friday as well is on the weekend. up next, chelsea clinton's best-selling book "it's your world", get informed get inspired and get going.

here's chelsea clinton. >> good evening ladies and gentlemen. welcome to barnes & noble. we thank you for taking the time jvx discuss chea clinton's "it's your world" get informed, get inspired and get going. she has always expressed an interest in improving the world. as a child she enjoyed a book called 50 simple things kids can do to save the earth today she serves as the vice chair of the clinton foundation where she is in advocate for childhood obesity, obesity, climate change and increasing opportunities for women around the globe. chelsea's latest accomplishment

is her new book "it's your world". it explored some of the biggest challenges young people face and share stories of how future generations are making a difference around the world. joining chelsea on stage tonight is coeditor. just last year she was named one of the 25 most influential teens by time magazine. join me in welcoming chelsea clinton. [inaudible]

[inaudible] >> hello. >> thank you all for coming. this is very exciting. >> i'm excited to be here. i also have my questions on my tracfone i guess we will just get into it. >> neither of us are quite as solid as we thought we were. >> i know this happens every time i really loved this book and we were just talking back there about how it felt like there wasn't, this was the kind of thing i would've loved to have when i was younger and you

want to be educated about what's going on in the world and you also want concrete ways to actually do something about it. you mentioned the book that was sort of the catalyst for you, or one of them, when you were a kid and i'm wondering what other sources of influences or role models or experiences were like, kind of eye-opener's for you. >> as you heard in the introduction and as i write about "it's your world," i read 50 simple things that can save the earth when i was ten or 11. it had a profound impact on me because it treated me seriously as someone who deserve to know what was happening with climate change and pollution. it really empowered me with these practical things i could do as a kid in arkansas to make a difference on issues i cared

about. i wrote "it's your world" in the hope to have just a similar impact on one girl or boy somewhere in our country or around the world. when you ask about other things that really influenced me, me, certainly my parents were a major influence on me. partly because they really expected me to have an opinion. they expected me to make an argument to support that opinion they wanted whatever i was passionate about or concerned about and they wanted to know what i was going to do to make a difference on what i was most concerned about. that was a tremendous gift they gave me that i don't think i really understood when i was growing up, but it's something i'm really aware of now as a mom. how my husband and i can think about developing that same awareness and sense of responsibility to engage in the world around us and make a difference wherever and whenever we can.

>> if an adult is not a parent or a teacher or more constantly in contact with young people, how do you think they can still be supportive in that way? >> that's a great question. we were talking backstage about how surprised i've been about the cynicism of adults when i was talking about this project. if they were so dismissive like kids don't care, kids aren't engaged. nothing from my experience could be further from the truth. when i talk to kids they are so curious about the world around us and they are so attentive to what's happening. they are engaged and thinking about what's happening and how it affects them, and what they can do to make a difference. so when people say, how can i engage kids? i would say start by asking kids what they care about. kids will tell you what they tell you up what they care about and what's inspiring them. i think it's our responsibility

as adults to support them and help them figure out what they can do to make a difference that will have an impact. >> that has absolutely been my experience with ricky because it's for teenagers. i get so confused whenever i read about these concerns with millennial's being disaffected or not caring about things or apathetic or narcissistic, and that's just not been my experience at all with the girls that i meet, and certainly --dash. >> certainly not your example of how you're leading by example.

it's also true for kids. one of the reasons i wrote this book was to highlight the work of remarkable kids who are engaged in making a difference on issues that they really care about. whether that's fighting hunger in their communities, like william who was the very first person i saw on social media this morning who took a picture with "it's your world". he started raising money and food for the food shuttle in north carolina where he is from. over the last few years he has literally raised tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of pounds of food. people who are working to bring clean water on the other side of the world. to feel that connection and feel that there is a fundamental vital right to water. i wrote this book not only

because kids were so curious when i would talk to them about what was happening, but i also wanted to share the stories about the remarkable kids on the front line making a difference. >> it reminded me of, when i was a kid, kid, because kid, because i'm still kind of a kid, i'm still in school -- >> we talked about high school as it was in the far distant future, it really wasn't that long. >> right, back in that day, i remember reading -- there were certain magazines for kids like nickelodeon magazine and they would have the occasional feature on someone like that. in school we would sometimes learn about kids who started charities or huge projects to raise money for causes they cared about. one thing that ricky readers are always asking me is i know what i care about, but i don't really know what to do about it. i feel like there is a whole kind of process where your

beliefs are constantly changing but you're figuring out what you care about and what strikes accord in you and then it's really intimidating to figure out concrete ways to do it. the one thing i love about the book is there are these list at the end of each chapter that have actual actions you can take >> some of them are things you can do individually. some are just standing up for what you think is right. some are about educating other people about why you think an issue is important. some are about raising money in raising food. i hope the list give a real spectrum of options so any kid that wants to engage can engage in whatever feels right for her or him. it's okay if kids care about different things. i think it's actually a good thing and it's okay if what kids

care about of vaults and changes because, one of the things i was struck by in talking to kids, while thinking about this book and working on this book, was how they felt guilty that they didn't know about something before. instead of actually recognizing that as soon as they were aware of a problem and wanting to do something about it, that's a real source of optimism for me. i would hope it would be for them and their families as well. >> i wanted to ask you about this part where you're talking about your first attempt as a kid in elementary school to be vocal. you write, i talk about issues i care about to anyone who would listen and hoped i wasn't too annoying because if i wasn't annoying and i was making a good argument that may be one more person would care about whales or elephants or giant pandas them before i started. i'm really passionate about the

issues that matter to me and we had a a very active dinner table when i was growing up. i feel like i am trying, this was especially true when i was in school, like, walk the line between not wanting to disrespect myself by toning down the way i feel about something or feeling like i have to make what i have to say more palatable, but by realizing that by making what i have to say more palatable it can be easier to get through to someone. i hear a lot from rookie readers who are working that out when they speak up in class or challenge someone in class and an argument or are trying to talk to their parents about something that's really important to them. i wonder if you have any advice on staying true to what you believe in but also wanting to engage in a helpful way.

>> we always have to be true to what we believe in. if we ever start to feel that what were doing deviates from that, we have to re- center ourselves. we also have to recognize that we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. if her trying to persuade someone of something, we have to think about who our audience is and what we ultimately hope to achieve. if were really trying to convince someone that may not be natural to them, whether it's as simple as recycling or registering to vote, which is something i'm really passionate about, we have to think about what will be most convincing to them, not what first jumps to our mind. recognizing that often there might be reasons people haven't done things before. that may not make sense to us but if we attempt to understand what that might be, hopefully that creates more of a common space to ideally, persuade them for whatever we help hope that they will do which is the right answer. i think this is harder for girls

and it would be disingenuous not to recognize that. girls are often criticized for speaking too loudly or too softly or not speaking or too sharply or looking to pretty or too ugly when they speak, you get my point. other things beyond the content of what we are saying. i think until we get to a world where everyone is judged by what we are saying, i think it is more challenging for girls. just because it is more challenging doesn't mean we shouldn't get into the fray and argue for what we think is important but it also means we need to support each other and everyone can be a good friend. i think that's important to remember this conversation as well [applause].

>> you mentioned that it can be a source of optimism when kids that you've spoken to feel guilty when they didn't know about something before. >> it's because they feel a responsibility. the only reason they feel guilty is because they feel a responsibility to be part of the solution. >> when we talk on rookie about working out your beliefs and taking a few things from each column and frankenstein in your own opinion about something, so many girls do feel this guilt when their mind has been changed about something. i agree that it's a really positive thing and i also think the first thing you have to do is forgive yourself for not having known about something

before. i was wondering if you would be interested in sharing some of your first experiences when you were kind of developing your beliefs and finding --dash when you were first realizing that they were tentative. >> recognizing that we are all limited by our experiences and that we are limited by what we know and what were not exposed to or what we may not know or encounter. i'm really fortunate in that my parents were exposing me to so much of the world. i was expected to read the newspaper and listen to npr in the morning. we were knowledgeable of what's happening in the world and i was expected to not only pay attention but to have an opinion and a point of view. i think one of the reasons those things struck me so

significantly is because i hadn't quite realized in arkansas, which is landlocked, what was happening to our oceans because of climate change. what was happening to places that didn't look like arkansas because of climate change. that was so illuminating and humbling to me. also recognizing that what i did in arkansas impacted what i did elsewhere. one of the things that i thought about and talk to my extraordinary editor jill, who is a very motivational -- yes give her a round of applause. [applause]. one of my real motivations for writing this book and one of the ways i remember being so impacted by 50 simple things was realizing how important it was to cut out the plastic rings around six pack cans of soda because marine life fish and

birds were choking on them. although that was was maybe happening in the rivers in arkansas it was much more likely to be happening on the golf course and elsewhere. so i intentionally cut up the plastic rings. i was walking around and knocking on peoples door saying you can do this too. for 60 seconds you can make a difference. i remember having a lot of guilt, thinking how did i not know this. how did i not know i should've always been cutting up these plastic soda ring. at some point i realized it was much more productive to take that energy to share with other people rather than just feel guilty constantly. >> i also think that when i'm talking to other, in the

community that i'm a part of of young writers and feminists, there is never, i think people are comfortable calling one another out or sharing opposing points of view because there isn't this issue of ego or i thought i was a good person and now i guess i'm not a good person. it's more like we all understand that we are limited by our experiences and the circumstances that we've grown up in or what you kind of take in and internalize in the world when you are growing up. >> then you are far more involved than most grown-ups i know. >> thank you. >> i mean that seriously. >> thank you so much. i'm so thankful for the community that i'm in of other young women because there's not, it never feels personal in the sense that anyone -- it's like

we are acknowledging things are messed up and we need to change them and we may not have been previously aware of something that we were maybe even participating in but the more we can remember that there is a larger enemy and help each other out in recognizing these things, the more comfortable we all feel and it sort of radiates out among all of us and everyone is just trying to get educated and help one another. >> itself sets a good example for all the people who look up to you, to realize that you can engage in the businesses that are making a a difference in making a statement without antagonizing other people with an open mind, with rookie.

>> and with humility. you know you don't all have the answer. >> right, with my own writing or acting, i don't really care what anyone thinks of it but with rookie, i really care what these girls who intended to help, think of it. >> you are doing it for them. >> yes, exactly. it's not just my own art for art's sake. that's the point to literally just make girls feel more safe in the world. whenever they have feedback or criticism, we are all really open to it and we want that because it's about their needs and they have perspectives as readers that we can't have. >> i talked to so many kids and i've had