Kritz received a prestigious Brower Youth Award.

This recognition honors her dedicated efforts in protecting Bristol Bay, achieved through impactful youth and community engagement initiatives.

Xerxes was honored with a prestigious Brower Youth Award.

This accolade recognized his significant contributions to environmental stewardship.

Specifically, Xerxes dedicated his efforts to restoring and establishing an educational wild space in upstate New York, creating a valuable resource for both nature and learning.

Will Amos and a University of California, Irvine team have developed an innovative recycling system that transforms plastic waste into 3D printing material. This cradle-to-cradle system, which includes a grinder, extruder, spooler, and 3D printer, produces only water vapor as a byproduct. It directly tackles issues of overconsumption and plastic pollution.

An environmental engineer, Amos believes technology combined with education is vital for lasting environmental change. His team showcases the portable recycling system at campuses and TEDx events, emphasizing interactive learning. The project's core mission is to educate and inspire action.

Heidi Kritz has dedicated nearly half her life to protecting Alaska's Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine. This copper and gold project threatens the world's largest salmon fishery, which is vital for the local economy, ecological stability, and native cultures.

Kritz has tirelessly fought the mine, organizing rallies and a letter-writing campaign that gathered over 6,000 voices. She also mobilizes new activists by working with tribal high school students. Her leadership has significantly advanced the decade-long effort to defend Bristol Bay, and she remains committed to this crucial fight.

Karina Gonzalez is a key student leader for Fossil Free Northern Arizona University (FFNAU), a campaign urging the university to divest from top fossil fuel corporations. She coordinates negotiations with the university president, leads recruitment, and manages media relations, securing national coverage for their efforts.

FFNAU is Arizona's sole divestment campaign, distinguished by its community partnerships. Gonzalez has fostered this by collaborating with the Black Mesa Water Coalition, an Indigenous environmental organization. Together, they advocate for university investment in Navajo Nation sustainability projects. Karina also coordinates a United Nations youth delegate leadership program.

Tennessee native Erica Davis recognized that rural communities often see little benefit from local oil and gas extraction. Collaborating with grassroots organizers in Campbell County, she researched and sponsored a bill to reform oil and natural gas severance taxes.

Davis's bill aims to raise these taxes, which are the sole legislative means to keep extraction wealth in-state. Crucially, it seeks to distribute all revenue directly to the affected communities where extraction occurs, rather than the current one-third. Despite Davis's lobbying efforts and bipartisan support, the bill was dropped from the 2015-2016 docket. Now pursuing an environmental law degree, Davis plans to revive the legislation in the next session.

Gonzalez was honored with a Brower Youth Award.

She received this recognition for her leadership in the fossil fuel divestment campaign at Northern Arizona University.

Davis was honored with a Brower Youth Award.

She earned this recognition for her advocacy on behalf of frontline communities impacted by Mississippi's gas extraction industry, a cause she advanced through the state legislature.

Established in 2011, the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF) provides boarding school and university scholarships for Indigenous children. These scholarships enable access to Australia's leading educational institutions, fostering pathways for students to develop and achieve their career goals.

This video features Indigenous students from AIEF Partner Schools sharing their experiences, future plans, and dreams.

Esau Sinnok, an emerging climate leader from Shishmaref, Northwest Alaska, is fighting to protect his community's centuries-old way of life. As essential ice melts and his home faces threats, he refuses to stand by. Join Esau in the fight to keep dirty fuels in the ground.

For more insights, watch NASA's video, The Greening of Arctic, on EarthSayers.tv, Voices of Sustainability.

The Nibi Water Gathering, held June 4-5, 2015, at Turtle Lodge in Sagkeeng First Nation, Manitoba, on the shores of Lake Winnipeg, brought together nations to serve a common purpose: water. During this gathering, the Original People of Turtle Island (North America) formally established their leadership. The event also honored spiritually guided Earth stewardship leaders and youth completing rites of passage, inviting people of all cultures to participate and make offerings to the Water.

A video of the gathering was produced by Erica Daniels at Turtle Lodge and Manitou Api. Water Song credit goes to Mary Maytwayashing, and Thunderbird Artwork to Norval Morrisseau. Copyright Turtle Lodge 2015.

Eighteen-year-old activist Kelsey Juliana is actively fighting climate change. She is pursuing legal action in the courts to address global warming.

Additionally, Juliana is undertaking a cross-country walk to raise public awareness. This information was published on September 19, 2014.

Climate change is a present reality, demanding urgent action from world leaders.

The Climate Reality Project, collaborating with WPP and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, launched the #WhyWhyNot campaign. This initiative features young people asking "Why? Why Not?" to pressure leaders for meaningful carbon emission reduction commitments.

The campaign urges everyone to pose these fundamental questions to their networks and elected representatives, challenging inaction and vested interests until real change occurs.

This short documentary takes you into the lives of four young Afghan children—Omid, Sanabar, Yasmina, and Fayaz. Devastated by war and economic hardship, these children are their families' breadwinners, working jobs like washing cars, picking garbage, and selling food. Their first-hand accounts reveal an uncertain future for the country.

A DVD of this powerful film is available here.

Lizzy Clark of the UK Youth Climate Coalition discusses her participation at COP19, a climate change conference held in Warsaw, Poland. She shares insights from her involvement at this significant event.

Clark specifically highlights the work of various groups striving to engage the fossil fuel industry. Their aim is to ensure these companies hear and respond to their perspectives on climate action.

This report was published on November 14, 2013.

Hal Wallis, a UK native, traveled 6,000 miles to Thailand to explore its threatened mangroves. He discovered their vital environmental role and ongoing preservation efforts. Wallis interviewed Udo Gattenlohner of the Global Nature Fund, which coordinates a German-funded international project to restore Asia's lost mangroves.

Learn more about the Mangrove Restoration Project in Asia and watch a related video on EarthSayers. This initiative emphasizes sustainability, forest management, biodiversity, and conservation.

UC Merced student Martin Figueroa spearheaded a campus movement to reduce water use. In 2011, he organized the "UC Merced Water Battle," a month-long competition involving over 600 students across residence halls. Utilizing real-time monitoring, participants collectively cut water use by 14 percent, saving 89,000 gallons.

Figueroa is now encouraging other UC campuses to implement similar "Water Battles" to expand conservation efforts.

Growing up in Detroit, Brittany Stallworth, a 2012 Brower Youth Award Winner, faced environmental injustice, including limited healthy food access and exposure to factory emissions. This experience fueled her to establish "Green is the New Black" at Howard University, a campaign dedicated to food and environmental justice.

Through her initiative, Stallworth organized expert-led workshops for students and a symposium that connected over 35 green organizations with college students for internships and jobs. Her passion has inspired others to advance food accessibility and environmental justice in underserved communities.

The 88,000-acre Scotchman Peaks Roadless Area, straddling the Idaho-Montana border, is one of the region's largest remaining wild areas. Inspired by its natural beauty, Jacob Glass produced "En Plein Air," a film documenting the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness. This grassroots group, formed in 2005, seeks federal protection for the region, with the film highlighting two painters who use their art to advocate for the mountains.

The documentary received nationwide media attention, dramatically increasing the Friends' membership. This surge of public support for wilderness designation led to endorsements from many area chambers of commerce and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.

Maya Salsedo, a 2012 Brower Youth Award winner, champions food justice, driven by her family's history of food insecurity. Descendants of Puerto Rican emigrants who worked in Hawaiian sugar cane fields, her family consistently faced challenges accessing healthy food.

This experience spurred Salsedo to action. In 2011, as a youth organizer with Rooted in Community, she proposed the Youth Food Bill of Rights. This declaration envisions a food system that benefits consumers, producers, and the planet, granting local communities more control over their food. Her work has since inspired peers nationwide, establishing a foundation for dialogues on what food justice means to today's youth.