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photo: 2007 Brower Youth Awards winners @ the 2007 awards ceremony - Flikr NadineW.

Last Tuesday night I attended the 2009 Brower Youth Awards ceremony at San Francisco's Herbst Theater.

It was an AMAZING night!

The awards ceremony recognized and honored this year's winners of the Brower Youth Awards.

The annual Brower Youth Awards, established by the Earth Island Institute, honors six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Each winner is awarded $3000 and brought to San Francisco for the award week and a backcountry camping trip. The Brower Youth Awards not only promote the accomplishments of these young leaders but also invest in their continued success by providing ongoing access to resources, mentors, and opportunities to develop their leadership skills through Earth Island Institute’s New Leaders Initiative.



This year's winners are:

Robin Bryan, age 21 - from Winnipeg, MB
Robin helped save nearly one million acres of boreal forest from industrial logging.



Learn more about Ryan here.



Sierra Crane-Murdoch, age 21 - from Middlebury, VT
Sierra co-founded Power Past Coal to spotlight communities impacted by the mining, processing and burning of coal.



Learn more about Sierra here.



Alec Loorz, age 15 from Ventura, CA
Alec speaks to thousands about the impact of climate change on the next generation.



Learn more about Alec here.

Also check out an older blog post that I wrote about Alec, here.



Diana Lopez, age 20 - from San Antonio, TX
Diana co-created an organic garden at a site in San Antonio, Texas, as part of the struggle for environmental justice.



Learn more about Diana here.



Adarsha Shivakumar, age 16 - from Pleasant Hill, CA
Adarsha created Project Jatropha for a biofuel solution in rural India.



Learn more about Adarsha here.



Hai Vo, age 22 - from Irvine, CA
Hai Vo transformed the food purchasing and eating practices at universities across California.



Learn more about Hai here.


Rickshaw Films produced the short videos to introduce the rising eco stars and their work. These films were shown at the Brower Youth Awards ceremony.

In addition the films I really enjoyed the 2 performances by Youth Speaks. Founded in 1996, Youth Speaks is the leading nonprofit presenter of Spoken Word performance, education, and youth development programs in the country. Check out some of their work on the Youth Speaks YouTube channel.