Tweet this Video
Share on Facebook
Share via E-mail
Earth Island Institute established the Brower Youth Awards in 2000 to honor founder and legendary environmental activist, David R. Brower and to call forth a new generation of leaders. From Alaska, to Puerto Rico, to the Bronx; get to know the young winners of the 2010 Brower Youth Awards, and learn about their many inspiring accomplishments!
The annual Brower Youth Awards honor six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. The 2010 award winners are:
FREYA CHAY, 15, Kenai, AK
Freya energized the Alaskan legislature by helping to create new incentives for homeowners to install clean energy systems.
MARCUS GRIGNON, 21, Keshena, WI
Marcus encourages sustainability on the Menominee Reservation. He created a program called “Greening the Schools: Honoring Our Traditions” to boost ecological consciousness in his Native American nation. The program is part of Marcus’ larger non-profit, Citizens for a Sustainable Future, giving students the opportunity to graduate from high school with a certificate in environmental stewardship.
DE’ANTHONY JONES, 18, San Francisco, CA
De’Anthony has worked to connect social justice and global climate change through the group Environmental Service Learning Initiative (ESLI), an organization that works in public high schools in San Francisco. De’Anthony’s engages youth of color in the environmental movement through integrating environmental service, collaboration with community-based organizations, and hands-on learning. He is helping to create a new youth culture that takes environmental stewardship as a given.
ANA ELISA PEREZ-QUINTERO, 20, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Ana Elisa started GAIA (Grupos Ambientales Interdisciplinarios Aliados) as a youth-led non-profit organization dedicated to developing a culture of eco-citizenry through environmental groups in schools. These groups are based on an integrated curriculum that combines ecology, art, culture, and environmental activism. As part of this work, Ana Elisa has developed three urban gardens that serve as a hands-on laboratory for students and an incubator for new environmental campaigns.
VARSHA VIJAY, 22, Coralville, IA
In an effort to help combat oil extraction and deforestation in the Amazon, Varsha started Fortificando el Intercambio (Strengthening the Exchange) to share academic findings about the rainforest with the Waorani tribe in Ecuador. By improving the Waorani tribe’s access to the latest science about Amazonian ecosystems and equipping them with GPS and other mapping technologies, Varsha is helping the tribe and local NGOs to better watchdog the oil and logging industry. Varsha’s work with the Waorani is helping to preserving the culture of the tribe and conserve the plants and animals of this biodiversity hotspot.
MISRA WALKER, 18, Bronx, NY
Misra and her teen advocacy group, ACTION, lobbied the New York transit authority (MTA) for a bus route to be extended to include stops at a South Bronx park that residents otherwise had poor access. Misra’s campaign was successful, and a seasonal city shuttle bus now serves the park in the summer, taking 4,000 Bronx residents to green space they might not otherwise be able to enjoy.
Brower Youth Awards
Earth Island Institute
http://www.earthisland.org
Rikshaw Films
612-216-1446
info@rikshawfilms.com
Credits:
A Rikshaw Films production in association with Earth Island Institute’s Brower Youth Awards
| Find Out More: Click here to find out more about the Brower Youth Award winners and their causesDavid Brower was a pioneering leader in the evolution of the 20th century environmental movement. Time after time in a career that evolved over more than 60 years, until his death in 2000, he saw the need for expanding what people thought of as environmental, to meet the needs of an evolving, fair, sustainable society. A key part of Brower’s vision for action was his mentorship of younger emerging leaders. Earth Island Institute www.earthisland.org founded its Brower Youth Awards program to celebrate the spirit of Brower’s mentoring, and it has expanded its New Leaders Initiative to provide other opportunities for young people finding their way in working for the planet’s agenda.In his sixty-plus years of activism, nothing gave David Brower greater joy than see the success of the many young leaders he mentored, among them Dave Foreman, Amory Lovins and Julia Butterfly Hill. “My secret,” Dave said, “is to surround myself with bright, young people, stand back, then wallow in their accomplishments.” Click here to find out more about Dave: http://www.broweryouthawards.org/article.php?list=type&type=70 |
Natural Heroes Season Five Major Supporters:
