This was sent to me by Sam MacDonald from Greymouth who attended the Youth Environment Forum in Wellington, April 28 - May 1.
I was privileged to be selected for the Youth Environment Forum held in Wellington as a West Coast Delegate. It was an awesome week even if the weather wasn’t very good! We got to ask Trevor Mallard questions, hear from the Chief Executive of the Ministry for Environment, and be recognised by Charles Chauvel at a formal presentation.
Throughout the week we were supported by cool Ministry for the Environment staff who organised activities such as tree planting, a bird sanctuary walk and our projects. Our projects were our main environmental focus for the week and I was in the ‘Household Sustainability Team’ where we carried out a home audit of a MFE employee’s house – sort of like that programme ‘Wasted’.
The environment was our main focus for the week, but I benefited in other ways as well. I built strong relationships with delegates from all over the country and learnt to work as part of a team. From this week I also adopted two ideas (1) we take the environment for granted and through simple every day steps to prevent our resources being depleted and makes a difference, eg creating a compost bin in your garden to cut down on household rubbish. (2) The time to act is now, with our environment in its current state we need to make sustainability the norm.
From an awesome week in Wellington I have been encouraged to bring back information and spread it around our region, through school presentations, and local council presentations in the hope of making a difference. Thanks again for an amazing trip I would definitely recommend this to everyone who has a passion for making a difference! 
Comments
I've had another blog sent to me by Youth Environment Forum attendee Kathleen Keir of Queen Charlotte College, Malborough:
The opportunity to represent Marlborough at the Youth Environment Forum was a chance I jumped at when I heard of it at school- I mean who wouldn’t want to have the chance of a free week away in Wellington?
The Youth Environment Forum really opened my eyes to what is happening in New Zealand at the moment in terms of what we are risking and what is being done about it. We were privileged to be audience to the Minister for the Environment, Trevor Mallard, who answered all of the tough questions we threw at him. I was placed in the Household Sustainability project group and along with fantastic, knowledgeable facilitators; one from the Ministry and one from EECA. Our group carried out a waste, energy and water audit on a home in Wellington and then presented our findings to an audience, including people from MFE and Charles Chauvel, at Parliament House.
Not only did I learn the importance of working towards a sustainable future for New Zealand but I also had the fantastic opportunity to meet like minded teenagers from all around the country who I developed strong bonds with. At times, especially when our deadline was fast approaching, we tended to get stressed out and snappy but as our facilitator Roz put it, in the real world you have to work as a team so you might as well learn how to do it now. This is a lesson that not a lot of people our age get to learn and all of the delegates were able to take away so much from their hard work and effort.
Now I am more than prepared to bring back the information I learnt at the Forum and share it within the wider community. The first step to the change that we all want to see is taking small steps within our own home to reduce our carbon footprint. It’s not hard, all it takes is a few minor changes to our behaviour and we can make a difference. I now think twice about stuff like leaving the lights on in my bedroom when I’m not there. I am also trying to start an Environment Committee on the school council so that we can educate more people our age because, after all, we are the ones who have to live with the consequences of our actions in the years to come.
Submitted by Sarah on 28 May 2008 13:14:38
I ran a workshop for the YEF in 2007. If you would like help to get more sustainability and environmental stuff happening in your school curriculum, contact your school's Education for Sustainability advisor (see contact details on www.e4s.org.nz) or your Enviroschools facilitator (see www.enviroschools.org.nz) There are now sustainability achievement standards that schools are using in Geo/Bio/Economics/Technology or some schools use these standards in year-long NCEA courses in sustainability.
Sounds like the Forum this year was fantastic.
Roger Waddell.
Education for Sustainability advisor to schools.
Submitted by RogerWaddell on 30 May 2008 11:27:06
Not only did I learn the importance of working towards a sustainable future for New Zealand but I also had the fantastic opportunity to meet like minded teenagers from all around the country who I developed strong bonds with. At times, especially when our deadline was fast approaching, we tended to get stressed out and snappy but as our facilitator Roz put it, in the real world you have to work as a team so you might as well learn how to do it now. This is a lesson that not a lot of people our age get to learn and all of the delegates were able to take away so much from their hard work and effort.online movies
Submitted by Gnusavui on 27 November 2008 20:50:38