Cynics like to argue that youth is wasted on the young, dismissing teenagers as screen zombies hooked on social media. Too often overlooked is the good work many young people do, and nowhere is this more evident than in the fight against climate change.
With contributions from Geoff Love and Heather Wilson, Founding Members of Pivot Green
Young people have every right to feel that their elders created this mess and should fix it. But with political leaders near and far backing away from environmental promises and focusing on the economy, just the opposite is happening. Opinion polls show that Canadians, on average, are growing pessimistic about, if not giving up, on climate issues, while environmental anxiety is rampant among young people. And yet remarkably, it is the younger population that is engaged in impactful climate change initiatives across the country.
We know this because we have seen it first-hand.
Back in the 1970s, we took part in a pilot project to collect materials for recycling in Toronto’s Beaches district that blossomed into the Blue Box program, an international phenomenon recognized by the United Nations. We then went our separate ways, working in different environmental fields before reuniting six years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, to form Pivot Green.
We knew there were success stories in the war on climate change and made it our group’s goal to seek them out and celebrate them. But we were surprised to learn that many such stories are, in fact, the work of young people, who fly under the radar and don’t receive nearly the public support and recognition they deserve.
To remedy that, we enlisted the Small Change Fund, a charity that helps grassroots groups raise money, to create the Canadian Youth Climate Action Award. Now in its fourth year, the award has drawn no fewer than 124 applications from youth-led groups across the country. The quality and variety of their work have greatly impressed our distinguished judges. And we feel that it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The winners have ranged from modest neighbourhood initiatives to projects involving thousands of people. For example, the Burns Bog Youth Stewardship Project brought together diverse organizations, Indigenous youth, and new Canadians to help restore a massive peat bog in Delta, B.C. This important ecosystem is crucial for trapping carbon and promoting biodiversity but has been ravaged by wildfires and invasive species.
The 2025 winner, Burns Bog Youth Stewardship Project in Vancouver, BC, brought together Indigenous youth, new Canadians, and diverse community organizations to restore one of Canada’s most important peat bog ecosystems, a massive carbon sink and biodiversity hotspot that had been ravaged by wildfires and invasive species. Photo courtesy of Pivot Green.
On a smaller scale, Grade 10 students in Stratford, Ontario, were recognized for enlisting local seniors to create an intergenerational garden at their school (with a communal dinner to celebrate each harvest), as have young people helping low-income residents prepare for extreme weather events that strike Toronto’s towering St. James Town development. This program has neighbours looking out for neighbours – as well as the potential to save lives.
This year’s overall winner went to Sundance Commons, a project in southwestern Ontario. This groundbreaking initiative empowers marginalized youth to launch sustainable, regenerative farm enterprises. It is a highly replicable model.
When launching the award, we decided to meet the winners in person, hoping to provide young environmentalists with some encouragement, but they inevitably turn the tables, and we are the ones who walk away inspired. That said, the heartfelt thank-you videos they send afterward show that the prize money (this year nearly $25,000, to be shared by the winner, two runners-up, and nine honourable mentions) has an impact – as does the simple fact that their effort has been recognized.
But what we’re doing isn’t nearly enough.
As well as being largely unnoticed, too many youth-led environmental groups operate in silos, working on their own without the resources to share their ideas in any meaningful way, ideas that could easily be replicated and have a greater impact.
In addition to meeting formally and sharing their experiences, young people also need assurances that word about what they’re doing will reach policymakers at all levels. They deserve a voice. Canada refuses (unlike Scotland, Wales, Argentina, and Austria) to lower the voting age to 16, even though the young are the most affected by the climate crisis; theirs is the future in doubt.
So, it is easy to be pessimistic about what lies ahead, given all the turmoil in the news. But young people realize it’s too late for pessimism; it’s time to act. They have not given up. Neither should we.
