6 months ago world leaders meeting in Copenhagen for the UN summit declared climate change to be the greatest challenge facing this next generation.

This weekend at the G20 summit in Toronto? Barely a mention. 

Some voices on climate change and the G20 Summit:

Phil Radford, the executive director of Greenpeace USA: "It is like a meal where you ask your friends to come and bring a dish,"
he said. "Some countries came with things that were half-baked.  Some
countries like Canada came with food that was rotten and then others
showed up with nothing at all," said Radford.

Kim Carstensen, leader of the WWF Global Climate Initiative: the G20 failed to agree on initiatives that would provide the world’s
poorest countries with the funding needed to cope with climate change. "The role of G20 is still, I think, in development and there are
tensions between countries like China, India and the other emerging
economies who want to see climate and other issues dealt with in the
U.N. and some of the big developed countries who would like to see more
discussion about climate in the G20 setting."

According to Ron Johnson of the EnvironmentaLIST, he summarized what was being hoped for out of the G8/G20 summits on climate change, and what actually happened:

By Jasmeet Sidhu

via thestar.blogs.com

I apologize for not being as active as I used to be on this blog, and especially apologize for this in light of the exciting events and gatherings on environment issues for the G20. I recently started working as a summer intern here at the Toronto Star, and I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on how the first week event, posted on the "New Kids on the Block" blog.

For the few of you who may not have seen the simultaneous incredible yet horrific images by the Star’s photo desk in the aftermath of the BP Oil Spill, I would recommend you check out the link here:

http://thestar.blogs.com/photodesk/2010/06/gulf-oil-spill-takes-toll-on-wildlife-.html

In the words of fellow Toronto Star intern Fabiola Carletti: "Remember what a picture is worth and apply it to
the BP oil spill."

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending Youth-in-Motion’s annual Top 20 Under 20 awards held at Arcadian Court in downtown Toronto, where I got to meet amazing young individuals and their stories and quests to try to make our world a better place.

From cancer survivors that have ridden with Lance Armstrong, to young music execs, to budding entrepreneurs and inventors, this year’s crop was astounding, having sat on the board of Youth-in-Motion as a youth member these past two years. I was particularly delighted and intrigued by a couple of the winners, and their passion to merge saving the environment with innovative scientific solutions.

This being a climate change blog, I thought that I would profile some of their work here, just to demonstrate the amazing things young scientists and environmentalists are doing to find creative and groundbreaking ways to make our lives more sustainable.

Here they are. For a full list and bios of this year’s Top 20 Under 20, click here. 

Emma Graham


Ottawa, ON


Age at time of award: 16

Living as a child in a heavily polluted environment in China, Emma found breathing difficult and provoked her wish to create safe, effective chemical products. By grade 9, now living in Canada and volunteering in a pharmaceutical company lab, she discovered her love of organic chemistry and soon won a Youth Science Team Canada Award. Since 2009, Emma been developing a natural pesticide enhancer to minimize pesticide-resistance rates in insects, and thereby decrease the overall environmental impact of pesticides. With several firsts in science competitions, Emma attended the 2010 Intel ISEF in California, winning a fourth place in the Environmental Management category.

Cody O’Neil


Kelowna, BC


Age at time of award: 17

With firsts at national and international science fairs, Cody’s ability to make effective presentations has been invaluable as he sheds new light on climate change. Cody’s research into this pressing issue takes an entirely new and to some, controversial, point of view: he examines the relationship between astronomy and climate change, a combination typically overlooked, if not ignored, by the scientific community. His theory of “Orbital Forcing” poses a relation between variations in the Earth’s orbit and long-term climatic change. It also attempts to correlate sunspot cycles to short-term climate change. Placing 1st overall at the 2009 Taiwan International Science Fair and the Australian National Youth Science Forum, Cody’s work is gaining acceptance and recognition.

David Castelino


Mississauga, ON


Age at time of award: 19

A 2008 Manning Innovation Achievement Award winner, David has shown a passion for science, innovation and community involvement since childhood. In 2006, David designed an efficient, affordable alternative to silicon solar cells—a dye-sensitized organic solar cell that uses photosynthesis to create electrical energy at a higher rate of return. Sol-Tile is David’s latest invention, a thin-film solar tile using solar paint made from organic dyes, which can easily fit existing roofing. This tile offers an inexpensive, sustainable source of renewable energy for use around the world. The Patent and Trademark Office Society has awarded David with a patent citation for his breakthrough invention.

Yan Yu


Calgary, AB


Age at time of award: 19

Yan Yu has put environmental innovation on the map at Queen’s University. As an intern with the Main Campus Resident’s Council (MCRC) Sustainability Office, Yan brought vision and energy to an indifferent Council. Successfully advocating the creation of a “Sustainability Coordinator” position, Yan promptly assumed the role and transformed MCRC into one of the greenest student governing bodies in Canada. He formed one of the largest environmental groups on campus, the MCRC Green Team, to tackle environmental issues like running a successful weekly campus clean-up crew, reducing cafeteria food wastage, installing indoor vegetable gardens, and establishing a worm-composting system in residence—the first of its kind in Canada. Here’s one measure of their success: in the first four months of the cleanup crew’s existence, recyclable waste collection increased by 57% over the whole of the previous year.