The Youth Environmental Leadership Kids (aka the YEL! Kids) Martina, Daniela, Soren, and Alucard raise awareness around environmental issues and take action. Let’s learn how we can come together to help bring about change.
The Youth Environmental Leadership Kids (aka the YEL! Kids) Martina, Daniela, Soren, and Alucard raise awareness around environmental issues and take action. Let’s learn how we can come together to help bring about change.
The Activators
S1 EP08, YEL! Kids and the Youth Environmental Leadership Club
[INTRODUCTION]
Leo: Welcome to The Activators!: A Kids Podcast About Activism.
I’m your host, Leo Abelo Perry!
On this podcast, we want to celebrate and amplify kids who are activating social change by using what they love to spread more love. Social change means providing opportunities for people and communities to recognize what’s wrong and do something about it, for the betterment of humanity.
And on today’s show we’re talking to the YEL! Kids: Martina, Daniela, Soren, and Alucard. They are members of the Youth Environmental Leadership Kids and they go to my school!
First, how are you today, on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being “things are rough” and 5 being “too good”? I’d say I’m a 4.
No matter how you’re feeling, it’s all okay. I’m glad that you’re here with me today. And did you know doing a self-check can help you to understand how ready you are to learn new things or meet new people.
For now, you can just sit back, relax, and get ready to be inspired.
[MEET THE YEL! KIDS]
Leo: Today’s guests are Martina, Daniela, Soren, and Alucard of the Youth Environmental Leadership Kids, or YEL! Kids for short!
They lead an environmental club at school that focuses on raising awareness around environmental issues and then taking action.
While you listen…, think about what common interests you share with the kids at your school or in your community. Maybe there’s an opportunity there to work together and you can help make the world better by starting at your school!
The YEL! Kids are already on the right track! And I can’t wait for you to learn more about their work!
Here’s my interview with the YEL! kids.
[INTERVIEW WITH THE YEL! KIDS]
Martina: Okay. Okay. Well, my name is Martina and I am 12 years old.
Daniela: My name is Daniela and I am 12 years.
Alucard: Uh, my name is Alucard and I'm 12.
Soren: And my name's Soren and I am 11.
Leo: Very cool. Very cool. Okay. How are you feeling? We use one to five: One being the worst. I want to go back to bed. Five being great.
Martina: Um, like a three or four right now.
Daniela: Same, I'm a three or four.
Alucard: Um, four.
Leo: Yeah, yeah?
Soren: I mean, I'm not going to lie. I kind of do want some more sleep, but probably three.
Leo: Okay. Okay. Uh, What are some of your hobbies?
Martina: I really like drawings. One of my favorite things to do recently. If they're getting into reading again, um, watching TV or playing with my cats,
Daniela: Um, for me, it would have to be painting or going on jogs, if not walking my dog.
Alucard: Um, I say playing and drawing.
Leo: Yeah. What do you like to play?
Alucard: Um, either. I play like either toys and or outside or, um, devices.
Leo: Yeah. Okay.
Soren: Well, uh, yeah. Uh, do you have, uh, Leo? Do you play Roblox? Yeah. Uh, well I make Roblox games. I'm right now working on, uh, a Roblox game, and I'm not going to tell you much, besides the title. It is a Roblox Acorn game called The Great Eggventures.
Leo: That sounds very fun. Yeah.
Soren: And other hobbies I do is I love to bake a lot, like just last night, uh, I made some brownies and they turned out pretty good.
Leo: Oh, okay. Can you, uh, tell us about your organization?
Martina: Okay. Well in the YEL! club, it's basically where we talk and discuss about environmentalist matters, like climate change or plastic pollution. Or public health, things like that. And we see how we can bring attention to it. Or try to talk about it in the club.
Daniela: It's a Youth Environmental Leadership club and we call it YEL! for short. And what we do in it is we technically, we speak about everything that's going on, especially to bring out the word about like everything that is going on, like with the really bad air pollution stuff like that.
Alucard: Um, I remember the invites when they first picked the name, so I was interested in it. And I also really liked animals.
Soren: I think we're extremely lucky to have this club here because, uh, for a reason I joined and I get, this is off the question, but I'll get to that in like two minutes and a second hour.
I don't know. I don't know what I'm saying anymore, but basically I saw people. We have a new system where all food waste could be composted and I saw people messing it up and not giving. And not giving the about it. And I was just like, it made me mad. So I, I started helping out since the first day.
And now why on, was it the six week, fifth week after that. But for kids that don't have this at their school, uh, first of all, you need one and second of all, It, what the club is, is since it's my first year doing this, and I'm a sixth grader now, and it's only for middle school. It is, um, club about like basically what they said before us, uh, you know, abolition and environmental stuff.
Uh, plastics, uh, when I really focus in is single use plastics and, yeah, I really focused on single use plastics and composting, a subject that I've been into since I was three.
Soren: Okay. When I was four and five years old for Halloween, I dressed up like the recycling bin.
Leo: Oh, my gosh.
Soren: Like I think one day I'll have, my mom sends you that picture. I was like a recycling bin. Like it was like a cardboard costume with like blue duck tape all over it in like the recycling logo.
You know, that trash man that was literally it.
Leo: We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, the YEL! Kids each share why they felt that joining this club was such an important step. Be right back!
[BREAK]
Leo: Welcome back to The Activators! And my conversation with YEL! Kids club members, Martina, Daniela, Soren, and Alucard. They’re a group of middle school students in California with a mission to raise awareness and action around climate justice.
Leo: Okay. Why. Why did you join YEL?
Martina: Okay. Well, for me personally, I joined YEL because in sixth grade we are stuck in, well, not really stuck, but we were still in a pandemic and it was this like strong time of the pandemic. And I saw the sign for YEL club and I read, it said, uh, like, uh, Youth Environmental Leadership.
And I was immediately interested because since like fourth grade, we had a project in school that really like opened my mind.
Martina: It was very hard to create something for the school, so the school can be more green like me personally, with my group, we did a garden, so we'll all like rebuild a garden. And then how like the water system are eco-friendly, and I really like opened my mind, like, “Hey, this is like, like really cool. I should like to learn more about this.”
Daniela: Um, for me, the reason why I joined YEL, um, cause my grandma, she has like really, really bad asthma and my baby cousin, um, She, as she gets like really sick due to the air pollution. Um, and for me, I have like when like a bunch of climate change and stuff starts to happen, I got really bad respiratory issues.
And, um, like ever since I was little, like I cared about planet a lot. And especially when I saw that, like so many people were dumping trash and it was like going into the ocean and like harming animals. Like I wanted to do something about it, but I couldn't until in sixth grade when I came to the school, um, they put out a flyer, um, of the Youth Environmental Leadership.
And instantly I really wanted to join.
Leo: Wow.
Alucard: Um, well I think this is really important because basically, if we don't, global warming continues and the earth gets hotter and hotter, and Antartica is, uh, um, melting slowly.
Leo: Yeah.
Alucard: Oh yeah. And it was a lot of animals that needed our help. And basically if we don't see. Some of them are really important. Like bees, which you may think are bad because they sting you, but are actually pollinating flowers and plants, which are basically if we don't have any plants or for food changes breaks.
Soren: I mean, I, a hundred percent agree with that. But I also have my own reasons. It wasn't, I was like real, I I'm still young, but when I was like, when I was like four and five, I kept seeing trash all over the neighborhood. Like one time I walked down our street and this was recently I walked down the street and I saw, like, I saw like a McDonald's large drink.
Um, and then another time, it also just like makes me mad, like with some companies that will pretend and put on a mask and say they, their products could be recycled. Like for example, some Dunkin donuts cups that I've saw seen, uh, some of them are,actually all of them are made of styrofoam and, last time I checked style from can't be recycled unless I just missed like a thousand years.
Last time I took style from can't be recycled, and it was just making me mad at like these companies, but can like that have so much money and they can afford to produce the, the right materials and the ones that can save the earth. It's like Dunkin Donuts. They have like, I bet they have like over a couple million dollars they can afford to, uh, supply us with, uh, with all paper cups or, or all biodegradable cups.
But no, they use the supplies from styrofoam and they can save like 31 cents. Makes me mad.
Leo: Okay. Okay. How do you picture the world in the future?
Martina: Okay. Well, if things don't change, like if we don't change things right now or in the next two years, I think that. And the sky is going to be like gray, like right now in Los Angeles, if you like, if you stand on a tall building or something and you look around, like on the horizon line, it's gray, it's not blue anymore.
It's gray. And to me, that's just so sad. So I think it's going to be gray. There's going to be less, more plastic in the ocean than fish and like, not as many trees and a lot of like company buildings. That's how I picture it.
Daniela: That's same for me, because what Martina said in the beginning, like if we don't fix like anything now, like let's just say in like 15 years, like half of the planet's going to probably be filled with like a bunch of plastic, like just like me going to the beach.
Like I can already see so much plastic in the ocean and it's just. Crazy. Like how many people like really don't care that like, by all the plastic that they, that they throw on it, like, it becomes a big deal. Cause we get like a lot of air pollution and it's like, it could harm us like really bad.
Leo: I have no words.
Alucard: I'd say instead of the dark scary, terrifying, ending, the good entertaining one. We will care more about them, environment, things that are supposed to be thrown away won't be used, like plastic, there will be more trees, more environments animals also.
Antarctica will start growing again. Yeah. Fish, fish, and other endangered animals won't they'll start growing back again. The population then.
Leo: Yeah. Yeah. Wow, no words, mic, no words.
Soren: I know this part is a maximum imaginary, but if I like just grew 50 feet tall, it was like stomp on all the factories. I just send them to the end of the world. That's where they deserve to go. Oh, yeah. And that was just the, that's just what I dream of doing if I grew 50 feet tall.
But no, when I actually, want to happen is I know how to fisher boats instead of fisher boats, looking for fish. Well, if they use dig out plastic. Like, I feel like if he can cause like, there's like, there's more plastics than anyone can imagine in there. Well, I feel like there's more plastic in the in the oceans than there are, humans. I don't know..
I don't know, know if that's true, but it feels like it is at this point. Like all these plastic islands, all these stories of whales dying because they eat too much plastic. I don't know if that's true, but if it is that, and also like, there would be like no people producing harmful stuff like cigarettes or stuff that don't benefit our environment.
And all the C all the corporation CEO's like that, uh, would be locked in a solitary confinement for life. But seriously, uh, it would just be a world where skies are blue and no one's polluting
Leo: Okay. Okay. No matter if you're already an activator or you're just getting started, I want you to stand up and be in your superhero pose and we're all going to give a big activator cheer to Daniela, Martina.
Yeah, just everyone. Like, yeah. Soren, Alucard like everyone. Okay. You and your superhero pose, are you write three? Okay. 1, 2, 3.
ACTIVATORS!
Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye.
[CONCLUSION]
Leo: It was so great to speak with Martina, Daniela, Alucard, and Soren about all of the amazing work they’re doing through the Youth Environmental Leadership Club. YEL! Kids is amazing!
Here are some things I learned and lessons we can take with us as we make the world a better place:
Number One. All these kids have a common interest to help save our earth and they’re working together at the school level to make a change at the world level. Are you part of a school club where you can just chat, hang out with people who believe in similar things, and then come up with ways to make a change at your school!?
Number Two. Do you know what composting is? Composting is the natural process of recycling organic matter, things like leaves and food scraps, into a really important fertilizer that can help make better soil which makes more healthy plants.
Otherwise, that stuff is just thrown into the landfill which REALLY impacts our environment in a bad way because the methane (a gas) the trash produces is suuuuuper bad for the earth – like, a lot worse than driving around in our gas-filled cars.
The YEL! Kids set up a composting system at our school and they compost over 80 lbs per day, 400 lbs per week, or 1600 lbs per month! In grizzly bear terms, the YEL! Kids are composting the weight of 4 female grizzly bears every month!! And that, put into pollution terms – every month, our school is saving greenhouse gas emissions (bad gas for the earth) equal to someone driving in a car for a whole year!!!!!! Way to go YEL! Kids.
Number Three. Do you ever think about the things you purchase or use on a daily basis that aren’t recyclable or compostable? Look around wherever you’re sitting or standing right now and spot three different things - I see a water bottle , a basketball, and headphones. Now think about the process of how they’re made AND what happens to them when you’re done with them!
Yes, companies should and need to be better. AND - we can take personal action in our everyday decisions, too. Can you bring your own water bottle instead of using plastic water bottles? Do you have a compost system in your home? Think about the things you use in your everyday life and how you can change your daily behavior to help save our world. Like. Literally.
[CLOSING]
Leo: Thank you to the YEL! Kids for joining us today. Martina, Daniela, Alucard, and Soren, thank you all so much!
The Activators was written by me, Leo Abelo Perry, (with a little help from my mom). Our show is edited and produced by Matthew Winner with help from Chad Michael Snavely and the team at Sound On Studios. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
You can write to us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com. And check out our other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
See you again next week for another episode of The Activators!