The Youth Engagement Program (YEP)

This website – the Youth Action Centre – is part of the Green Street's National Youth Engagement Program (YEP). The YEP was created to link youth who had participated in a Green Street program (see below, under ‘What’s Green Street?’) with other environmental learning and action opportunities.

The YEP is a busy program! We do tons of stuff - like run this website, send out monthly e-newsletters (want to subscribe? Click here) and support youth friendly events like summer camps, youth internships and youth conferences. We also have an awesome Youth Advisory Committee.

The Youth Advisory Committee

Our Goal: "We are the youth representatives for Green Street. Collectively, we help to identify youth-friendly environmental and sustainability learning programs, opportunities and materials."

The Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) is a group of very cool, very inspiring youth who come from across Canada to help guide Green Street with their ideas and goals. Some have been Green Street interns, some have attended Green Street workshops, and others have heard about the program through youth networks and wanted to get involved.

Green Street Youth Advisory Committee at the Marche 2/3 in Montreal in May. From left to right...
Payal (YAC), Amy (YAC), Rachel (YAC), Kelsi (Youth Engagement Program Co-Advisor), Marina (YAC), Marie-Eve (Ma Rue Verte YAC Advisor), Matt (YAC).
Absent from photo: Caitlin (YEP Co-Advisor) and Beth (YAC)

The YAC is the youth VOICE of Green Street. It helps make decisions for Green Street, like: What kind of school programs should they support? What's missing? Who would be a good person to contact for workshops or ideas? What environmental issues are REALLY important to youth, and what do they want to do to help? The YAC has great ideas for new programs, resources and other stuff you need to help you be a serious force of change!

Interested in being a YAC member? If so, you can download an application form - for pdf click here, and for Word click here.

And in the meantime, click here to meet some of our current Youth Advisory Committee members.

What’s Green Street?

Green Street is a national program that supports environmental and sustainability education programs to teachers and students across Canada. Green Street was started by an organization called the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.

Under Green Street, Canadian environmental groups (like Earth Day and Ducks Unlimited) develop and deliver high quality environmental and sustainability school programs. Over 18 environmental organizations are currently involved in Green Street!

Through these programs students are actively engaged in learning about the environment and are motivated and supported in taking action. If you want to learn more about Green Street or the school programs your teacher can book, visit www.green-street.ca.

The Youth Engagement Program is a special part of Green Street. Its purpose is to connect with all the students out there that have gone the in-class school programs with other, on-going environmental opportunities. That’s why we have a Youth Advisory Committee, send out monthly e-newsletters, and have this website!

Youth Advisory Committee

Amy Jiang

My name is Amy Jiang, and I am sixteen years old. I was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and now live in Oakville, Ontario. I have been passionate about the environment for as long as I can remember. I am currently co-president of the Toronto chapter of Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots Program, and now, a proud member of Greet Street’s Youth Advisory Committee.

I have also been actively involved in environmental initiatives at school; such as organizing litterless lunch days and creating displays to raise awareness about waste. This year, I hope to implement the EcoSchools program at my school to reduce our impact on the environment.

In my spare time, I love travelling with my family. Some of my other interests include biking (I go everywhere on my bike!), running, volunteering, and hiking.

I am so excited to be on the Green Street Youth Advisory Committee this year. I heard about Green Street from a teacher, and immediately became interested because it is an amazing opportunity to get other youth engaged in environmental issues. It provides a chance to reach out to others, to educate, and most importantly, to provide them with ways they can make a difference. This is so critical because now, more than ever before, we are realizing the full impact of our harmful actions on the Earth. Climate change, deforestation, and resource depletion are just some of the major issues we will be dealing with in our lifetime. This generation’s young people need to come together with a common goal, to ensure a better tomorrow. With the right leadership, and the right attitude, we can do this!

Beth Ferreira

My name is Beth Ferreira and I am 16 (and ½!), going into grade 12. I live in Winnipeg and I’ve been there all my life. Winnipeg is a nice town, sort of flat, but nonetheless, pretty beautiful.  Also, my favourite colour is yellow!
 I like to sleep, swim, read old archaeology magazines (I’m cool…), listen to music, travel, bike, Facebook J, and a multitude of other activities that don’t currently come to mind.

I was always pretty fascinated with the environment. I am the kind of kid that likes jumping in mud puddles and staring into the sun. It’s the little things in life that make me tick – whether it be the dew-drop on a leaf, the diamonds shimmering across the water, or the little bird twittering in the distance. I have always enjoyed fishing (one of my hobbies I forgot to mention above) because of the sense of calmness it provides me with. I think nature has an effect on everyone in some way. Maybe that feeling is soothing, awing, inspiring, or just plain inexplicable…
In my opinion, the environment is the environment. We breathe, drink, eat, sleep, and do everything else in our lives, in its presence. Why wouldn’t I be interested in it? Why wouldn’t I respect it? It’s a part of all of us. Even the slightest of damage makes us all feel incomplete.

I wanted to be a part of the YAC because over the past couple of years, I’ve been doing research at Fisheries and Oceans Canada on Arctic marine mammals and the effects of contaminants on their ecosystem. It has really opened my eyes.  A lot of people feel the Arctic is too far away for them to care; but I strongly beg to differ. Canada just wouldn’t be Canada without the Arctic and I think that more people need to know about the issues this biome faces. I’m basically trying to put myself out there to raise awareness and to promote change.

Marina Griffin

My name is Marina Griffin. I live on the beautiful West Coast, on Vancouver Island. 

I am currently in Junior High school, studying in French. I am proud to be able to converse fluently in both French and English. My dream has always been to graduate, and then attend some kind of animal medical school. After that I would like to open an animal rescue center!

This is my first year with Green Street’s Youth Advisory Committee, and I am looking forward to being involved! I've heard many great things about this program and I'm happy to be a part of it.

Ever since I was little I have been really interested in the environment. I have always loved being surrounded by nature – anything from sailing and camping to long hikes. I'm always up for exploring or a good adventure.

For a while now I have been trying to find just the right club; the one that suits me and involves me in what I love doing. I think I've finally found it.
I love sailing, reading, playing music and helping people. I adore all animals, big and small. I presently have three cats, a rabbit and some fish.

I believe that every one should be as interested in the environment as I am. I heard about the Green Street program through a friend, and since opportunities like this don't come that often - when they do, you have to take them.

Payal Patel

My name is Payal Patel and I’m a fifteen year old resident of Markham, Ontario. I am now in grade 10, and this is my first year on the Green Street Youth Advisory Committee. I’m super excited to be a part of the team. I hope that I can help develop some great programs that will change the interaction between youth and the environment.

In the summer of 2007, I got the chance of a lifetime – I went to the Arctic with Students on Ice, thanks to a scholarship from the Canadian Space Agency. The trip changed my life. I saw things that people only hope to see in their lives. I gained some perspective of the world and realized the power that youth can have. I became inspired to do something. With the help of all the people I met along the way, I became motivated to do my part and make a change in this world.  I want to explore the fact that the whole planet is interconnected, and one person’s actions can make a difference.

At school, I participate heavily in musical activities as a French horn player. I’m also involved with different groups such as the Aiming for Individual Development and Empowerment Committee (HIV/AIDS, poverty), Environmental Club (you can guess that!), Girl’s Rugby team, and Sound Crew, to name a few. I love watching TV, using the computer, hanging out with friends, and reading.

Rachel Ginsberg

My name is Rachel Ginsberg and I am a passionate environmental and social activist. I am 17 years old and I am in Grade 12 this year in Newmarket, Ontario. I am really excited to be a part of the YAC, as I am sure it will be an amazing learning and leadership experience. I am looking forward to expanding my horizons and building my knowledge about environmental and social justice issues.

I am a co-leader of my school’s Eco-Ethical Group, which works within our local and global community to take action towards solving environmental and social justice issues. We operate our school’s recycling program, attend and speak at conferences, organize an annual fair trade and environmentally friendly bazaar and fashion show, spread awareness within our school community about environmental and social justice issues, and we are continuously trying to raise money to install solar panels on our school. Within the Eco-Ethical Group, I am a member of our Otesha Project (a Green Street Program Provider) Triple-H Team. I have participated in two Otesha Triple-H (Hopeful Highschool Hooligans) training weekends and have been involved in presentations of the Otesha Morning Choices Skit (a funny and informative skit about how our daily choices have a global impact) all over Southern Ontario.  I have performed in this skit for over 5000 people at elementary and high schools, universities, conferences and festivals. In my free time, (and when I am not working on environmental or social justice projects) I enjoy learning about world issues, volunteering, reading and riding horses.

This past summer I participated in a volunteer trip to Kenya with Free the Children which included helping to build a school, playing with local children, meeting community members and learning about Kenyan culture.

I am honoured to have been selected to serve in this important role and to be able to contribute my ideas for solving environmental and social justice issues on a national level.

Matthew Warnock

My name is Matthew Warnock and I'm 14 years old. I was born and raised in Surrey, one of the fastest growing municipalities in Canada. Surrey is diverse, from its multiculturalism to its farms and highrises, ocean and rivers, and over 6,000 acres of parkland. I became a member of the Surrey Youth Council to help share in a vision which will help unite the diverse youth in my community.

I love the outdoors, especially camping, biking, golf, snowboarding, wakeboarding, and kneeboarding. I love to travel and meet new people, and have been to Africa, Europe, Mexico, and travelled across the USA and Canada. I think that Canada is the best place to live, because of the variety of people and landscapes.

I first became interested in sustainability issues when I went to Ghana and witnessed the devastating effects of water pollution.  My siblings and I co-founded an organization called H2O, for which we created and launched a website – h2o-canada.ca, to engage and empower youth through action projects like our "Be the Change" program. We got local schools to participate and helped create and implement an environmental survey to measure the growth of environmental attitudes and practices of 1000 students. One school adopted the "Be the Change" theme for the year and made becoming ”green" an official school goal. We helped initiate Green Teams & encouraged action projects in local schools including: Litterless Lunches: A Waste Reduction project, a Compost Program: school-wide and community-wide, a "Say no to plastics" project which promotes re-usable bags, and video and poetry contests. We made several presentations at school assemblies, including: performing a rap called "Trash Talk" which included a drumming performance, performing a puppet play "The Story of the Starfish", producing and directing an I-movie called "Be the Change" (which was also shown at a local parent night). Young people need to see and understand the power of one. We had 500 students to each write down one new green act that they could commit to this year, which are displayed on a "Be the Change" tree in their hallway. This visual helped students to understand that one leaf or one act might not seem like much, but together it creates an enormous tree and makes a difference in our community, when everyone is doing their part.  We built a biosand water-filter to demonstrate how $40 can save hundreds of lives by addressing water pollution. We initiated and carried outbottle drives, garage sales, and Change for Change fundraisers at local schools to raise money for our water filter project.

I want to do my part to make Canada a "green country", a nation who is known for being socially responsible, who care about their environment, and live in a way that shows it. I like the fact that Green Street is empowering youth to make a difference in this world. I think that it will be through young people that most of the solutions for our world's problems will come. I like how Green Street provides so many cool and free resources.  I think that Green Street is helping young Canadians to 'be the change they want to see in this world'.

Alumni

The Youth Advisory Committee members who have come and gone, but no way will we ever forget them...

Stacy Cote	Shelby Wray	Jeff Bird
Sunny Zhai	Marie-Ève Paquin	Josh Groen
Tania Cheng	Shannon Refvik	Ruth Nieuwenhuis
Rebekah Wheadon	Joey Chisholm	Yvonne Su
Picture coming soon!
David Gale	Liz Kreitner	Kelsi Prince
Keshia Laffin	Caitlin Williscroft