Green Teen

Today is Earth Day! Environmental activist Jordán Howard says it’s easy being “green”—and teaching others to help the environment too. Jordán is a leader of the Green Ambassadors, a youth environmental program based at her school, Environmental Charter High School in Los Angeles. The 17-year-old activist has given presentations at events across the country. She was a winner of the Weather Channel’s 2008 Forecast Earth Summit Contest. She is being featured today on Nickelodeon's Big Green Help. She is also profiled in a new book called Girls Gone Green. She spoke with Current Events about her green activities.

Current Events: How did you become an environmental activist?

Jordán Howard: In 10th grade, I was in the Green Ambassadors class. … I was inspired by the solutions, [such as] solar energy, wind energy. … I felt it was my job to teach others, especially my peers, about how important it is, and how easy it is, to be green.

CE: What do the Green Ambassadors do?

Jordán: Green Ambassadors is a youth-empowerment program that teaches teenagers like me how to be agents of [change in] our community. It used to be an after-school club. It’s now a mandated class for all sophomores, and we get college credit. We do a lot of extracurricular things. We planted 60 different fruit trees [at our school]. We went door to door, and we planted 40 fruit trees in our community. … It’s us, as the kids, actually doing the projects, doing everything. … We have sponsors. … Our goal is to have [the class] in every school in the U.S. and then in the world. We want to teach [people] that the solutions can start in school.

CE: What is Green Adventures and where you have traveled?

Jordán: Every year the Green Ambassadors chooses a destination where they can step out of their comfort zone and learn and experience another culture, while performing an ecological research project, learning about sustainability. They bring all this information back to Los Angeles where they share and implement their experiences. In July, we went to Costa Rica. … We stayed on an eco farm on the Caribbean coast for about three days. All the food we ate came out of the garden, from the spices to the potatoes, … and it was vegetarian…I was surprised.

CE: Tell us about your recent activities.

Jordán: I was one of the first teens to present at the Bioneers Conference. It’s a world-renowned conference. It connects all the environmental leaders in the U.S. … I presented about what inspired me to become a Green Ambassador and why it’s important for people to be green. … Currently at my school I am training 20–30 high school students to give a presentation to 20 schools in May about the harms of disposable plastics.

CE: What was the most exciting event you’ve spoken at?

Jordán: The Angelenos Go Green for Obama fund-raiser. … [It] was environmentalists and Hollywood’s A-listers. … I was the only teenager let in the building. Hillary Clinton was the keynote speaker. I opened the event, and she spoke to me after I had spoken. She told me she was very impressed with me and made me promise I would keep on doing what I’m doing with the environment and with the Green Ambassadors.

CE: What’s the most exciting project you’ve worked on?

Jordán: I directed a [student-created] film titled A Day in the Life … about practical changes that people of all ages can make in their homes to be green. There were about 12 of us on crew, and we worked with 3 mentors. … We worked with professional actors who volunteered their time. We took the film to seven different venues throughout L.A., so probably over 500 people saw it. It was great. Now I want to be a professional film director. 

CE: What advice can you give to youth who want to help the environment?

Jordán: Start small, with simple changes, whether it be fluorescent lightbulbs or turning off the water when you brush your teeth. And that change will build, and you’ll want to do more. That's what I did. Don’t just be the change. Teach other people.

Photo: Jordán Howard (Jennifer Esperanza)

Comments

[Kevin Parvizi]

I love reading about younger people taking action for the planet. This is the planet our generation has to live on, so take care of it! Happy Earth Day to all!

[South Decatur Elementry - 4th Grade - Group 5]

We think the article is great. Going green will help the environment. If we all help out, we can make a difference. We all can help by planting trees and other plants. We could help pick up trash, too.

[Albert Yu]

In my opinion, Earth Day is great. It reminds us to protect the earth and our environment and recognize the importance of environmental protection. We can help our environment by planting trees and reducing CO2 emissions. That can make the earth more beautiful than before.