Join YENYR at Youth In Motion’s Green Career Learning Day on Nov. 6th 2012 at the Ontario Science Centre. Register by emailing greencld@youth-in-motion.ca and learn more about opportunities in the green sector.

Source: EasyFinance.com

Calling all 12-21 year olds! We’re on a quest to find Canada’s top youth environmental journalists in film, photography and writing. Got what it takes to be Canada’s Next Green Journalist?

Canada’s Next Green Journalist is more than about shining a spotlight on Canadian youth journalistic talent; it’s also about enhancing it. For the second year in a  row, we’re sweetening the deal with career-launching prizes for each contest and age category: a digital SLR camera, a waterproof pocket camcorder, and a laptop. And a little motivation for teachers? Winners are provided with funds to create a sustainability initiative at their school.

For four years now, we’ve been blown away by the journalistic integrity put forth by youth from across Canada through our Young Reporters for the Environment competitions, part of an international project by the Foundation for Environmental Educationwhich pits budding reporters against one another for top prizes. They tackle issues and bring us inspiring local stories on issues from climate change, coastlines, energy and water, to agriculture, cities, waste and biodiversity, and they never disappoint.

The deadline for Canada’s Next Green Journalist is April 30, 2012. Top entries will shine on Environmental Defence’s website and will then battle for international recognition and an award against competitors from at least 15 countries.

So, are you a teacher? A proud parent? An ecstatically bright-minded 12-21 year old with big dreams of becoming an internationally acclaimed journalist? Do you have what it takes to be Canada’s Next Green Journalist?  Then prove it.

For questions, information and tips, visit our website at youngreporters.ca.

There have been efforts to raise awareness and to educate youth of environmental issues through a plethora of mediums. The persistent messages of a planet in crisis have numbed people from the statistics and images and quotes. The media has drowned us in information, and it is now harder than ever to inspire change through traditional marketing campaigns. Not only is the volume of these messages overwhelming, but the angle in which they are communicated are very daunting. We have been spoon-fed a diet of fear and hopelessness towards climate change throughout our childhoods. While the reality may be melting ice and drowning polar bears, we are made to feel like this is an insurmountable problem.

So the question can be stated, how do we encourage people to create this connection with nature that will ultimately instill the values of sustainability and environmental stewardship within them? The most powerful way is the one that I was fortunate enough to experience in a very remarkable way; simply returning to nature. Have an experience where you’ll fall in love with nature and its beauty. Being in the Arctic for just two weeks completely changed the way I viewed the world around me, and it was a pivotal experience. It is difficult to get everyone to put on a pair of hiking boots and take a weekend away from the rest of the world, so we also need to bring this beauty to the people through an approach that doesn’t strike fear, but rather inspires hope. Show the mountain ranges that I saw, the Inuit that I met. There is so much reason to love our planet, but it’s hard when we see it through a dark telescope. People will fight for what is good before they fight against what they fear. The science can tell us why we need to protect the environment, but it is the beauty that convinces us to.

Joey Loi is a member of the Youth Environmental Network of York Region, and in July 2011 participated in the Arctic Expedition with Students on Ice. Please visit studentsonice.com for information on how you can go to the Arctic or Antarctic!