Whale sanctuary seeks applicants for advisory council

NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is seeking to fill eight primary seats and eight alternate seats on its advisory council, including a youth member. According to Hawaii247.org, this would make the HIHWNMS one of the first sanctuaries in the country to include a youth member on its advisory council.

The council advises HIHWNMS management on resource protection, research, education and outreach programs. The all-volunteer council is made up of 17 voting members and 15 non-voting members. Members represent a variety of local user groups, the general public, and state and federal governmental jurisdictions.

The youth seat is being added to help the sanctuary appeal to younger community members. It is a non-voting position.

The application deadline is January 31, 2010. For further information visit the sanctuary website.

Whale sanctuary seeks applicants for advisory council

Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative

I just saw a short TV program that made me smile and gave me hope. The Earth Island Institute sponsors an annual awards program called the Brower Youth Awards as part of its New Leaders Initiative. This year's honorees are six absolutely amazing young people! For example, Jessie-Ruth Corkins, of Bristol, Vermont, helped start the Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative, a group of over 200 youth from 26 high schools pushing for more sustainable solutions to Vermont's energy needs. Jessie-Ruth and VSHI have met with state legislators, the Governor and members of the state's Congressional delegation and have developed a plan to use 100,000 acres of under-utilized land to grow prairie grasses that could be transformed into enough pellet fuel to heat all of Vermont's homes without heating oil.



Check out all of the Brower award winners here: Brower Youth Awards

Vermont Sustainable Heating initiative

Involving children in international climate change policy

Here's a very exciting organization called "Children in a Changing Climate" (CCC) that is working to engage children and youth in climate change policy, research and advocacy.

Children in a Changing Climate is a global collaborative action-research, advocacy and learning programme that aims to secure children's influence in preventing and adapting to climate change at every level - from their families and communities to the United Nations climate change negotiations.

According to the website this effort came out of an action-research project that engaged children in the Phillipines and El Salvador in policymaking related to disasters and climate change. There's currently a link to an 11-minute film about children's involvement in advocacy in these countries. The film includes some words of wisdom from young mentors to adults on how to avoid being boring!

CCC will be launching individual research, policy, learning and action websites. There's also a link to sign up for an electronic newsletter.

Children in a Changing Climate

Here's a related article from the Institute for Development Studies: Putting Children and Future Generations at the Heart of Climate Change and Human Security