Caring Young People Champion the Environment

The Peel Environmental Youth Alliance (PEYA) is preparing today’s youth to inherit the earth.

With funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), the organization is giving high-school students who care about the environment a way to connect, share information and take action on environmental issues in their own communities. In turn, these young people are carrying the message to fellow students across the entire region, raising awareness and encouraging others to initiate stewardship of the environment.

“My dream is to see active environmental clubs and recycling programs in every school,” says Jasmeet Sidhu, co-president of PEYA. Jasmeet, an energetic and ecologically aware Grade 12 student, first began an environmental club in her school two years ago. 

Jasmeet Sidhu, co-president of the Peel Environmental Youth Alliance, received a Toyota Earth Day 2006 Scholarship in acknowledgement of her environmentalism efforts and is the winner of the 2005 Eastern Canada Soroptimist Violet Richardson Award, which honours young female volunteers.

Rohit Mehta, co-president of the Peel Environmental Youth Alliance, won the 2005 Sam McCallion award, making him Mississauga’s Volunteer of the Year.

“When I started going into classrooms and speaking to students face to face, interest began to grow,” Jasmeet says. As the club became established, she began looking for ways to expand its focus and activities.

Rohit Mehta, co-president of PEYA and a Grade 11 student who runs the environmental club in his school, was one of the first to join. “I was concerned that our future was being compromised through neglect,” he says. “PEYA sparked an interest and showed me that I can make a difference in both my school and community.”

With information and support from PEYA, Rohit found he was able to dramatically increase environmental awareness at his school. Outreach activities increased and improved. Many students who had never considered themselves environmentalists became interested in the club and its activities. They began to help develop marketing materials, organize events or work on PEYA’s website.

“PEYA’s survival depends on supporters like OTF,” says Rohit. The Foundation’s grant to PEYA in 2006 means that operations can continue for the next three years, enabling the organization to plan for the longer term.

Events such as the EcoBuzz Conference, which is organized each year by PEYA and the Peel Environmental Network (PEN), will be able to continue and even expand. In only three years, the conference has grown to include over 250 participants.

Funding also means that PEYA and the student environmental clubs it supports will be active and able to engage even more young people. There will be additional educational and participation opportunities for students in community environmental projects, such as the recent tree-planting initiative PEYA helped to organize in May 2006.

Because of PEYA’s support, young people like Jasmeet and Rohit are active, connected and committed to preserving and protecting the environment while encouraging others to do the same.

“When I do this, I feel really motivated to do more,” says Rohit, who plans to study environmental management at the University of Toronto. “There’s lots of work to be done and I know I can make a real difference in my community.”

www.peyalliance.com