By Nicole Findlay
Alysia Garmulewicz, a first year student in the Environmental Studies program was among 10 Canadian students to receive Environment Canada’s Cambio Merit scholarship at the Montreal Conference on Climate Change.
Garmulewicz won the $500 scholarship for a conference targeting youth she organized and ran this past July.
“I first became passionate about climate change on an expedition to Antarctic in 2002, when I was 15,” said Garmulewicz. “Growing up with a very supportive environmental family, this was a catalyst that led me to organize the Canadian Youth Climate Change Conference (YC3).”
The 85 youth attendees from across Canada were treated to keynote presentations by Stephane Dion, federal minister of the environment; David Anderson, minister of parliament for the Liberal party; Henry Hengeveld, Environment Canada’s senior science advisor on climate change; Elizabeth May, environmental activist with the Sierra Club of Canada; and Severn Cullis-Suzuki, environmental activist and member of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Special Advisory Panel.
The four-day conference also included workshops, roundtable discussions, a resource fair and action planning sessions that presented the spectrum of disciplines, such as science, politics, social justice, economics, education, health and technology, that affect climate change.
Garmulewicz working with her youth steering committee through Changing Climates Environmental Society is following up on the initiatives the conference engendered. She has created a website, www.yc3.net to provide a forum for information and discussion on climate change and is working on developing mentorship opportunities for youth interested in pursuing careers in sustainability.
While this may seem like a daunting amount of responsibility, she is also completing her first semester in environment studies at Carleton.
“I plan to use the Cambio award for a further educational opportunity, or school. I like the environmental studies program at Carleton because it is flexible and interdisciplinary,” said Garmulewicz. “I also like Ottawa because it has great environmental organizations and opportunities for government and international involvement.”
The future is bright.