Success Story: AYEA

Organization: Alaska Youth for Environmental Action

ACF Support in FY2006: $17,118

Project: Global Warming Outreach and Education Project

Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA) has embarked on a statewide global warming outreach and education project.  During their Summer Get Together training, teens gathered in Homer to learn about global warming impacts in Alaska, the science behind the greenhouse effect, and how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.   At the end of the event, AYEA graduate and former ACF intern Verner Wilson of Dillingham wrote a "Letter to our Leaders," describing the devastating impacts of global warming on Alaska and demanding national action through legislation reducing greenhouse gas emissions and investment in renewable energy.

Verner's peers turned his letter into a statewide youth petition, and developed an educational powerpoint presentation on global warming.  AYEA chapter leaders gave the presentation to over 300 science and social studies classrooms in schools throughout the state and received an endorsement from the Spirit of Youth Foundation, giving the petition more statewide representation.  AYEA students collected 5,000 teen signatures from 105 communities in Alaska, which represents more than 10% of the enrolled high school population.  

During April, a delegation of teens from Dillingham, St. Michael, Anchorage, and Yakutat traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with the Alaska Delegation and other Congressional leaders to discuss global warming.  They presented their petition to Senator Lisa Murkowski, who requested that a group of AYEA members meet with climate change specialists in Fairbanks to bridge the "science and public awareness" divide on the issue.

AYEA teens also worked on the local level to raise awareness on global warming.  During the 2006 Civics and Conservation Summit in March, AYEA teen leaders promoted legislation to create an Alaska Climate Change Impact Commission.  Teens successfully lobbied for a youth seat on the commission and met with over 20 legislators to promote other bills supporting the funding of alternative energy projects.

In April, AYEA teens introduced a Climate Change Resolution at the spring conference of the Alaska Association of Student Governments (AASG).  400 teens from over 20 communities unanimously adopted the resolution, demanding action at the state legislative level.   A team of AYEA members held a press event with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich to announce initiatives to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the city.  AYEA members also presented the petition to the Juneau Assembly and asked for a local model of emissions reduction within the next year.

AYEA students will now move into “phase II” of the global warming education initiative, promoting renewable energy and engaging diverse teens on an issue that has been called the “tipping point” in re-connecting mainstream society with the environment.