Sign Up for IslandWire

Recipients of the 2025 Brower Youth Awards (left to right): Inaam Chattha, Sophie Tipper, Kyle Trefny, Joey Wu, and Lily YangLiu.

Dear Friend,

This month, we’re reflecting on the importance of centering the next generation’s voices in the work for a just and sustainable future. Last week, we demonstrated that commitment at the Brower Youth Awards ceremony in Berkeley, California. Hosted by Earth Island’s New Leaders Initiative, the evening celebration of young environmental leadership was filled with hope, energy, and connection. As one guest shared, it was “a much-needed moment of hope in these dark times.” From the eight-year-old in the audience asking what the awardees hoped for Earth “in ten billion years,” to the awardees calling for climate education and community action, the night perfectly captured why Earth Island strives to cultivate and support young leaders working to protect the planet we all share.

In community,

Sumona Majumdar

In a stunning move, the Canadian government recently heeded the advice of marine mammal experts, Canadian activists, and the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) and denied the notorious theme park, Marineland, Ontario, a permit that would allow it to export its remaining 30 captive beluga whales to a large entertainment park in China. Marineland, closed since last year, has subdivided the park property and wishes to build condominiums on the site. But it cannot do so while the 30 belugas are still in the facility. IMMP and other activists have been working with the Whale Sanctuary Project to find new homes for the belugas in seaside sanctuaries, not concrete tanks, but Marineland is threatening to euthanize them instead. Learn more about the issue and how you can take action here.

Come celebrate the wonder of birds with the California Institute for Community, Art, and Nature (Cal I CAN) and Golden Gate Bird Alliance at the 4th Annual Berkeley Bird Festival on Sunday, October 19. This free, all-day community event will run from 12 to 5 p.m. PT at the David Brower Center, in Berkeley, California, and will include birding field trips to various parks in Berkeley in the morning through the afternoon (pre-registration required). The event will also include bird chalk art, family-friendly activities, bird-related lectures, a film screening, our Winged Wonderment variety program, local exhibitors, and even some special bird-themed art performances!

Register

Serengeti Watch and its Tanzanian partner, Serengeti Preservation Foundation, held a major workshop for its Maasai Women’s Dairy Program in September. One hundred women attended the three-day program aimed at providing women the training and resources they need to produce income, improve food security, reduce herd size, and reduce stress on ecosystems and wildlife. High milk-yielding cows were donated to five women’s cooperatives that participated in the workshop. Serengeti pastoralists are struggling with a finite amount of land and impacts of climate change that have caused many to fall deeper into poverty. This program gives women the resources to increase their dairy production and earn income for their children’s education. Email info@serengetiwatch.org to learn more.

Project Coyote will be celebrating wolves and their important role in North American ecosystems during Wolf Awareness Week from October 19 to 25. Engage with daily wolf posts on socials and join a special webinar, Wolf Recovery: What’s Changed, What Hasn’t, on Tuesday, October 2 at 12 p.m. PT/ 3 p.m. ET for an inspiring conversation about the past, present, and future of wolf recovery in the United States. Support wolves by purchasing limited-edition wolf-themed apparel through Project Coyote’s FLOAT campaign between October 20 and 27. FLOAT boosts awareness and funding for nonprofits by contributing $8 from every sale to a weekly cause.

Join Plastic Pollution Coalition for the Plastic Pollution Solutions Expo at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, CA, on Friday, November 7, from 1 to 4 p.m. PT, and get an exclusive look at solutions that have the potential to turn the tide on plastic pollution through systems change. Get your tickets here. Hear more about these solutions the next day, Saturday, November 8, as global thought leaders address the question How Do We Solve Plastic Pollution by 2040? at TEDxGreatPacificGarbagePatch. Sign up here to tune into the livestreamed event or find archived talks post-event.

Get Tickets

Mississippi Farm to School Network’s recent Coast Regional Networking Meeting in Biloxi was a wonderful opportunity to connect with farmers and child nutrition directors. Attendees enjoyed sampling plant-based dishes prepared by a local chef and sipping refreshing blueberry juice from a local farm. The meeting sparked meaningful conversations around local procurement in schools, highlighting opportunities to bring more Mississippi-grown foods into cafeterias. We also welcomed participants who were new to the Farm to School Network and excited to learn more. We look forward to continuing to grow these connections statewide at future regional networking meetings!

Photo courtesy Washington State Dept. of Ecology.

Washington State’s Department of Ecology recently conducted the first drill of its new public health assessment (PHA) unit, as recommended by the Health and Safety Task Force, chaired by ALERT Project Director Riki Ott. The PHA unit will be used in all hazardous disasters, including oil spills, to protect Washington’s 8.1 million residents by triggering action to mitigate long-term harm from oil-chemical exposures in real-time. In other news, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has written to ALERT Project saying it “plans to conduct an inquiry” into a complaint filed by the project in June against four oil dispersant manufacturers that have failed to clearly report the harms their products can wreak on humans and the environment in their safety data sheets.