Youth Environmental Community

Our Mandate
To involve youth who are passionate about the environment to take an active leadership role in the betterment of the planet. Creating the foundations within our own communities, professing what we do and leading by example.

Our goal being: to create a healthy and sustainable future for our planet.
For every member involved our goal is to make this an awesome learning experience, thus helping ourselves (youth) in our personal growth, and making us strong members of the community.

Why Y-eco?
Y-eco – “Youth Environmental Community” is a youth community club part and parcel of FutureWatch EDEP. 

Having the inspiration that our youth is the future of our world, we formed a group of youth interested in the betterment of the planet. Through Y-eco, we will bring attention to current local and world issues involving our natural environment. 

Who we are…

My name is Maria Camila Gomez. I am 18 years old from Colombia and have been living in Canada for 4 months. In Colombia I was an Environmental Engineering student, although I only could finish my first semester.  Right now, my dream is to keep up studying in Canada. I am very interested in environmental issues like global warming and the importance of recycling.  I believe that the mission of us, as youths is to start taking care of the environment and teach the rest of the people that we should make something for the environment before it is too late. Presently I am volunteering at Future Watch EDEP and I am very proud to say that I am part of the new Y-ECO program because I know that we have the power to make a difference.
 I will keep working to make our world greener!

 

Hello, I am Margarita Siliezar. I’m 21 years old and I live in Toronto.
I’m a youthful person that has a natural interest towards the conservation of nature.  This is what has leaded me to have a co-op placement with FutureWatch. I know that the planet is in danger due to heavy contamination, global warming and that climate change has become a problem.  The status used to be: it is something that could be dealt with in the future, but the reality is that it is something that has to be urgently solved in our present time.  Now that I’ve joined the youth environmental group Y-ECO I have confidence and hope that we will be able to spread our philosophies and knowledge on simple ways we can save the planet …starting from our own communities!

My name is Daniela Gomez from Colombia; which is located in South America. I am 20 years old.  Presently, I am trying to adapt to the diversity of Canada, but I am happy to be here, because I have more opportunities to grow in my academic and my personal life.
I am interested to be part of a group who care for the environment, I think that we have to worry about our planet as part of our life and teach other people how to do positive things! 

 

My name is Ahmed Kassim, I am 15  years old, I volunteer at FutureWatch and am part of the youth environmental group Y-eco:  A group for youth which are interested in preserving the environment and helping make the future beneficial for everyone.  The world as we know it is changing: freak weather, temperature rising, this is all due to humans tampering in our natural environment. I attend Humberside Collegiate Institute. I like basketball and pizza. 
The world is our home and we need to fix it up!

 

Rachel Kennedy. I have always cared about the environment for as long as I can remember.  My mum helped to develop my sense of environmentalism by teaching me how to recycle; compost and not waste.  Throughout my teenage years I became involved in canoe tripping at the Inner City Outtripping Centre (ICOC) which further helped to foster my appreciation of the natural world and its preservation.  I also visited Costa Rica with ICOC to meet with a local Environmental group and learn about the environmental issues there.  I have since graduated from Lakehead University with a Degree in Women’s Studies and Teaching and I hope to share my sense of environmentalism with my future students.  Currently I am employed at an environmental charity, FutureWatch Environment & Development Education Partners, where I educate people about climate change and how to save energy to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.  

 

Eduardo Garay
Eduardo is our mentor! He is a first generation immigrant to Canada. Eduardo is a member of the Board of Directors of FutureWatch and has spearheaded the idea of the YECO club. He has been living in Canada for 24 years and has been become an accomplished individual in many areas of work: community development, academic achievements as well as an environmentalist. Eduardo has helped to create a number of community gardens, waste and energy reduction initiatives involving many newcomers and established Canadians within the City of Toronto, and urban naturalization projects. Eduardo is very proud of recycling 2/3 of the waste/organic produce coming his way, he reduces energy by using LED bulbs at home and re-uses as much as possible. Eduardo designed and implemented a model for sanitary infra-structure in an impoverished community in Paraguay, South America and he is a regular speaker and facilitator at community forums. This is not only because of his interest in getting youth involved environmental issues and concern about the fate of our planet, but also because of his social and environmental entrepreneurship driving spirit!

Newcomer (and all) youth wanted to get involved but didn’t know how?
This is where Y-eco comes into play. Y-eco isn’t merely an Environmental Group but also a venue to help youth become more actively involved in their community.

If you want to be part of positive change this is your opportunity!
Join Y-eco! Send an e-mail to: info@futurewatch.net

Meet other young people from Toronto’s diverse communities with the same interests as you and help to improve our environment participating in our fall and summer activities which include: eco-outdoor recreation programs, community awareness workshops, community gardens and fun activities!

We want to achieve our mandate throughout the active involvement of Y-eco youth. Coordinating or be involved with projects to address environmental and social issues.

• We meet every second Monday of every month, where we get together and share our ideas about the environment, school, and future activities.
• If you are a school student, this is an opportunity to have your 40 hours of community volunteer
• We are in the process in creating our Y-eco logo and develop our page in FutureWatch website, where the idea is to promote our own ideas about the environment and next activities.
• During the spring we will start working with FutureWatch community work: helping with the community gardens, community clean-up days and coordinating outings discovery/visit walks to interesting places such as the Humber Arboretum, and Don Valley Brick Works.