Young and Green on the Environment Scene

The following is a feature story from the Department of Environment and Labour to mark Environment Week, June 2-8.

If you asked students to describe the perfect summer job, their answer would likely include fair wages, a chance to work with other young people and the opportunity to make a difference in the world. Time outside in the summer weather would be a bonus, too.

That's probably why the Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps has been such a successful program for 13 years. It meets all those criteria. Hundreds of bright-eyed Nova Scotians aged 17 to 24 have enjoyed paid summer employment while getting their first taste of environmental work in the real world thanks to this program.

"Every year these young people help energize our department with their fresh approach while doing valuable work," says Environment and Labour David Morse. "I'm glad to have them on board."

Each year community organizers interested in providing environment-related employment to young Nova Scotians develop and submit project proposals to the Youth Conservation Corps. Each project must employ a team of two to four youth between the ages of 17 and 24. A selection committee decides which projects to support for the summer, and the corps works with the successful community partners to hire local youth for summer employment.

This year 22 successful applicants will employ 49 workers in community environmental projects spread all over Nova Scotia. From acid-rain studies in Sherbrooke to organic gardening in Amherst, the projects cover a wide spectrum of environmental issues.

"Young people today are very aware of problems with the environment and they want to do something to help," said Heather Paquet co-ordinator of the Youth Conservation Corps. "That's why our program is a perfect summer job for so many of them."

The Youth Conservation Corps also administers a popular exchange program that enables 12 young people from Atlantic Canada to participate in a cross-cultural environmental exchange with young people from Costa Rica, in Central America.

Called the Environmental Leadership Program, it is the result of a partnership among the Youth Conservation Corps, Canada World Youth, the Conservation Corps of Newfoundland and Labrador and Taller Internacional de Servicios, a non-profit environmental and community development organization in Costa Rica.

Also in the works is the Youth Environment Challenge Program which will allow young people to propose and administer their own environmental projects without being sponsored by a larger organization.

The Nova Scotia Department Environment and Labour oversees the award-winning program with help from the Office of Economic Development, the Department of Community Services, Clean Nova Scotia, Human Resource Development Canada (HRDC), and the Atlantic Coastal Action Program.

June 2 to 8 is Environment Week across Canada. This year's theme is The Environment -- It's In Your Hands.

For more information about the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour and the Youth Conservation Corps, call 902-424-4924 or visit our Web site at <a href="http://www.gov.ns.ca/enla/ess/ycc/">www.gov.ns.ca/enla/ess/ycc/<a/>.