“I feel like the younger generations do care more about the planet.”

Jaden Smith is a pretty freakin' talented kid. I mean, he's an actor, artist, rapper, AND an activist. Most recently his activism has brought him to help create a sustainable water company called JUST water, whose paper-based bottle is made from 82% renewable resources. Jaden has always been passionate about the environment so recently we went to talk to him about just that.

BuzzFeed

Do you think younger generations care about the planet more than others?

Jaden Smith: I feel like the younger generations do care more about the planet than the other generations. There’s more information coming out on a daily basis about the effect that climate change has on all of us.

BuzzFeed

How has working with JUST Water changed your habits?

JS: Starting JUST has really changed my entire life because of the ethos of what we’re doing. It's kind of when I was 11 and I was learning about the Pacific patches and the plastics in the ocean. It's completely changed my perspective on what I thought the world was before I learned about that.

BuzzFeed

Can you explain what it felt like to see the gigantic plastic island in the middle of the ocean?

JS: It felt like I had been lied to my whole life, and that people actually weren’t telling me the truth about what world I was living in.

And it feels kind of terrible. Those microplastics [in the ocean] break down, fish swallow them, and then we eat the fish, and those microplastics end up in our gut.

That’s what happens. So people need to realize that the effect of climate change is serious and in 2050 there will be 50 million climate change refugees if we don’t do anything about it.

BuzzFeed

What’s one thing everyone can do to improve the environment?

JS: Just to educate themselves on what’s going on, and then assess the area that they live in, and that solution will arise with whatever the simplest thing you can do, or the person you can contact. Basically small changes in your habits can help. Because in different parts of the world, people live their lives in different ways so it just all depends on where you are.

BuzzFeed

How important is it to you to make Just Water with 100% recyclable materials?

JS: It’s so important to me because recycling is really important. Being able to recycle this bottle the same way as an orange juice or milk carton is great. But what’s most important to me is the use of renewable materials that grow back, especially those that aren’t petroleum based or oil based. Petroleum based plastic is a finite amount of resources that we have. Also, we burn so much CO2 emissions while extracting it, and burning it, and creating it. So, i'm just glad that this is made out of renewable resources.

BuzzFeed

Why should we care about our CO2 emissions?

JS: We should care about CO2 emissions because we care about the people in our lives that we love. And, if we want them to be around and to be able to breathe without machine help, we should care about CO2 emissions. Because that will be the leading cause to send us into a new type of world where it gets too hot. Basically, if we care about NYC, we should care about the CO2 emissions.

BuzzFeed

How else do you pay respect to the earth in your daily routine?

JS: On a daily basis I definitely pay attention to what I’m using, how much of it I use, and where I put things. I also try to shower very fast. [Besides that] I try to turn the faucet off when I’m in the middle of brushing my teeth, and I turn the faucet off.

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