Are you passionate about protecting our environment? Do you want to help teach younger kids about what they can do for the planet?

We are too!!!!

The BurlingtonGreen Youth Network has worked with the Earth Day Canada EcoMentors Program for a few years helping to organize local training events, sending guest speakers to their events and leading EcoMentors workshops in our schools and communities.

The BGYN had several members that are qualified to run EcoMentor training sessions & would love to lead one for your school eco-club/green team or other community groups you may be involved with.

What exactly is an EcoMentor?

EcoMentors are self-motivated youth who are passionate about the environment. They have been trained to facilitate environmental education workshops and engage their peers and other young people. EcoMentor workshops take place in a wide range of settings. Examples include...

• Schools and educational classes
• After-school programs and clubs
• Community and recreational centres
• Faith based organizations
• Extra-curricular organizations (ex. Boy Scout & Girl Guide troops)

If your group is interested in setting up a training date please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Congratulations to Billi Krochuk & Kayla Marie Peters, the BT YA!s (Burlington Transit Youth Ambassadors) from Aldershot High School on their success with the World Car Free Day promo!

Billi & Kayla managed to receive 300 pledges from teachers & students to leave the car at home on Sept 22nd, World Car Free Day & noticed about a 50% increase in the amount of students that rode their bikes, walked or took the bus!

Billi Krochuk: "...After weeks of planning, coordinating with staff and teachers, and many announcements, our little school Aldershot showed us that we are a community that cares about our environment. We had exactly 300 pledges made that day, just under half of the entire school’s population! A big thank you to everyone for making Aldershot’s World Car Free Day such a success!"

All of the BT YA!s from across Burlington participated in this promo, collecting pledges from their school community during the lead up to World Car Free Day. Aldershot achieved the best overall performance in the promo campaign out of all of the teams of YA!s and earned a $250 cash prize to go towards a school Eco-project courtesy of Burlington Transit

BurlingtonGreen's very own Youth Program Coordinator, Kale Black was recently recognized by The Starfish's "Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25" campaign. Nominated by BG's Executive Director, Amy Schnurr: "The entire BG team is very proud of Kale and he is most deserving of this great recognition!"  Check out all the details here.

Way to go Kale!

For almost 2 years now Burlington Transit has been working with The BGYN on a innovative new program designed to promote public transportation in our Burlington High schools.  This is one of the first programs of it's kind; a Transit Authority,  a Community Environmental Organization and local Youth working together in partnership to increase student ridership for a more sustainable future!

If YOU apply to become a BT YA! you will be working with Burlington Transit to...

• Promote special offers and programs in your schools such as 2 for1 summer bus passes, various transit campaigns like "Freeze your Keys" or the Clean Air Day Transit promo.
• Occasionally conduct surveys and solicit feedback from students at your school.
• Provide ideas to Burlington Transit to generate ridership as well as plan and implement initiatives in your school.
• Attend BT YA! team meetings (appox 2 per year), working with staff mentors to create and implement transit promotional campaigns (training, promotional materials and support provided by BT)
• Check out our facebook page to see what we are up to!

Now you may be asking, WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?

If you are selected to be one of two BT YA!s for your school you will...

• Receive a signing bonus including a Pre-loaded Presto Pass, BT YA! T-shirt, a City of Burlington Swim & Skate Pass and more!
• Receive recognition for your contributions to the program at an awards ceremony held at the end of the school year at Burlington Mall. The Mayor, members of City Council, media contacts as well as friends and family invited!
• Have the opportunity to win cash rewards for your school eco-club to go towards environmental initiatives.
• Gain great "real-life"experience working with a community organization which can be highlighted on your resume.
• Earn volunteer hours for all of your work outside of school hours including BT YA! meetings.
• Once you have begun working as a BT YA! we can even provide you with reference letters for scholarships, awards, etc.
• EARN REWARDS! Do you remember when you sold chocolate covered almonds in elementary school? The more you sold the more rewards you earned. The BT YA! program has a Tier-based Reward System, simply put, the more you do to promote transit in your school, the more rewards you can earn. *You could receive rewards from items like movie tickets & gift cards to items like E-readers!

HOW DO I APPLY?!

The 2011-2012 school year is coming to an end and we have had a great first year with representation from Nelson, Aldershot, Robert Bateman, Notre Dame & M.M Robinson High Schools. We are going to be looking for 2 YAs from each Burlington High School to start in September of 2012 and have already begun accepting applications.

You can visit the Burlington Transit website here to fill out an application or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you have any questions about the program. REMEMBER, only 2 spots available per High school so make sure you apply today!

As you may know, I (Kale Black) began working with BurlingtonGreen as a Co-Op student & one of the first big volunteering roles I did was helping out during Ribfest in 2008. The entire event greening program of Canada's Largest Ribfest was actually started by a BurlingtonGreen volunteer named Barbara Frensch and to date over 100 tonnes of waste has been diverted from the landfill!

After Ribfest 2008 I caught the waste diversion "bug" & it has since become one of my main interests & skills. In 2009 BurlingtonGreen was approached by the Sound of Music Festival Green Team to help them with their event greening program. Throughout the 2009 Festival, BGYN members contributed over 230 volunteer hours to the event greening efforts and provided them with a comprehensive waste audit with suggestions to make the event even greener. Due in part to our volunteer support,  the Sound Of Music Green Team achieved their highest diversion rate in the events history. I even ended up winning the Green Team's Volunteer of the Year award!

In 2010,  the BGYN was approached again to help the Sound of Music Green Team and another record was achieved with over 80% of the waste produced from the entire festival being diverted from the landfill, receiving a Festivals and Events of Ontario award for best event greening in it's budget category!

Due in part to our success at the Sound of Music Festival,  we were approached by the City of Burlington to coordinate waste diversion for their Annual 2-day Children's Festival. This was my first event coordinating the entire waste diversion program and we are happy to say that after a 2-day long festival with about 25 000 people attending the event, we diverted almost every single piece of recycling and compost from needlessly ending up in the landfill. During 2011 BG greened four City of Burlington events : the Canada Day Festival, Environment & Kite Festival, Discovery Sandcastle Day & the Children's Festival. The events were a huge success and we diverted almost 1000kg of compost & recycling from the landfill!

If you are planning an event and would like to learn more about our event greening services click here, if your interested in volunteering for with our Event Greening team, visit us here! You can also check out our BG facebook page to see photo albums from the events we have greened.