Sometimes you hear that all young people do these days is stare at their mobile devices, that they no longer make personal contact, that they've lost touch with the world around them.

But if you look more closely, you'll see that for a great many people in their teens, twenties, and early thirties, being a part of the world--and actually working to change it--is already a large and passionate commitment.

All over the U.S. young people are starting community farms and selling their produce to local restaurants. They're fighting to shut down coal-fired power plants. They're volunteering to help people suffering from environmental and social problems, and they're joining and even heading new businesses and trying to change the way older businesses are run.

In a webinar for the Radical Joy for Hard Times Earth Ambassadors in April, guest speaker Larry Hobbs said it's not just the actions of young people that show leadership and courage, but also the attitudes that impel those actions. In his work of leading wilderness rites of passage programs for the 4H Clubs of Washington State--a bold idea he himself initiated--and in other wilderness programs he guides, he's had plenty of occasion to engage with young people, and he's impressed.

Today's young people have an innate understanding of how intricately ideas, actions, and people are connected, Larry told the Earth Ambassadors. They feel a sense of urgency about what is happening on Earth because of climate change and other environmental challenges, but they also feel empowered to face those challenges and overcome them. They're willing to take responsibility for themselves and to listen to and collaborate with others.

They have a huge job ahead of them... but many of them are already tackling it with imagination, heart, and intelligence.