Ivan spearheaded the creation of an alternative spring break for university students to stand in solidarity with communities affected by coal industry abuses in Appalachia. In 2007, the West Virginia Mountain Justice Spring Break (MJSB) focused on securing a safe school for the children who attend Marshfork Elementary, which lies only 50 yards from a coal silo. Just beyond the silo is a coal processing plant, a leaking coal slurry impoundment, and mountaintop removal mines. During the Spring Break Program, the West Virginia Surface Mines appeal board released a decision that would allow for a second silo to be built right next to the school. The week culminated in a sit-in at the office of the governor of West Virginia, where Ivan was among those occupying the office, demanding that the governor build a safe new school for the children of Marshfork. The occupation ended in 13 arrests but the governor made no commitments. In March 2008, the Mountain Justice Spring Break traveled to Wise County, Virginia, and Meigs County, Ohio in protest of further coal projects and coal-fired power plants. Ivan created the Virginia Spring Break’s schedule. In Ohio, he coordinated community service projects and two “listening projects” to identify community concerns, while acting as lead negotiator with the CEO of an electric utilities company. MJSB “has furthered the movement for environmental justice, climate justice and a just transition away from coal,” Ivan said.
Added: September 17, 2009 Runtime: 04:35 Plays: 12 Comments: 0
Ivan spearheaded the creation of an alternative spring break for university students to stand in solidarity with communities affected by coal industry abuses in Appalachia. In 2007, the West Virginia Mountain Justice Spring Break (MJSB) focused on securing a safe school for the children who attend Marshfork Elementary, which lies only 50 yards from a coal silo. Just beyond the silo is a coal processing plant, a leaking coal slurry impoundment, and mountaintop removal mines. During the Spring Break Program, the West Virginia Surface Mines appeal board released a decision that would allow for a second silo to be built right next to the school. The week culminated in a sit-in at the office of the governor of West Virginia, where Ivan was among those occupying the office, demanding that the governor build a safe new school for the children of Marshfork. The occupation ended in 13 arrests but the governor made no commitments. In March 2008, the Mountain Justice Spring Break traveled to Wise County, Virginia, and Meigs County, Ohio in protest of further coal projects and coal-fired power plants. Ivan created the Virginia Spring Break’s schedule. In Ohio, he coordinated community service projects and two “listening projects” to identify community concerns, while acting as lead negotiator with the CEO of an electric utilities company. MJSB “has furthered the movement for environmental justice, climate justice and a just transition away from coal,” Ivan said.
Kari worked on two different environmental justice projects that connect and inspire people on both the local and national levels. On the local level, she co-founded the Loving Our City, Loving Ourselves (LOCLOS) campus and community initiative. LOCLOS works to build stronger campus and community solidarity on issues of concern in the Washington, DC area. Kari and LOCLOS coordinated two major neighborhood clean-ups in DC involving local non-profits and artists. On a national level, Kari worked as the Energy Action Coalition Campus Climate Challenge Coordinator for the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative. She supported and trained hundreds of young people at more than 50 universities and has become a pioneer organizer working to build up the youth climate movement amongst young people of color, in particular, students at historically black colleges and universities. My hope,” she said, “was for people of color and low-income individuals to get information that will help them take advantage of the growing green movement so that they are not left behind economically or environmentally.” Through her work students have created their own organizations and have become climate champions on their campuses and in their communities.
In 2003, Marisol volunteered with Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) to map and inventory the toxins found within 150 blocks of her predominantly Mexican-American community, Little Village in Chicago. Marisol was enraged to discover that in Little Village more than 60,000 youth in a two-mile radius of the Fisk and Crawford Coal Power Plants are forced to breathe air that violates EPA standards. She was inspired to act, she said, "in order to shut down these coal power plants, build more parks, and clean up the toxics. We must organize more people to stand up and fight." Her first step was launching the youth branch of LVEJO — Youth Activists Organizing as Today's Leaders, YAOTL. Based on the data Marisol collected, YAOTL collaborated with Chicago-based Open Youth Networks to devise OurMap of Environmental Justice, an interactive online map that includes 12 youth-created videos, descriptions of toxic sites, and gang territory delineations. With this map, Marisol educated her community about local environmental injustice and motivated them to become involved in campaigns. The map uses poignant facts and videos to educate about the different pollutants and contaminants in Little Village that cause 41 premature deaths and 550 emergency room visits annually.
Timothy demonstrated that climate solutions are bold opportunities for economic profit and community building as opposed to personal sacrifices. He spearheaded the creation of the Clean Energy Revolving Fund (CERF) at Macalester College, a student-designed financial pool for campus initiatives that funds profitable sustainability projects that repay and grow the fund. It has empowered students to generate innovative projects, saving the campus hundreds of tons of carbon and tens of thousands of dollars annually. Beyond campus, Timothy helped to create Cooperative Energy Futures, a cooperative company that fosters community-level innovation and entrepreneurship around climate solutions. Viewing the climate crisis as a societal design challenge offering vast opportunities for economic innovation, Timothy has helped convene labor groups, non-profits, local business, St. Paul officials, and students in designing a sustainable, mixed-use development plan for the site of a soon-to-close Ford factory. He has also supported other students' leadership in creating Macalester's EcoHouse, building social networking systems for the climate movement, and forming a state network of youth climate leaders. In his own words, Timothy constantly "seeks to convince people that climate solutions are opportunities for innovation that demonstrate the clear benefits to a sustainable future."
Growing up, Phebe noticed fewer songbirds at her Vermont feeders each year and became inspired to find the cause. The answer lay in the deforested pastures of Costa Rica that were once stunning rainforests in the Tilarán Mountains. She shared her concern about the crisis in migratory corridors with Change the World Kids, a teen-run nonprofit organization she co-founded in 1998. Her efforts focused on permanently creating a migratory corridor in the Costa Rican rainforest, restoring it with native trees, and inspiring others to protect the global environment. After years of fundraising and educational efforts, such as sales of fair trade coffee from a Costa Rican cooperative, community dinners, workshops in schools, and conservation trips to the rainforest, her group raised $165,000 to help purchase, conserve and reforest hectares critical to indigenous birds and neo-tropical migrants. They named the corridor Bosque Para Siempre, or Forever Forest. “Change the World Kids is about making a positive difference and about self-growth,” Phebe said. “We become empowered by learning skills, strategies, and values that affect our current and future well-being.”
Jessie-Ruth is the core leader of the Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative (VSHI), a group of students representing 200-plus youth from 26 high schools. In 2004, Jessie-Ruth rose to a teacher’s challenge to create an energy conservation plan; her proposal to transition the school’s oil boiler to a woodchip boiler fueled by local products was adopted by the school board. Jessie-Ruth and VSHI wrote a persuasive statewide plan to develop Vermont’s 100,000 acres of underutilized land to grow prairie grass that could be pelletized and provide all of Vermont’s home heating needs. VHSI estimates the program’s financial returns could eventually reach up to $1.3 billion. Says Jessie: “Our fuel will come from our own backyards and will offer a stable and affordable price to all Vermonters.”
Check out this awesome video of the epic life of legendary climber and conservationist David Brower. Find out how Earth Island is carrying on his legacy by inspiring and equipping rising young environmental activists to change the planet with support, cash, and recognition.
When Erica found out that a liquefied natural gas facility was proposed for the coast of Oxnard and Malibu with a 36-inch pipeline routed through low-income neighborhoods, she was outraged. She worked in concert with the Sierra Club and Latino No on LNG group to mobilize the youth and Latino voice in protests and public meetings. She organized weekly protests at the BHP Billiton offices in Oxnard, met regularly with community members, marched through neighborhoods that would be most impacted, reached out to the media, and brought more than 250 high school students to a critical rally. Her passionate testimony at the California State Lands Commission meeting was quoted in news articles, and helped convince the Commission to vote to deny the project. Next, she helped convince the California Coastal Commission to vote 12-0 against the project, and worked on a letter writing and phone call campaign to the Governor asking him to veto the project, just as the commissioners did. Erica’s community organizing and dogged determination played a crucial role in helping her community to resist a multinational billion-dollar corporation.
In 2004, Alex read an alarming Wall Street Journal article about the growing E-Waste crisis. When he was nine, Alex had co-created a community service team called Westerly Innovations Network (WIN) and it seemed fitting to motivate his team to tackle E-Waste. Thus, Project WIN ‘05 was born. Alex’s leadership and dedication contributed to a slew of amazing accomplishments including a recycling drive which collected 21,000 pounds of E-Waste and the creation of a permanent E-Waste receptacle in town, which has collected more than 60,000 pounds of waste. WIN ’05 helped draft and pass an ordinance in Alex’s town and a statewide bill banning the dumping of E-Waste. Alex persuaded his school superintendent and director of technology to incorporate refurbishing donated computers as part of his school’s computer curriculum, resulting in the collection, restoration and distribution of 260 computers to students in his hometown, Sri Lanka, and Mexico. Alex recently helped build an Internet café in Cameroon, and is now setting up a pilot system for providing refurbished computers to international youth through the United Nation’s Environment Program and launching a Bridging Divides program with U.S. businesses and schools.
Rachel was an avid contributor to various environmental initiatives at the University of California, Berkeley beginning in her freshman year. She realized that one underlying factor preventing her campus from becoming more sustainable was a lack of funding for necessary projects. To overcome this challenge, Rachel co-created The Green Initiative Fund, a student fee referendum passed by the students at Berkeley. The Green Initiative Fund successfully secures more than $2 million over ten years - $200,000 annually - for sustainability projects on campus, including clean energy, sustainable transportation, improved energy efficiency, water conservation, “green” internships, and improved recycling and composting programs. The Green Initiative Fund essentially tripled the amount of sustainability funding available at UC Berkeley and raised awareness about sustainability issues at the University. Rachel also founded The Sustainability Team (Steam), a student internship program now consisting of 60 members dedicated to creating, implementing and leading a variety of projects aimed at establishing sustainable practices. The Sustainability Team implemented the first recycling program in student union buildings and founded the first organic, local, student-run cooperative produce stand on campus.
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