor so and so” invent a new green technology, but they get shushed by the people with real power: businessmen who only see in what way going green will impact their revenue, politicians who are desperate to garner every possible scrap of approval, greedy people our system blindly hands undeserved trust and power to, not well-intended teenagers who get invited to climate summits, and not passionate experts who have the tools to build a better world. Such are the people who could make a difference, but turn a blind eye to the ones who care and settle down for a nap on their cozy yachts powered by fossil fuels.