These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.

Dane Currie is cleaning up for good. The 12-year-old from St Catharines, Ont., and his Thursday classmates, the Green Herons, got tired of doing beach clean-ups, so they figured out how to stop pollution at the source. They are 2025 winners of the I-SEA National Youth Climate Activism Award for their Earth Day video.

**Tell us about your clean-up project. **

Jordan Harbour on Lake Ontario is a dumping site for garbage by local fishermen and visitors to the beach, so for four years we tried to clean it up. After pulling out hundreds of bags of trash, we were frustrated! Could we stop it from happening in the first place?

We asked the town and the conservation authority, but since it wasn’t their land, there was little they could do. So we installed garbage bins, compostable bag dispensers, and Niagara Waste gave us a discount on a dumpster to store the waste. We made signs explaining our work and asked the community to help keep trash out of Lake Ontario.

Six weeks later, the beach area is still clean. We hope to keep making a positive impact and keep it funded when there is more traffic in summer.

What are other Green Heron projects?

Dane Currie, a 12-year-old from St Catharines, Ont., is cleaning up for good.

A local school offered to replace a non-native garden with native plants. We empower their kindergarten students to get involved in the swap and teach seed collecting, soil and winter sowing. They are learning how to grow our native plants.

Where do you get the seeds?

Jane Goodall’s “Roots and Shoots” APE fund, Corny’s Honey Wagon and David Suzuki’s Future Ground Network helped us establish a native plant nursery and greenhouse. We assembled the greenhouse and installed the irrigation system ourselves, and most seeds are harvested from our garden or the wild areas where we hike, leaving plenty for nature. We have “Free Seed” stands across the Niagara region and an annual plant sale. Our short videos teach fall seed collection, how to sow seeds in recycled plastic bottles in the winter and how to plant them in the spring.

What is your favorite project?

Three times a year, we help painted and snapping turtles cross busy roads so they can lay their eggs or find water for the first time as hatchlings. We place nest cages over buried eggs to reduce predation loss. There are so many roads built through wetlands that all our turtles are at risk.

Our “habitat boxes” help creatures who rely on rapidly disappearing, old-growth ecosystems for their reproduction cycles, such as wood ducks, bluebirds, red-headed woodpeckers, bats and screech owls. Our community partners, like The Wood Shed and the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, donate supplies. We hold construction events in the community, and Land Care Niagara installs the boxes.

Dane Currie (left), and Ed Kwarta building nest boxes. Photo by: Lindsay Currie

Why do you do this?

I grew up interested in nature, and I want a healthy planet. Habitat loss in southern Ontario makes me sad. This is what I can do to help right now. When there is more to do, I will find a way to do that, too.

What makes it hard?

If everyone focused on fixing their own property, it would change a lot. Decision-makers are moving too slowly. Fixing the habitat loss problem can be started at the community level.

How did you choose the name ‘The Green Herons’?

On a hike in Jordan Valley, we were thinking about what to call ourselves. I spotted a species of bird in the wetland that I had never seen before. I knew from a show I loved when I was little called *Wild Kratts *that it was a Green Heron, even though at first it seemed to have too short a neck. All of a sudden, it saw a fish and stretched its neck out really long. It was a really exciting find, and we all realized it was the perfect name for our club!

What do you worry about?

I don’t worry. I think people are ready to change. We can fix things if we all work together.

What gives you hope?

Lots of people are waking up and taking environmental problems more seriously. Humans have the ability to invent solutions to all the problems we face. I believe we have time to make those changes.

What would you like to say to other young people?

Hard work pays off, and everyone has the ability to make a difference. We are just a bunch of kids, and we make a difference every day. Never give up, work hard, ask for help with projects you can do and don’t think about the big problems that you can’t fix.

What about older readers?

We need your help. Support groups improving your community. Make little changes, like buying plastic-free products, pick up garbage instead of walking by it, and slow down to avoid wildlife crossing your car’s path. Learn about the species in your own yard and help them or remove them if they shouldn’t be there.