“Kids are ultimately the ones who are inheriting the earth.”
~ Ally Maize
By Ginger Brashinger
that she would mind if it did! In fact, her mission is to make the world as “green” as possible.
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The force behind “GYM-Green Youth Movement,” Maize planted the seeds of this organization at the tender age of 15. It’s blossomed into a nonprofit group of con- cerned teens who want to take an active role in bettering their world.
“I was learning about the environ- ment in my science classes,” Maize said, “and we watched An Incon- venient Truth. I realized I hadn’t known the magnitude of the prob- lems in the world.”
Maize began to pay more atten- tion to environmental issues, check- ing out news over the Internet and reading articles about the earth’s ecological dilemmas. Through dis- cussions with her parents, initially about the type of car she would drive, and then brainstorming with
lly Maize is a young woman who doesn’t let the grass grow under her feet—not
her parents about how she could make a difference, Maize con- ceived the Green Youth Move- ment.
Now, she’s driving her hybrid vehi- cle all over the city. Whether it’s a Girl Scout meeting, a high school seminar, or a Head Start program, Maize is on a tear to get the word out to as many young people as possible that they can and must make a difference.
“I cater to whoever the audience is,” Maize said. “I spoke to a kinder- garten class in Beverly Hills about garden planting. I’ll go back there on Earth Day to see what they’ve done. Some groups get pledge sheets they can put on their refrig- erators with 10 different things they can pledge to change for the ben- efit of the environment. We make it really kid-friendly.”
Her reaction to those who may think global warming has been overstated?
ADistinctive style 77
“Even though it might not be of the magnitude it was stated, it’s still a huge problem,” Maize noted. “It’s going to be that large of a problem if we don’t change anything.”
The goal of GYM is to educate as many young people as possible. Although her time with the group is limited, she plans to pass the torch to younger group members when she moves on to Emory University in Georgia in the Fall, “the greenest campus in the United States.”
“Our group caters to kids because we are ultimately the ones who are inheriting the earth,” Maize said passionately. “It’s important that we’re the ones who step up now. Instead of trying to change habits when we’re older, we try to instill the right habits in the kids’ daily lives now.”
www.greenyouthmovement.org
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