♪ WILLEM: Jack Dalton is on his way to the British Parliament.

JACK: I'm here in London at the Parliament for the Global Child Prodigy Awards.

I’m so excited to be here, and we’re right here right in front of Big Ben my friend!

So, I'm super excited for tonight to meet some of the other award recipients.

WILLEM: He's here to receive an award.

JACK: This year, I was named a Global Child Prodigy Award winner.

And it's at the the Royal Parliament, where I’ll get to meet the other very impressive youth who... who are also making a difference in different fields; in music, conservation, social justice.

WILLEM: Jack arrived in London from Manchester, New Hampshire.

♪ At 15 years old, he's too young to drive, so his mother's here with him.

MOM: I am a proud mom.

He well, it's funny; people will say that when it comes to, you know, Oh, he won this award or that award.

And the awards really are ways to empower him and to amplify his platform, really it’s to get his word out in different areas and with different people.

But in reality, the thing that makes us proud about Jack is who he is on the daily.

JACK: My dog loves kayaking.

Kayaking is great way of transportation!

> Ever since I was little, I've always had a dog in my house.

And I think that really contributed to my love for animals.

WILLEM: But it was one animal that caught Jack's eye, and that's when something remarkable began.

JACK: I mean, the definitive moment where I really remember falling in love with orangutans was when I was eight years old.

My family, we traveled the country at the time for my father's work as a nurse, and one of the places that we lived was Memphis, Tennessee, and we would always visit the Memphis Zoo.

And, in particular, the orangutans caught my eye.

And I think that was because of their red hair and my red hair; I always went back to that.

But, as I observed them more, I realized how alike orangutans really were to us humans.

You know, their mannerisms, they have a very close relationship with their mothers.

MOM: It's very funny because the visit to the zoo was really the biggest ripple of our entire lives my husband and my son included because our lives have completely shifted.

> Jack, whatcha doing?

WILLEM: Watch this home video, and you'll get a sense of how Jack, at an early age, took on challenges.

MOM: You're doing a great job!

Do you like being on the boat?

JACK: Hey, I do it!

DAD: Okay, you do it.

MOM: Let daddy help you, okay.

> When we would travel nurse for my husband's job, we would travel around the country, and wherever we would stay, Jack if parents or family friends would come visit would create slideshows.

He's eight years old and, you know, Welcome to Tennessee!

WILLEM: The day at the Memphis Zoo ignited something in Jack and set him on a course to learn more about the great ape.

He asked to meet with the zookeeper.

JACK: Then I found out they were critically endangered.

That's a problem.

What's the solution?

How am I going to help them?

What can I, a little eight- year-old kid living in Idaho, do to help orangutans living all the way across the world in Indonesia?

And I think, really, as I spoke with the zookeeper, Lexi Yang she took care of the orangutans she was the one who actually taught me about palm oil and deforestation.

And she said, Okay, write letters to companies telling them about how their palm oil usage is harming orangutans, and I did.

MOM: Dad’s coming to join the party.

KID: Oh wow!

WOMAN: Daddy’s coming to join!

MOM: That’s where Lexi put together this entire Doctor Seuss themed birthday party and taught Jack and myself because I had never known about palm oil and what it was doing.

And Jack basically said, I have to do something about this, mom.

> His treats!

JACK: When they put peanut butter on the pages of the book... > So, the first thing I did was I wrote letters to companies telling them about how palm oil and deforestation were causing orangutans to become critically endangered.

> Hi!

My name is Jack.

I'm the Kid Conservationist!

> And from there, I also started a YouTube channel called Kid Conservationist.

> I'm here today at the Memphis Zoo... > And I talked about orangutans.

> So, I just got to go in and spread the enrichment toys and the food for the orangutans!

> And I said, Okay, I'm going to start spreading awareness to people in this fun, educational way to hopefully get people to fall in love with our world.

[rainforest animals calling] > I’m Jack; I wrote this book.

Isn’t that cool?

Every copy plants a tree!

It's a fun story about orangutans and the animals that surround them.

WILLEM: We caught up with Jack and his parents in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

This is Market Square Day.

Jack rented this space to raise awareness about conservation and sell his book.

JACK: So, this is my book, Kawan the Orangutan Lost in the Rainforest.

I love seeing the kids and getting them books, you know?

It's all about getting kids to fall in love with orangutans, getting them to love reading, and to love our world just as much.

So, hopefully I'm sharing my passion with them.

And, of course, because every book plants a tree, it's directly helping the rainforest.

WILLEM: He wrote the story when he was ten years old.

JACK: And for every copy sold, a tree is planted directly in the rainforest.

So, the goal is not only to spread education and literacy locally to students and to kids, but also to directly help orangutans in the rainforest.

> So, the books are $12, but today I'm selling them with the stuffy for $20.

WILLEM: Jack's efforts are paying off.

One book sold means one more tree is planted.

JACK: It was one year ago when I first learned about orangutans and palm oil.

WILLEM: Another story shared might mean another changed mind.

JACK: Northwest Passage!

> There's the big changes.

You know, I've helped to raise over $40,000 for orangutan conservation, animal rehabilitation, and rainforest restoration.

Over 10,000 trees have been planted in the Indonesian rainforest.

The numbers are there.

Over a million views on YouTube.

But even the small day-to-day changes you know, I see friends and family members, instead of using plastic toothbrushes, switching to bamboo toothbrushes and palm oil free toothpaste or palm oil free alternatives to their food.

Seeing those everyday actions, even the ones that seem little, those are the ones that are going to add up and really make a huge difference over time.

> A T. rex!

WILLEM: Dad’s in Portsmouth today, ready and willing to help with the cause.

DAD: This is my role.

This is part of being the supportive dad... making a bit of a fool of yourself.

But it's fun.

The kids like it.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: Good job!

DAD: He really has a way with, especially, the kids that come through the booth.

They really enjoy his presence and interaction.

He gets them very excited about orangutans and how they can support them.

[chatter] JACK: Bye!

Can I have a high five?

[laughs delightfully] VIDEOGRAPHER: Did you grow up like this?

[chuckling] DAD: No.

Who grows up like this?

Some people do, but we just try to be ultra supportive of him.

We kind of said, If this is something you want to do, let's treat it almost like a sport.

What do you do with sports?

You practice.

You have your game days like today.

So, we've just really dedicated a lot of time and effort into it like you would any other hobby you would in life.

And it's really blossomed to something beyond what we thought was going to happen.

♪ [thatch crunching] ♪ WILLEM: Which takes us back to Lodnon, where the story began.

This award is one of many that sit in Jack's home.

He says they provide him with a sense of hope... that the recognition leads to solutions, from the rainforest to public schools throughout New Hampshire.

JACK: I think it's so fun to see people get inspired and learn about these animals.

It really can be so impactful.

Like, there was this school I went to a couple weeks ago in Manchester, my hometown, and I spoke to them about local animals and orangutans, and I told them about some ways they can help.

And one of the ways I said was recycling.

And these kids were so inspired that they realized, Hey, we don't have a recycling program at our school.

So, what they did was they reached out to the mayor of Manchester.

They said, Hey, we don't have recycling at our school.

And the mayor was so impressed by these kids wanting to reach out and their initiative, and he said, I’m actually going to sponsor your recycling program.

So now that school has recycling.

MOM: He’s just doing what he loves to do and following his passions.

And I wish that all kids would have that opportunity, because when we empower the youth, this is what can happen.

> You look awesome up there!

> No matter what Jack decides to do in his life, we know that he's going to continue to inspire and educate others, so... > Woohoo!

> I would say that's what really makes us proud and all the other stuff is just extra.

JACK: You know, it didn't start like this.

I didn't set out to become this animal activist who wins all these awards.

I was just a kid who loved orangutans and who loved making YouTube videos and writing and presenting.

The biggest thing is to just follow your passions, do what you love, and together we can make the world a better place.

♪