EPA Celebrates Three California Winners of the Presidential Environmental Youth Award
Publilshed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
SAN FRANCISCO – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), is pleased to recognize three California recipients of the 2023 President’s Environmental Youth Award (PEYA).
“EPA is proud to honor the impressive work that these California students are undertaking to address environmental challenges in their communities,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “Our awardees here in California represent bold and dedicated students across the state who are tackling issues like climate change, food waste and public health. Congratulations to these impressive young Californians – we can’t wait to see what you do next.”
“Environmental stewardship begins in the classroom through the passion and creativity of educators and young leaders who are dedicated to achieving a healthy, prosperous, and more equitable future,” said White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory. “From climate change to environmental injustice, this year’s award winners are tackling our planet’s most pressing environmental challenges.”
The California winners and honorable mentions are:
Mary Bragg Elementary School Green Team – Cerritos (Winner)
Emma Cardoza, Hailey Cruz, and Lauren Magsino, now 6th graders, were thrilled when the campus Green Team established a lunch sorting line, one that included a share box and food donation program. It was so successful that it astoundingly reduced lunch waste from 35 trash bags to only two bags per day. When the school was required to discontinue the program, Emma, Hailey, and Lauren decided to take matters into their own hands and keep the mission alive. As a result, they began their campaign, “Getting to Zero,” in the hopes of further reducing student lunch waste.
Audrey Ma – Pasadena (Winner)
In Pasadena, 8th grader Audrey Ma started Polytechnic School’s Sustainability Club to raise awareness about climate change and implement environmental initiatives to address it. Her first endeavor was the creation of a sorting and composing program because, as she researched, rotting food waste in a landfill creates methane, a greenhouse gas with more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide. Through the project, she separated the school’s food waste for on-site composting and eventual donation to the school gardens. Her work was so successful that, during the 2021–2022 school year, she expanded the compositing initiative to the elementary and high school divisions of her district. Today, Audrey’s Sustainability Club has successfully diverted more than 16,000 pounds of food waste from the landfill each year—that translates to 30,000 pounds of carbon dioxide or 375 pounds of methane.
Smart Recycling Now – Statewide (Honorable mention)
Alexander Borghese, Aria Capelli, Justin Chen, and Carter Considine lead Smart Recycling Now (SRN), a youth-led, non-profit organization that promotes closed-loop recycling while protecting owls. Owls help keep ecosystems in balance by keeping populations of small mammals and insects in check; however, habitat destruction, the use of pesticides, and collisions with human infrastructure threaten their numbers. To address this issue, SRN partners with the nation’s only mask recycler to transform single-use, disposable face masks into plastic lumber for owl boxes. The organization reaches over 300 schools, distributing educational materials along the way and informing the public about the benefits of recycling and the dangers of declining owl populations. SRN also offers mask collection receptacles alongside prepaid boxes to mail the masks for repurposing.
Background
The PEYA was established by the Environmental Education Act of 1970 and recognizes outstanding community-level environmental projects by K-12 youth that promote awareness of natural resources and encourages positive community involvement. Each year, PEYA honors a variety of local projects developed by students, school classes, summer camp attendees and youth organizations to promote engagement in environmental stewardship and protection.
From across the country, 13 educators and 41 students are recognized for their leadership and commitment to environmental education and environmental stewardship. This year, nine educators received the 2023 PIAEE, and four educators were recognized with an honorable mention distinction. Winning educators demonstrated leadership by integrating environmental education into multiple subjects and using topics such as climate change, environmental justice, water infrastructure, healthy school environments, environmentally friendly agriculture practices, recycling, and reducing contributions to ocean and marine liter.
Additionally, 34 students who worked as a team or individually on 15 projects received the President’s Environmental Youth Award; eight students received honorable mentions. Their stewardship projects, conducted in 2022, display a commitment to advancing community garden efforts, protecting pollinators, reducing pollution, and conserving water and energy, reducing food waste, and combating climate change.
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Read the full article at: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-celebrates-three-california-winners-presidential-environmental-youth-award
