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Brower Youth Award Winners Honored

Last week, Earth Island and its New Leaders Initiative program celebrated six young environmental activists at the 22nd annual Brower Youth Awards. From climate justice to water conservation to plastics pollution, this year’s winners are tackling some of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. Learning about the conviction and resiliency behind their activism is an inspiration to us all. Experience the magic by watching the video of the 2021 Brower Youth Awards ceremony.

Poisoning Paradise

Join Earth Island’s Herbicide-Free Campus, cosponsor of the Poisoning Paradise Film Festival, for a screening of the film Poisoning Paradise and, on October 26, a panel discussion on defending Indigenous foodways. The documentary explores the story of how a small Kauaʻi community pushed back against the agrochemical industry despite corporate bullying, political influencing, and ongoing concealment. Although the Kauaʻi community’s plight might seem like a local issue, the impact of the agrochemical industry extends far beyond Hawaiʻi. From Puerto Rico to Southeast Asia, communities around the globe are struggling to reclaim their food systems from corporate control and its toxic legacy.

Decolonizing Food Culture

On November 4, join Earth Island’s Real Food Real Stories as it hosts Rowen White, Mohawk seed keeper, farmer, and activist, and Jocelyn Jackson, Black culinary activist, artist, and cofounder of the People’s Kitchen Collective, for an electrifying conversation about decolonizing mainstream food culture. This is the first in an ongoing Around the Table series from Real Food Real Stories. The series will feature informal conversations with thought leaders, elders, organizers, and culture bearers working at the intersection of food, culture, place, and power. Register for the free event here.

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Combating Food Waste

As part of its efforts to address food insecurity and food waste, the latter a major contributor to climate change, Earth Island’s Food Shift wishes to recognize the support it recently received from the food community. Pepperoni Posse’s National Pepperoni Day celebration and Humphry Slocombe’s collaboration with Drake’s Brewing both dedicated a portion of their respective pizza and ice cream sales to Food Shift. All contributions will be applied to Food Shift’s goal to meet a $25,000 matching grant. This support is an illustration of how communities are stronger together in the fight to combat food waste and climate change.

Growth in Outdoor Adventure

Interest in outdoor adventure has bloomed during the pandemic, and Earth Island’s Bay Area Wilderness Training (BAWT) has risen to the challenge and met the demands of those in the San Francisco Bay Area seeking outdoor-gear loans and online wilderness training courses, such as Wilderness First Aid. With a new executive director, Zulma Terrones (on right in photo), at the helm, BAWT recently completed its third outdoor-gear library move in 22 years, transferring more than 7,000 units of gear in seven days, with 12 volunteers and countless encouraging high fives, to settle in a space that would better fit the program’s development. The future of wilderness adventure looks bright, and BAWT is well-poised to meet the moment, making equitable access to outdoor experiences a priority.

Environmental Education Increases Student Achievement Levels

After months of developing successful distance-learning programs, Earth Island’s Kids for the Bay is excited for the return of in-person programs this school year. Watch the video here to see how environmental education makes a significant difference in the lives of both students and teachers. “During the time that Kids for the Bay has been teaching here, students’ achievement levels have increased markedly,” one school principal said. Kids for the Bay will use a variety of outdoor habitats for its programs, following all Covid-19 guidelines to ensure the health and safety of its participants, and will continue to ensure equitable environmental education opportunities, especially for children in under-resourced schools.

Uptick in Beach Cleanups

After a long Covid-19 hiatus, Earth Island’s All One Ocean is reporting a significant uptick in its beach cleanup programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Multiple cleanups are now occurring each month, with an average of 100 participants attending each event. Many of those getting involved are schools seeking outdoor activities that provide experiential, hands-on learning opportunities. All One Ocean provides guided beach cleanups and beach cleanup stations. The goal of these programs is to show participants where plastics and pollution end up, and to raise awareness and demonstrate how individual actions can help keep litter out of the oceans.

Legal Action against Wolf Hunts

Wisconsin is set to open its wolf-hunt season again in November — the hunt at the beginning of the year was shut down for exceeding its quota by 83 percent in just 60 hours. In August, Earth Island’s Project Coyote and other wildlife conservation groups filed a lawsuit to stop the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board from holding the hunt, and they recently filed a motion for a temporary injunction, which would prevent the hunt from moving forward until the court hears the case. The wildlife coalition also filed a response in opposition to a motion from an outside hunting group to intervene. To protect wolves in Wisconsin and across their historic range, Project Coyote has launched a new campaign called Protecting America’s Wolves (PAW), featuring a series of videos by film production company Comfort Theory, showcasing the benefits wolves provide to healthy ecosystems. Watch the first video here. Photo courtesy of Sam Parks.