Accomplishments

Alaska Youth for Environmental Action members have improved the environmental health of their schools and communities through sustainable projects and campaigns. AYEA members have made visible impacts on solid waste/recycling, toxics/”right to know” and climate change issues that affect a diverse array of people throughout the state.

Toxics and “Right to Know” Issues

  • Helped pass statewide legislation requiring monitoring and regulation of cruise ship pollution
  • Helped pass statewide legislation requiring pesticide tracking for commercial applicators
  • Implemented groundbreaking policy on toxic pesticides in the Anchorage School District
  • Helped pass & protect Anchorage municipal law requiring public notification for pesticide use
  • Helped pass statewide legislation requiring labeling of salmon as wild-caught or farmed
  • Helped pass statewide legislation requiring labeling of fish/ shellfish products’ country of origin
  • Implemented Idle-Free Zones at several high schools to protect school children from inhaling harmful vehicle emissions
  • Helped pass a law banning aerial pesticide spraying on subsistence lands used by southeast Alaska Native groups.

Recycling and Solid Waste Issues

  • Developed an award-winning recycling education booklet Alaska Youth Reach out and Recycle in demand by teachers, tribes, and community organizations.
  • Established the first successful plastics recycling program in the Kenai Peninsula.
  • Established Green Star recycling programs in Sitka and Anchorage.
  • Implemented successful paper recycling and plastics recycling in Juneau.
  • Earned the Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling (ALPAR) Leadership in Recycling Education award for statewide education program on recycling.
  • Developed an outreach and education campaign about lead acid batteries in Galena.
  • Established municipal proclamation declaring Anchorage Recycles Day and Juneau Recycles Day in conjunction with the nationally recognized America Recycles Day: November 15.
  • Partnered with Green Star to pilot a sustainable recycling and hauling system throughout the Anchorage School District.

Climate Change & Renewable Energy

  • Selected to send the only US delegates to the International Youth Eco-Forum on Climate Change and renewable energy in Hokkaido, Japan and Akureyri, Iceland.
  • Partnered with the Renewable Energy Alaska Project to promote the sale of Green Tags in Alaska (these tags invest funds in Alaska-based renewable energy projects).
  • Providing a youth voice on sensible renewable energy projects
  • Generating statewide radio and print media on youth impacted by climate change issues
  • Circulated a youth-written “Letter to our Leaders” to be signed by thousands of Alaskan teens requesting national leaders like Ted Stevens and Mark Begich to take a stand on climate change.
  • Ran a state-wide 3-2-1 energy efficiency campaign, and had pledges signed by citizens and legislators, including Senator Lisa Murkowski in Washington D.C.
  • Organized a statewide “Week Without Plastics” and had a youth press conference with Mayor (at the time)Mark Begich.