When you ask kids about their favorite things, sustainable energy probably doesn't top the list. But a new movement and mobile platform called mPowering Action might change that.
The app is designed to inspire, empower and motivate a generation of global citizens to take positive action around the world. The team and partners behind the mobile platform hosted a panel Sunday at the 2013 Social Good Summit called "Sustainable Energy and Global Youth: Making a Complex Issue Fun and Accessible for a Measurable Difference.”
See also: How to Follow Social Good Summit Online
During the session, the U.N. Foundation, UNDP, Uncharted Play, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Tribal Brands and Tribal Technologies announced their commitment to raising awareness for sustainable energy through the platform, which launched earlier this year. Grammy-winning musician and philanthropist will.i.am also joined the conversation, saying that in order to change the world by 2030, we need to think about solutions for kids.
“Mobile phones travel with us everywhere, and are the best way to reach and power the voice of young people and give them the opportunity to make a global impact on the most pressing issues of today,” said Jeff Martin, founder and CEO of Tribal Brands, Inc. and Tribal Technologies, Inc.
“The location-based capabilities in phones provide us with unprecedented innovative analytic tools, allowing us to ... address the cynicism of youth by demonstrating the 'proof of impact' of public and private sector social investment initiatives on a global scale," he said.
mPowering Action targets youth under the age of 25, who make up 43% of the global population. It provides a space for the global conversation on sustainable energy and other good causes.
Users can search a database of non-profit organizations, find events and share ways to get involved. A number of celebrities have also teamed up with the platform to give users access to video content in exchange for submitting a story or making personal commitments to take action. It is is now available on the App Store and Google Play.
If you're unsure why sustainable energy is important to the global community, consider this statistic: There are currently 1.3 billion people in the world without access to energy, and half of the 7 billion people on Earth are trying to improve their standard of living as quickly as they can.
"We need young people to enter science and engineering to come up with solutions that can help us with this double challenge," said Dick Gephart, former U.S. House Majority Leader and former U.S. Presidential Candidate.
Uncharted Play, a social enterprise dedicated to improving lives through play, understands the importance of making sustainability fun for kids. The company's co-founder and CEO, Jessica O. Matthews, gave a demonstration of the Soccket, a soccer ball that converts kinetic energy and stores it. Thirty minutes of play gives you over three hours of light.
"People love to play," she said. "You don't need to teach people how to play."

The Social Good Summit is where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions and is brought to you by Mashable, The 92nd Street Y, The United Nations Foundation, The United Nations Development Programme, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ericsson. Held during U.N. Week, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.
Date: Sept. 22 through Sept. 24 Time: 12 to 6 p.m. each day Location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, N.Y. Tickets are sold-out, but tune into the Livestream.
BONUS: 10 Empowering Apps for Social Good
Gone are the days of daring your friends without consequences. When you challenge your friends to Budge, the person who loses the challenge needs to donate an agreed upon amount to a charity of the winner's choosing.
Available on iOS.
Charity Miles lets you raise money for your favorite causes while walking, running or biking. The app's corporate sponsors donate 25 cents for each mile you walk or run, and 10 cents for each mile you bike.
Charity Miles is available for iOS and Android.
With every photo you share, Johnson & Johnson donates $1 to a cause of your choosing. The Donate a Photo app, available on iOS and Android, also lets you follow your friends' photos, so you can keep up with your social life.
Great for foodies, photographers and humanitarians, this iOS app adds a great cause to your foodstagrams. When you dine and snap a food shot at one of the participating restaurants -- which, for now, are only in New York -- a meal is donated to a non-profit feeding schoolchildren in South Africa.
In this free iOS game, you'll travel with Maya, an Indian girl, as she navigates the slums in search of clean water. The longer it takes her to find water, the more school she misses.
The game was created in partnership with charity: water, which lends in-game missions and video scenes to the app.
Did you know that with the money you save cooking three of your own meals, you could fund someone's HIV medicine for three months? Instead is an iOS app that shows you how much you can save with simple tweaks in your lifestyle. Once you make those cheaper decisions, Instead encourages you to donate to a non-profit out of your savings.
My Life as a Refugee is an app for iOS and Android created by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It lets anyone around the world experience life fleeing from conflict or persecution. Through beautiful illustrations, you'll read the stories of the app's many characters, who have been separated from their loved ones and have experienced hardships.
The Recyclebank app, available for iOS and Android, rewards you for recycling. The gamification of recycling awards points that you can redeem in stores and in the app.
Forget daily deal apps -- there are apps that give back while giving you a great deal. TangoTab, available for iOS and Android, donates meals to food banks every time a diner purchases one of its restaurant deals.
Eager for a new volunteer program? This iOS app brings the online volunteer network onto your smartphone. It has a sleek interface that will help you find great opportunities to give back near you.
VolunteerMatch lets you select which skill you're looking to use to volunteer, so you can lend your expert web design or managerial skills, for example.
Image: Mashable