November 2007 E-news

Have Something to Say?

Calling all youth activists, journalists, and environmental stewards!

Would you like to have your voice heard? Your work profiled? Photos of your latest event shared across the country?

The Green Street Youth Steering Committee invites you to submit essays, articles and reports of your latest exploits promoting environmental conservation and sustainability. We want to know about any events you are organizing and programs you think other youth might like to get involved in. How about awesome websites, cool quotes, or your latest favourite Youtube video? We want it all!

Help us inspire and mobilize other like minded Canadian youth. Submissions should be between 150-300 words, and can be accompanied by photos, art work, action ideas or links to related web sites. Please send your contributions to emilym@green-street.ca by the first Monday of each month along with your name, email, address, and phone number so we can give you the credit you deserve for all the cool things you do!

Buy Nothing Day on November 23rd

This November environmentalists, social activists and concerned citizens in up to 65 countries will hit the streets for a 24-hour consumer break to celebrate the 15th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global cultural phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada.

It’s timed to happen together with one of the busiest shopping days North America (oh yeah, nothing like a jump on the holidays), as well as the unofficial start of the international holiday-shopping season. Buy Nothing Day has taken many shapes, from relaxed family outings, to free, non-commercial street parties with shopping zombies, to politically charged public protests. Anyone can take part – as long as they spend a day without spending.

In past years, street activists have proven to be? particularly imaginative in their celebrations, bringing zombie marches, credit-card cut-ups, and shopaholic clinics to malls and public squares in an effort to expose the environmental and social consequences of First World over-consumption. Have your own ideas?? Send them to us and we’ll post your stuff on our Youth Action Centre to inspire other youth across Canada.

HOT TIP:
Garment Recycling at MEC

As part of their Sustainability Policy, Mountain Equipment Co-op has a Garment Recycling Program for polyester-based clothing (check the tag on your clothing item – many, whether athletic or just casual wear, are made from polyester – *see the box below). Bring in your clean, worn-out polyester garments to any MEC store, and they'll recycle them into new items. You'll be helping the planet, and reducing your personal footprint at the same time.

What happens after your bring your clothes in?
All items in the garment recycling bin are sorted and MEC then donates products that still show signs of life. The remaining products are sent to Teijin, a fabric manufacturer in Japan, where they are reprocessed into new fibres through Teijin's Eco Circle™ closed-loop recycling system. In this process, garments are crushed, turned into granules, then run through a chemical reaction process that removes dyes and other chemicals before turning it back into raw polyester (polyester polymer), then new Eco Circle fibre.

These new fibres are then used to make new garments, and the circle of life continues. Who knows? Perhaps the reason your new fleece seems so perfect is because it contains fibres from your old favourite jacket.

- from www.mec.ca

The Water Drop

Visit the Safe Drinking Water Foundation website at www.safewater.org to read the first ever issue of The Water Drop (on the top navigation bar, go to Water News, then The Water Drop, then click on November 2007).  This month the articles are:

• Politics in the Water
• Recycling Urine into Drinking Water?
• The Community Champions Competition 

4th World Youth Congress

The World Youth Congress was created to promote and celebrate youth-led development – and to bring together youth who care and want to change the ways that we view the earth. In August 2008, the fourth annual gathering will bring together 600 of the world's most dynamic young people from over 100 countries to Québec City.

The congress offers a unique opportunity to meet and work alongside young people who are really doing things and going places. This event sets a new standard for international youth events, and will be the largest and most inspirational gathering of its kind for young people taking place anywhere in the world in 2008.

There is a strong role at the Congress for young journalists, cultural performers (e.g. dancers / actors / film makers / musicians), as well as for those with an interest in sustainable development, but who haven’t yet had a chance to really develop their skills or knowledge in this area.

Delegates will join forces with young Canadians to undertake hands-on community action projects across Québec, and will help shape international policy by documenting and showing governments what young people are doing to achieve the Millenium Development Goals.

How do you apply?
The registration deadline has been extended to December 31 st, 2007 for potential participants from Canada, the US and Europe. To apply, go to www.wyc2008.qc.ca/apply.

For more info
Go to the 4th World Youth Congress website at www.wyc2008.qc.ca.

Costa Rica Rainforest Outward Bound School (CRROBS) & Leadership Program

At CRROBS they offer educational courses in Spanish, Ecology, Sustainable Tourism, Intercultural Communication, Leadership and more. They pass on knowledge and experience and passion through cultural and eco-friendly activities like surfing, rafting, hiking, cross-cultural home-stays, service projects, and much more.  With a mission to inspire and develop leadership, compassion, responsibility, and respect for the environment and community, they’ve instilled these values through adventure-based wilderness experiences led by the most skilled, safety-conscious staff.

Leadership Program
The specialized leadership course not only seeks to awaken the leader in people through intense body- and mind-demanding experiences, but also, it prepares students to be competent outdoor adventure instructors in any setting.  You will learn both hard and soft skills which will make you qualified to work in the outdoor education industry.  Our leadership semester includes the following certifications:

• wilderness first responder (WFR)
• CPR for the professional rescuer (American Red Cross)
• swift water rescue technician global (SRTG or WRT)
• technical rope rescue operations level (TRR)
• white water river guide license class III (International Rafting Federation)
• scuba certification (NAUI)
• instructor judgment training (CRROBS)
• land instructor training
• beach safety and lifeguarding

This course demands high-energy, focused people, and a select few will get the chance to be an intern instructor with the other staff at CRROBS.

Learn more!
Outward Bound programs are for both youth and adults – you could do a course on your own, or go with your family, class or friends! Check out their website at www.crrobs.org.

Understanding Issues ?!*?

The Understanding section of TakingITGlobal’s website helps you get informed about pressing global issues, and lets you explore TIG's Featured Theme archive. Some of the topics include:

Arts & Media
Our need to express and create is powerful. It provokes experimentation and inspires artistic cultural expressions such as visual art, dance, writing, theatre, and music.

Environment & Urbanization
We live in a world that is changing very rapidly. The pollution of our land, air and water has caused changes that we are only beginning to understand.

Peace, Conflict & Governance
The greatest challenge that the human race has ever faced still remains: to live in a world free of the threat of violence.

Get on it! It’s all here at www.takingitglobal.org/understanding.

Video Contest

Quantum Shift TV is challenging students from grades one to twelve across the United States and Canada to participate in the Be the Change! Share the Story! School Video Contest. Students are invited to work on a social or environmental project of their choice, and document their progress in two short videos to be uploaded on the world wide web. In addition to making a difference in their community, students have an opportunity to win up to $50,000 in prizes for their school.

Through this contest, Quantum Shift TV is building an online community focused on socially conscious, solution-oriented videos. An entertaining puzzle game woven into the contest gets students talking about each others videos, and teams receive points for social network activity as well as viewer ratings of their videos.

Projects can range from volunteering at a homeless shelter to educating the community about human rights, measuring a schools carbon footprint to building a hospital in a developing country - anything that addresses an environmental or social concern in a positive, solution-oriented way. Student teams will execute their project and document their progress in a series of two short videos.

Deadlines!
The first video, introducing the team’s project, must be uploaded to QuantumShift.tv by December 15, 2007. The second, reporting on the projects execution and results, is due by March 31, 2008.