Youth Led Projects
Description
Group Projects
Ada, Jenna, Cady, Wane, Kyros, and Danish
This group is working together to raise awareness about ocean pollution and to teach strategies to reduce waste. The team plans create Instagram content that identifies and teaches strategies to reduce waste. The team wants to create a short-animated film to explain how waste enters the ocean! Stay tuned for more.
Catherine, Alison, Hannah Q, and Sally
This group plans to locate and restore a deforested region in the Vancouver district by planting native trees. Their objective is to restore an area that was affected by logging or clear-cutting. They hope, by assembling a group of volunteers to join their initiative, they can demonstrate the importance of conserving wildlife that is affected by habitat destruction.
Hannah E., Jasmeet, and Paula
These three ladies are working together to create an ocean anthology picture book for young children. The book is designed to encourage early education for the current climate crisis. Many mediums will be included like cartoons, short stories, ad-libs, and crossword puzzles. When the anthology is completed, we plant to contact preschools, kindergartens, and elementary schools to present at their school.
Stephen, Ryan, and Don
Stephen, Don, and Ryan are working together to create a microplastic filter. The three gentlemen have created a basic concept and design. Their idea is a turbine-powered vacuum attached to a buoy and filter. If there is an ocean current, the device will be charged and powered.
Individual Projects
Adam
Adam is working to develop environmentally sustainable criteria for companies and businesses. Adam hopes that companies/businesses will use these criteria to rate/rank their environmental impact. This information would be accessible to the public via website or app – allowing consumers to make informed decisions about what they buy, before they buy it.
Mollie
Mollie is working with her Girl Guide Unit in her local community. Mollie hopes to host waste-free workshops to create beeswax wraps and grocery bags. To raise awareness for her project, Mollie is creating a Kahoot quiz to teach about pollution in the environment.
Nikitha
The goal of Nikitha’s project is to teach people about how natural swimming pools (self-sustaining pools with no chemicals) can be a viable alternative to traditional chlorinated swimming pools. Initially, I discovered plants act as a bio-filtration system and oxygenate the water through as a byproduct of photosynthesis to improve water quality. My first experiment used basic pool testing kits to test the pH levels, calcium hardness, alkalinity, presence of chlorine, and the level of dissolved oxygen. I would like to conduct more experiments to replicate my findings. Right now, few people know of natural swimming pools. I hope that my findings will allow pool-users to make an informed decision the next time the purchase or splash into a pool.
Reanna
For her Ocean Service Project, Reanna would like to help he school, especially the cafeteria, become plastic free. Although her school has imposed photocopy limits, the cafeteria still produces single-use plastics. Lots of the food made in the cafeteria can be wrapped in reusable containers and made with biodegradable parchment paper. Reanna hopes by making her school cafeteria single-use plastic free it will be a step in the right direction for her community.
Sarah
Sarah’s project is about pharmaceutical pollution in our oceans. She chose this topic because it is an issue many people have little knowledge or understanding about. I want to share how these pharmaceutical pollution makes its way into our ocean, share how it can affect our ecosystems negatively, and discuss how we can prevent this from happening in the future. All her findings will be showcased in a video that will roughly be five-minutes long. Sarah will post her video on YouTube, Instagram, and twitter to spread awareness about this issue.
Tony
Tony is planning to raise awareness through a sculpture. His plan is to setup remote aquariums, surrounded with garbage to raise awareness for the Pacific Garbage Patch. Tony hopes that his efforts will also call attention to the garbage that washes up on the shores of third-world countries. Right now, Tony is working on the design of his sculpture.
Sage N.
Currently, Sage is working to identify local businesses that help reduce the amount of single-use plastic water bottles across the Greater Vancouver area. To promote this conservation-based initiative, Sage is diligently working to enter geo-locations of refillable water fountains into two apps that are accessible to iOS and Android users: 'MyMizu' and 'Water for Free'.
Andre C.
Andre has been working diligently to promote sustainability at his school by selling metal straws to his peers. When news spread about the severity of the wildfires burning across Australia, Andre knew he had to do something to support the people and animals affected. Over the course of a week, Andre raised $100 to be donated to WIRES: https://www.wires.org.au
Recently, Andre held an eco-soap workshop with his school community. Andre facilitated the session by providing glycerin, essential oils, and dried flowers. Many students attended the workshop and discovered how cool making your own soap can be.
Elizabeth C. & Sophia D.
Elizabeth and Sophia are working on hosting a clothing swap event in March. The aim of the clothing swap is to raise awareness about how fast fashion affects the environment. All donation and proceeds will go to the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre - a place where both members have visited and volunteered their time. If you would like to participate in this clothing swap, feel free to contact them by email: elizabethchung2002@gmail.com or sophiadublin@yahoo.ca.
Cary C., Natasha S., Charlotte K.
For Oceans Week 2020, YouthToSea will be hosting a youth summit for youth across Metro Vancouver passionate about ocean conservation. The summit will be an all day event at the Vancouver Aquarium featuring guest speakers, workshops and Q&As from youth who are doing amazing things within their communities.
Camille H.
Camille is currently working alongside her school's environment club to create a zero-waste cafeteria. Fed up with the amount of unnecessary and improperly disposed of food packaging littered around the school and surrounding forests, she and her friends have created a waste-reduction campaign. They hope to ultimately eradicate all single-use plastics supplied by their school's cafeteria.
Emmah M.
Currently, Emmah is working to develop a fictional children's book about the Southern resident killer whales. In her book, she aims to demonstrate how these killer whales lead a life that is similar to humans and emphasizes some environmental challenges Southern resident killer whales face. It is Emmah's goal that readers of her book will understand that not only Southern killer whales need humanity's help, but all marine animals.
Lauren T. & Isla V.
Lauren and Isla have the goal of reducing the immense amounts of single-use plastic at their school. Their school, like many others in their district, still contributes single-use waste to landfills. They hope that their efforts to reduce the amount of single-use plastic will be noticed by their local community and surrounding schools. It would be extraordinary if all schools in their district adopted similar strategies to impact the environment.
Yonotan R.
Yonotan’s love for the environment and oceans is evident through his current service project, where he first hoped to bring the Vancouver Aquarium to his school. Yoyo suggested setting up a small touch pool onsite – modelled after the touch pools in the Wet Labs at the Vancouver Aquarium, and over the last two months has worked diligently with his teacher to prepare the animals for animal handling. Yoyo aims to increase awareness for marine biodiversity. He is working to present the results of his service project at a youth-led project showcase this upcoming October.
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