You don't have to wait until you're grown up to be counted. In fact, if you're between 10 and 12 years old, you're the perfect age to take part in the International Children's Conference on the Environment. And to start thinking of how to preserve and improve the world that you are living in.
Eleven-year-old Mika Abe is keen on recycling, for starters. Her enthusiasm was kindled by her social studies class at Ikko Primary School. Her teacher encouraged the children to collect discarded milk cartons and to make postcards from them.
At the fourth ICC this month, Mika's class project will inspire other children to think of ways to put everyday products to different uses, instead of just throwing them away.