Human Nature Projects Ontario (HNP) is a local, youth-led non-profit environmental organization working to raise awareness, provide education and empower the next generation of change-makers to take action.
The organization was founded in January 2021 by students Srija Das, Theo Liu and Muhammad Ansar. Their goals included educating Ontarians on the pressing environmental concerns we are facing and creating a plan for sustainable development. Since 2021, HNP has grown to include 37 executive members made up of high school and university students.
“We value the power of the community so people can become more environmentally conscious within their own communities and beyond, in order to advocate,” events co-director, Cindy Zhu said.
With climate change already causing more frequent and severe extreme weather events, the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and current plans to address climate change are not ambitious enough to limit warming to 1.5°C — a threshold scientists believe is necessary to avoid even more catastrophic impacts.
These stats can feel overwhelming, but HNP believes it’s better to start now with actionable solutions locally. Many environmental groups like HNP are urging communities and governments to accelerate the global transition to clean energy and reach “net-zero” emissions as soon as possible.
“Looking into our future, we don’t have that much time realistically to fix this, but we must start somewhere. Start now. Start today. It’s difficult, but make the effort, because we don’t have that much time.”
Executive co-director Srija Das
There are many environmental groups doing important work in Toronto, but what makes HNP stand out as a model is the executive team of youth leaders who are recruiting volunteers from local high schools. These initiatives and events give local youth a fresh look at the possibilities for transforming the space they live in.
Last month, The Home Pitch attended HNP’s Community Clean-Up event in High Park, where 170 local high school students (and some residents) volunteered in person to remove garbage, discarded plastics and even old mattresses and tents — filling over 200 bags. HNP looked to local sustainable businesses to sponsor prizes, and to engage the maximum number of students possible.
For the past two years, opportunities to volunteer in person have been minimal and HNP believes that the successful event turnout shows how eager students are to get out into their communities and make a difference for the environment. One of the requirements for Ontario Secondary School students to graduate is the completion of 40 hours of community involvement, to encourage civic responsibility and to strengthen their communities, according to the Toronto District School Board’s fact-sheet.
“The Community Clean-Up was such a great event that I’ve had people from my school and from other schools reaching out to ask me about general positions and executive positions,” marketing and social media director, Alina Riabova said.
For students looking for upcoming volunteer opportunities, HNP has two events planned: their Gardening event on June 12, which is intended to help local youth connect with the environment and better understand the importance of nature. They also have an Eco-Career Webinar Series planned for June 25, which is designed to educate youth interested in career fields that would help the environment.
For those looking to get involved in the work HNP is doing, attend events or learn about the pressing environmental issues we face right now, Riabova recommends signing up for their newsletter. More info on upcoming events will also be posted on their Instagram page closer to the dates.
In Toronto, proposed solutions to the city’s TransformTO Net-Zero Strategy have been to switch to zero-emission vehicles and promote active transportation and public transit — while improving public transit and cycling infrastructure, according to students who recently participated in the University of Toronto’s ‘Living Lab’ course.
With provincial elections coming up on June 2, we asked HNP’s youth executive team to share their thoughts on solutions and predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, lowering the voting age to 16 and how major parties plan to tackle our environmental crisis.
Back in December 2021, a group of Canadian youth made history by filing a court challenge to lower the Federal voting age. HNP believes the key environmental issues of climate change, environmental degradation and social justice have serious consequences for young people, now and in the future — issues that many youth feel they should have the right to vote on.
“The environment has a lot of different sides and it’s multifaceted and there’s a lot of intersectionalities. So even if a party is amazing to the environment, if they are racist, I will not be supporting it because I think that people are as much a part of the environment. We need to care about people,” Zhu said.
HNP’s youth executive team raised concerns that neglecting the environment affects Indigenous communities disproportionately. Canadian environmental publication The Narwhal has diligently reported on projects like the Site C dam and the Trans Mountain pipeline, which challenge Canada’s commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Canadian environmental law charity Ecojustice reported on how environmental racism impacts the Aamjiwnaang First Nation community and how Beze Gray, an Anishnaabe land/water protector is one of seven young people suing the Doug Ford government for weakening Ontario’s 2030 climate target.
“When we talk about environmental advocacy, it’s important to connect it to Indigenous issues which are often overlooked. Youth who are of age to vote: research what their plans are to support Indigenous communities — without those proper resources, there are big devastating impacts to these communities.”
Marketing and social media director Alina Riabova
Looking at the province’s platforms, the Green party leads the way with their comprehensive proposal for tackling a wide range of environmental issues across the board. In comparison, the NDP platform has a net-zero plan for 2050, with few details on how it will achieve this, while the Liberal platform commits to cutting greenhouse gasses in half by 2030 with some actionable items — but also relies heavily on federal initiatives to achieve emission reductions. The PC’s 2022 budget was released without a chapter dedicated to environmental policy.
“If a political party is known not to respect people, then I highly doubt they will respect the environment,” Zhu said.
Some of the other issues that HNP brought up during our conversation, were Toronto’s complicated recycling system, how some garbage and recycling are collected together and how Canada sends its waste to developing countries — which are all problematic according to the youth executive team.
“Even at my school where we have separate recycling and garbage bins, at the end of the day the caretakers just put it together and that’s certainly disappointing,” finance co-director, Eden Lee said.
Lee believes that many people are putting in the effort to clean and sort their recyclables properly, but they may end up in factories in developing countries where they are turned into fabrics. “I don’t think we should be dumping our waste into other countries and we have to be able to manage our own waste,” Lee said.
HNP also wants to start a petition to address the issue of animal species at risk, which are threatened or endangered in Ontario because of habitat loss and degradation. An audit released in November 2021 from Ontario’s Auditor General called “Protecting and Recovering Species at Risk,” revealed that the ministry of environment automatically approved all development projects that may harm species at risk.
According to a project by The David Suzuki Foundation on “Species at Risk” things can change when people take action:
The good news is that when we have convinced government to take measures to protect critical habitat, we have seen a turnaround in wildlife numbers. That means there is hope, but we need to stay vigilant and keep up the public support for our most vulnerable species.
“If you are looking at parties you shouldn’t just consider yourself, you should consider other people, animals and everything living on our planet,” Das said.
HNP believes that individual effort can lead to larger community action that can then power global massive movements and that anyone can alter the trajectory of the climate crisis by pushing for governmental policies to hold corporate polluters accountable.
With the climate crisis having a profound impact on all human and animal rights, many may feel overwhelmed by where to start. Riabova pointed to actions anyone can take to make an impact:
“I think it’s important that we don’t undermine the power that each of us holds on the individual level and even by making small, collective changes — whether it’s reducing our screen time/electricity usage, or even choosing to bike to the movies instead of by car — we can slowly push for more sustainability and incite those around us to follow suit,”
