Guardians of the Earth
When it comes to environmental issues and conservation, we hear a lot about the bad news. But there’s also some good news, as many young people across the globe are rallying around to help save our Earth. In this article, we present a few from four different regions. Read on…
India
Purnima Devi Barman works with more than 70 women from self-help groups in Assam to protect the Adjutant Stork.
Atul Sinai Borker is a mechanical engineer by profession. Today, he is the founder and director of Wild Otters.
The organisation works on Chorao island in Goa.
Marine zoologist, diver, educator, photographer, sailor and explorer, Tasneem Khan’s latest project is a floating laboratory – Earth Colab. It provides access to marine enthusiasts to learn about oceans.
Africa
In Dakar, Senegal, Abdou Touré recovers and reuses plastic, wood and used water to do micro gardening through his Green City Challenge (#QuartierVertChallenge) project.
Luca Berardi is the CEO of Young Animal Rescue Heroes (YARH), an organisation that also works with sustainable waste management and community outreach. The proceeds of the sale of used milk and juice cartons go to Kenya Wildlife Service.
Mary Wachira runs the Brown Olives project in Nyandarua County, Central Kenya. She promotes the planting of indigenous tree species, which coexist with crops.
The U.K.
Sorrel Lyall, 19, from Nottingham is an avid birder and artist. She feels illustrating them is a great way to learn and understand birds.
Zach Haynes, 13, from North Yorkshire uses technology and social media to spread the word about conservation. On summer nights, he puts up his moth trap. It always amazes him that there are so many types, shapes and sizes of moths.
Dara McAnulty, 13, from Northern Ireland says ‘birds are her celebrities’. She is interested in birds of prey. When she heard how hen harriers were being shot and killed, she decided to do something to protect them. She began a campaign and also a fundraiser for a raptor project.
The U.S.
Allison Boyer, 18, from Chico California, runs a non-profit called Purses for Primates. She collects gently used handbags and resells them at fundraising events. The proceeds go to Orangutan Outreach, a New York City-based conservation group.
Eighteen-year-old Annabel Caren Clark, from Dallas, Texas, rallied her school classmates to plant milkweed around the school for monarch butterflies.
Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana, 21, from Eugene, Oregon, is the lead plaintiff in the federal lawsuit brought by Our Children’s Trust. The case argues that young peoples’ Fifth Amendment rights to life, liberty, and property and the inalienable rights to clean natural resources such as water and air are being violated through the actions of the government.