Look no further. BurlingtonGreen has  eco-focused events for you to help with, get some great experience and......rack up those hours. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  me about volunteering for summer opportunities for action!

Share your school's Green Ideas and Actions:   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  with your school name and top greening actions you do there. I will compile a list and post it on the site so we can swap ideas and be more green everywhere!

 Show you care ...the Eco-Youth Network is free and inclusive and open to Youth from throughout Burlington.  But, we are hoping that all members will pay just $5 to become an "official" member of BurlingtonGreen. That way, you are added to our website database and get all the news and invitations to events etc.  To become  a member, you can either pay on-line by clicking here or just bring $5 to the next meeting you attend.

BurlingtonGreen has been pleased to support our city's first Environmental Conference FOR Youth BY Youth. Held on October 22 at Robert Bateman High School, over 400 grade 7- 12 participants from schools throughout Burlington participated in this interactive day of eco-learning, inspiration and action!

This For Youth By Youth event was titled  Imprints: Make your Mark; Leave No Trace" emphasizing the need to help the planet by minimizing your ecological footprint and "leaving your mark" in a positive way by leading by example to care for the earth. 

Special guest & renowned naturalist and artist Robert Bateman kicked off the day as the keynote speaker sharing stories of his adventures and efforts to date with a focus on the importance of youth getting out into nature to experience the beauty and lessons learned in our community green spaces.

Participants then ventured off to their choice of 16 eco-focused workshops for the day. They constructed composters for their schools, learned about native tree species during a creek side hike, discovered ways they can reduce their energy use at home and more.

Attending youth even had the opportunity to send an important message to the world’s leaders who will be gathering in Denmark that they want climate change to be taken seriously. 350 is a global initiative with the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in "Parts Per Million" in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it's the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.

All enjoyed a delicious local foods lunch prepared by the Robert Bateman food school and the day concluded with an inspirational presentation by the popular speaker, Joel Hilchey.

Amy Schnurr, the Executive Director of BurlingtonGreen who helped the Youth plan this  event stated “ An important goal of this event was to inspire youth to feel empowered to take action to help the planet locally. We believe this was achieved given all the wonderful feedback that we have received. For example, one teacher wrote “ returning from the conference one of my students said “it was life changing” and two others proceeded to clean their class green cart and garbage can the next day”. These comments alone made all the efforts to plan the event well worth it. For more information about the conference or how you can get involved in helping to support next years youth eco-conference, email General Inquires

Join us in helping to make change happen.

Whether you are a member of a school eco-club, have a general interest in the environment or want to learn where to start, we want to hear from YOU!

By sharing ideas, resources, successes and by working together on school and community eco-projects, as youth we can have a greater impact with a louder voice. 

After all, it is OUR future.

By joining the free Network you can:

• Get involved in the planning and participation of BurlingtonGreen eco programs and projects.
• Attend monthly meetings, share ideas, work on  projects  & get inspired  by guest presenters.
• Help grow  a new youth website forum - a great way to stay connected throughout the year.
• Link to eco-focused volunteer opportunities in the community including intern opportunities at BG !
• Meet new friends who care about the environment and have some fun too!

ECO-NET AT THE MEC!

Our Youth meetings are held the first Thursday of every month from 4:30 - 6:30 pm at the new Mountain Equipment Co-op store's community room.  It's a great space for us and all our meetings are zero waste so please bring your own canteen for refreshments and I will supply the snacks! Once you contact me to sign onto the network you will receive regular notices about our meeting topics and guest presenters too.

What our Youth Network members have to say....  

 “My favourite things about the Network are collaboratng with other youth and all the volunteer opportunites.”

“Its the best way to meet with environmental club members from schools in Burlington to share ideas.”

“I think this is amazing, I always look forward to the meetings. Something like this is long overdue!”

Yoo, my name is Kale Black and I am the Youth Rep. for BurlingtonGreen.

I graduated from Aldershot High School in 2007 where I was the President of the Eco-club and also one of the first students to take part in Halton's Eco-studies program. In my last year,  I received the Aldershot Lions award for service to my school and community as well as a Rotary medal for  my recycling and “eco-work”.

My co-op placement was with the City of Burlington's Environmental Department and also with the seperate organization, BurlingtonGreen, and that is how I ended up here,  as the organization's Youth Rep.

As you may have guessed, I’m very passionate about the environment.  There are a ridiculous amount of issues pertaining to the environment but I’d say my main passion is recycling and waste diversion.

No one can dispute youth are the future and one of my goals is to help youth get involved  so we can do our  part to make a difference to help the planet. We should be thinking globally and acting locally, and as I’ve been finding out, there are lots of opportunities to act locally to support the environment.

So, if you are interested in doing your part to help the environment and working with other like minded youth throughout Burlington, I want to hear from YOU!

Just give me a call (905-407-0486), send me an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or add me to facebook (search Kale Black) and I will get you connected to our Eco-network!

Keep reading to find out about upcoming opportunities to volunteer for the Planet -  Woop Woop!