Youth

An e-petition is asking Parliament to support the recognition of “ecocide” as a crime at the International Criminal Court.

As the founder of Really Good Work, Drew Minns and his team design and implement online consumer experiences with the health of our planet front and centre.

Climate activism can be a valid, even vital, coping strategy. But young people also say when they rush into action and find climate movements are not all structured for healing, they experience burnout and dejection.

Joshua Ralph honours the lives of invasive plants. The Vancouver-based artist, 25, hosts workshops teaching participants to make art supplies from plants removed in the work of restoring and rewilding. 

Since 2015, Hope Blooms has grown to include not only the original working garden where local kids still work every summer and produce their famous salad dressing, but also a fair food community farmers’ market and many other initiatives.

As co-founder and executive director of Black Eco Bloom, Tyjana Connolly, 25, lifts up Black womxn’s voices, raises awareness about the disproportionate impacts of climate change on Black communities and builds resilience through knowledge-sharing. 

Zamani Ra, founder and CEO of CEED Canada, helps low-income newcomer communities make a difference by showing them climate action can be simple, convenient and culturally relevant.

Emma Chu and her friend Anna Kovtunenko created Vancouver’s ORCA (Ocean conservation, Reform, Climate optimism, Action) Festival.

Amalie Wilkinson helps youth around the world press decision-makers to make mass destruction of nature a crime.

The appeal is part of a number of recent youth-led cases across Canada and other parts of the world where young people argue government climate inaction in the face of increasingly dire circumstances, from wildfire to floods, is a violation of their rights.

Tori Waugh, executive director of the Ontario Soil Network, helps farmers share their wisdom on soil health.

As co-founder of Gay4Nature, Anna Bigland-Pritchard uses opera to raise awareness of queer and environmental issues.

A 16-year-old student led the environmental team at Richmond Secondary School to plant the first Miyawaki pocket forest in Western Canada.

Muhammad Ansar and his team at Human Nature Projects Ontario provide local youth with a fresh look at the possibilities for transforming natural spaces to make them more livable for all species. 

When youth lend their voices and expertise to the decision-making spaces that disproportionately impact their future, they increasingly search for policies and programs that amplify their needs.