Students Rebuild Launches Protect Our Planet, Turning Youth Creativity Into $1 Million for the Planet

Global Project to Donate $5 for Every Submission

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 10, 2026 /CNW/ -- Students Rebuild, a Creative Visions program and global youth-powered creative movement, today announced the launch of its 2026–2027 project, Protect Our Planet. From now through June 1, 2027, young people around the world ages 5–25 are invited to explore the air, land, and water around them - and turn what they learn, see, and imagine into creative work that can help protect the planet.

For every creative work submitted or student engaged, Creative Visions will donate $5 to environmental organizations, up to $1 million, supporting projects that restore ecosystems, empower young environmental leaders, advance conservation, and equip communities to take action. Students Rebuild aims to engage more than 85,000 young people and collect 100,000 pieces of creative work during this year's project.

According to a Students Rebuild survey, 45% of young people say climate change is the top issue impacting their lives, and many feel they lack a way to do something about it. According to a global survey, older teens and young adults in the U.S. report an unprecedented level of climate anxiety, with nearly 60% saying they're "extremely worried" about climate change. In other parts of the world, young people are seeing climate change affect their job prospects, food supply, and their families' livelihoods.

"Young people are growing up in an era defined by climate disasters, conflict, and constant uncertainty, and they need to know they have the power to make change happen," said Pat Chandler, President & CEO of Creative Visions. "Protect Our Planet gives them a hopeful, creative way to turn awareness into action - and to help fund the organizations already doing the work of protecting our planet."

For educators, creative expression offers a powerful way to help students understand complex environmental challenges while giving them a voice in shaping solutions.

"Art is a universal language that my students are eager to use to share their point of view and make a difference," said Janine Campbell, Visual Arts Educator, Byron Center West Middle School. "Participating in Protect Our Planet allows students to consider the world around them and see how their creativity can make a real, tangible impact to help others."

About Protect Our Planet

This year's Students Rebuild project invites young people ages 5–25 to explore three essential elements of our environment: air, land, and water. Through original creative work - including visual art, film, music, poetry, dance, writing, and STEM projects - students can explore what is changing, understand who is affected, and turn their ideas into real-world impact.

Funds raised through the project will benefit One Earth, The Nature Conservancy, Seatrees, Green Horizon Ventures, and the National Wildlife Federation. Grants are expected to:

• Deepen One Earth's Navigator platform for 10 priority bioregions, with $10,000 to a conservation project in each
• Engage 300 young people from at least 40 countries in The Nature Conservancy's Externship Program, with seed funding for at least 30 alumni to launch community conservation projects
• Plant 7,000 mangrove seedlings and 500 coral fragments in Kenya and Costa Rica with Seatrees, alongside training and sustainable livelihoods for women and youth
• Plant fruit and indigenous trees, establish nutrition gardens and recycling systems, and organize community environmental action days across Rwanda's Kirehe and Nyamagabe districts with Green Horizon Ventures
• Fund student-led Eco-Schools projects and mini-grants across 40–50 schools in the U.S. and East Africa with the National Wildlife Federation, including Indigenous youth on the Colorado River Indigenous Youth Advisory Council

How to Participate

Explore: Educators or youth leaders register their class/group and use lesson plans and activities to help students explore air, land, and water, what's changing, who's affected, and how they can help.

Create: Invite students to express their vision for a thriving planet through any medium - visual art, poetry, song, video, writing, or STEM.

Share: Submit students' creative work to Students Rebuild. Each submission or student engaged unlocks a $5 donation from Creative Visions, up to $1 million, supporting organizations worldwide that protect our planet.

Protect Our Planet runs from September 8, 2026, through June 1, 2027.

Learn more and get involved at Students Rebuild.

About Students Rebuild

Originally created by the Bezos Family Foundation in 2010 and now powered by Creative Visions, Students Rebuild is the world's largest youth-powered creative movement, engaging young people ages 5-25 in annual campaigns that turn creative expression into funding for critical global issues. Over the past 16 years, more than 1.4 million young people have created 7.1 million pieces of creative work, raising more than $17.6 million for frontline partner organizations worldwide.

That funding has gone directly to work on the ground: emergency safe spaces for displaced children in Ukraine and Syria; wildfire recovery and reforestation efforts across California and East Africa; and economic empowerment programs for women and girls in Honduras, carried out by frontline partners including CARE, Choose Love, Narrative 4, Search for Common Ground and more.

It's global citizenship, taught through doing. Students Rebuild's research-based outcomes show that young people who've participated in the program see increased empathy, perspective and civic self-efficacy. Educators report an increased culture of creative changemaking in their schools, more partnerships with external organizations that help the community and improved support for youth creative action projects.

About Creative Visions

Creative Visions empowers artists, filmmakers, musicians, and other impact media makers to raise awareness of critical issues and drive positive change through storytelling – one of our most powerful tools for creating a more just, caring, and sustainable world. The nonprofit organization and United Nations NGO, was founded in memory of 22-year-old artist and photojournalist Dan Eldon, who died in 1993 while covering the conflict in Somalia for Reuters News Agency. Creative Visions' Impact Education programs support youth, educators, and changemakers to understand how to use media, arts, and technology to take creative action about the things they care about. For more information: www.creativevisions.org.

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