Almost 50 years ago, President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon within 10 years. Eight years and two months later, Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface. The average age of the systems engineers cheering on Apollo 11 from the Houston control room that day was 26, which means that their average age when President Kennedy announced the challenge was 18.

It will be the young people of today who will lead the movement, invent the technology, and build the political will that brings an end to the climate crisis. Those great minds are teens and even preteens now. Recently when I spoke at George Washington University, I asked the students in attendance, "How many of you have changed majors to a field where you can help lead the fight to solve the climate crisis?" Scores of hands went up.

As parents we can teach our children the value of our planet. The first step is educating them. That's why I made sure my latest book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, was published with a companion young reader edition. In plain language, the book lays out for young people how they too can have an impact on their home, their community, and on this planet.

You can give your children the responsibility for making sure your home is energy efficient. Then allow them to reach out into the community. Our young people will lead the green revolution with your help; they might as well start now.

This week, NBC Universal is promoting Green Week. It's great that iVillage and the other NBC Universal divisions have devoted time to promoting efforts to save our planet and solve the climate crisis; however, we cannot limit our own action to just one week a year. Instead, we can build a Green Generation, devoted to protecting our planet for generations to come.