U.C. Irvine Graduate Honored with North America´s Top Environmental Prize for Youth
Newswire Services
October 29, 2009
Young Leader Affected Key Food Policy Changes For University of California System
Berkeley, CA–Hai Vo, a 2009 graduate of the University of California, Irvine (UCI), will be among the six recipients of the 2009 Brower Youth Award. Hosted by Earth Island Institute, the Brower Youth Awards are North America´s most prestigious prize for young environmental leaders.
Vo, 22, will be recognized for his efforts to change the dining system at his university and on campuses throughout the University of California system. He co-founded the UCI branch of the Real Food Challenge, after attending a regional conference in the summer of '08. The Real Food Challenge is a national network of college students and their allies collaborating on a campaign to shift to 20% purchasing on university campuses by 2020 to "real food" - food that is "ecologically-sound, community-based, humane, and fair."
Through widespread outreach at UCI and across Orange County, Vo and fellow students were able to reach hundreds of students and community members, hosting movie nights, speaker panels, and "Real Food Roundtables," where community members came together to eat "Real Food" and discuss how it best nourishes the health of producers, consumers, the environment, and communities.
The University of California (UC) system recently made a commitment to 20% real food procurement by 2020 as a part of the "UC Policy on Sustainable Practices". The UC system of ten college campuses, including UCI, serves over a quarter of a million students and staff. Vo served as a student representative to the Policy's working group.
"From the inception of the process of creating a food policy four years ago until its inclusion this fall, students have been an essential voice to endorse, demand, and support the ongoing implemention of sustainable practices," shared Tim Galarneau, with UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS). "Hai Vo was an active player in the last year to ensure students had a seat at the table."
One of Vo´s goals is for the UCI dining system to make connections with local farms.
"Supplying real and sustainable food in a local and regional context is not a challenge, but we need the economic and regulatory incentives and infrastructure for producers, processors, and distributors to do so," said Vo. "It is about empowering our local economies, cultures, and communities," he added.
In October 2009, Earth Island Institute´s Brower Youth Awards will celebrate its tenth anniversary of spotlighting North America´s boldest young environmental leaders. Vo joined five other environmental leaders under the age of 23 in receiving the Brower Youth Award and a $3,000 cash prize for their achievements, while being recognized at a gala celebration in San Francisco on October 20, 2009, with 900 individuals in attendance.
The six winners were chosen from more than 125 applicants for their creative and effective work tackling problems ranging from food justice to deforestation, global warming to pollution. The thirteen judges for the award are leaders in business, journalism and the nonprofit sector, including Josh Dorfman of The Sundance Channel´s "Lazy Environmentalist", Judith Helfand, the director of the global warming film "Everything´s Cool", and Philippe Cousteau, CEO of EarthEcho International and grandson of Jacques Cousteau.
In the first ten years of the program, the 61 current and past award recipients have raised more than $1.4 million for environmental causes, trained more than 3,000 youth in advocacy, involved more than 32,000 in projects, implemented 20 university-wide environmental policies, passed eight pieces of legislation, organized more than 3,300 events and actions, produced more than 20 documentary films, and held 500 plus lobby meetings with elected officials.
The Brower Youth Awards are generously supported by Earth Island members, as well as Visa, Clif Bar, and Klean Kanteen. More information about the Award recipients and the Award is available at broweryouthawards.org/2009media.
Berkeley, CA–Hai Vo, a 2009 graduate of the University of California, Irvine (UCI), will be among the six recipients of the 2009 Brower Youth Award. Hosted by Earth Island Institute, the Brower Youth Awards are North America´s most prestigious prize for young environmental leaders.
Vo, 22, will be recognized for his efforts to change the dining system at his university and on campuses throughout the University of California system. He co-founded the UCI branch of the Real Food Challenge, after attending a regional conference in the summer of '08. The Real Food Challenge is a national network of college students and their allies collaborating on a campaign to shift to 20% purchasing on university campuses by 2020 to "real food" - food that is "ecologically-sound, community-based, humane, and fair."
Through widespread outreach at UCI and across Orange County, Vo and fellow students were able to reach hundreds of students and community members, hosting movie nights, speaker panels, and "Real Food Roundtables," where community members came together to eat "Real Food" and discuss how it best nourishes the health of producers, consumers, the environment, and communities.
The University of California (UC) system recently made a commitment to 20% real food procurement by 2020 as a part of the "UC Policy on Sustainable Practices". The UC system of ten college campuses, including UCI, serves over a quarter of a million students and staff. Vo served as a student representative to the Policy's working group.
"From the inception of the process of creating a food policy four years ago until its inclusion this fall, students have been an essential voice to endorse, demand, and support the ongoing implemention of sustainable practices," shared Tim Galarneau, with UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS). "Hai Vo was an active player in the last year to ensure students had a seat at the table."
One of Vo´s goals is for the UCI dining system to make connections with local farms.
"Supplying real and sustainable food in a local and regional context is not a challenge, but we need the economic and regulatory incentives and infrastructure for producers, processors, and distributors to do so," said Vo. "It is about empowering our local economies, cultures, and communities," he added.
In October 2009, Earth Island Institute´s Brower Youth Awards will celebrate its tenth anniversary of spotlighting North America´s boldest young environmental leaders. Vo joined five other environmental leaders under the age of 23 in receiving the Brower Youth Award and a $3,000 cash prize for their achievements, while being recognized at a gala celebration in San Francisco on October 20, 2009, with 900 individuals in attendance.
The six winners were chosen from more than 125 applicants for their creative and effective work tackling problems ranging from food justice to deforestation, global warming to pollution. The thirteen judges for the award are leaders in business, journalism and the nonprofit sector, including Josh Dorfman of The Sundance Channel´s "Lazy Environmentalist", Judith Helfand, the director of the global warming film "Everything´s Cool", and Philippe Cousteau, CEO of EarthEcho International and grandson of Jacques Cousteau.
In the first ten years of the program, the 61 current and past award recipients have raised more than $1.4 million for environmental causes, trained more than 3,000 youth in advocacy, involved more than 32,000 in projects, implemented 20 university-wide environmental policies, passed eight pieces of legislation, organized more than 3,300 events and actions, produced more than 20 documentary films, and held 500 plus lobby meetings with elected officials.
The Brower Youth Awards are generously supported by Earth Island members, as well as Visa, Clif Bar, and Klean Kanteen. More information about the Award recipients and the Award is available at broweryouthawards.org/2009media.