“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.”
-Mother Teresa
My interest in environmental law and environmental conservation comes from my deep love of animals and wild places. As a law student, I focused much of my studies on international law and once thought I would practice in that field. It was then in the early 90s, the groundbreaking Rio Earth Summit had just concluded with the Rio Declaration, in which the international community acknowledged the need for collective action to protect the environment from the pressures of human development. It’s been 30 years since then, and the threat to the world’s ecosystems from deforestation, desertification, pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change is greater than ever. There is greater reason to hope, though, as our youth are better educated than ever on the immediate need to engage in sustainable development practices.
This handbook provides a useful guide to these engaged students, who seek to spread awareness of environmental issues and motivate activism in environmental protection through the creation of student-led environmental clubs on high school campuses. The rippling effect of this handbook in activating students from diverse backgrounds to join together to protect the earth they will inherit cannot be overstated.
We are grateful to Abbie Darling for her work on this project and to Brown & Winters for its support.