Students Doing It For Themselves!

Worldchanging has a cool article on The University of Canterbury Students’ Association, which is hosting a green orientation week along with other sustainable initiatives. It’s really awesome to continue to see different student groups at different educational institutions encouraging their schools to go green. My favorite initiative is the “Eco-My-Flat”:

Incorporating community-based social marketing techniques, the team developed an 'Eco-My-Flat' competition. It is to be run over March to promote sustainable student lifestyles, with a workshop each week covering the themes of energy, waste, transport and consumption. Research by Canadian environmental psychologist Doug MacKenzie-Mohr shows that methods advocating change for sustainability need to address specific barriers to behaviour change using a variety of techniques. Therefore, the competition not only gives information, but also guidance from a professional facilitator and a chance to learn from discussion with their peers at the workshops, as well as incentives in the form of prizes.

Youth Activism Rocks

Great heads up from YP4, When Abstinence Fails, High School Students Demand Maternity Leave by Laura Hadden points out a group of high school students in Denver demanding maternity leaver from their high school. For more info check out the Denver Post article. One of the most brain busting things about this issue is how worried many people are about schools encouraging teen pregnancy. Although, I think it’s safe to say that most people would be better served to wait till they are more mature before having kids, it seems when people are asking for maternity leave encouraging teen pregnancy is no longer the issue. We should be making it as easy as possible for all youth, including pregnant youth, to get an education.

(Image Credits: Denver Post)