It’s a Fact

Maia’s Friends Uniting for Nature Society gives youth the opportunity to build a connection with nature and learn the importance environmental change in communities.

At 10 years old, Maia Green wanted to create a world-wide environmental club that would save the world. While that club never came to be, Maia launched the Friends Uniting for Nature (FUN) Society in February 2008 while continuing her studies at Emily Carr University and BCIT. The FUN Society is a youth leadership program centered around environmental education. It empowers them to make long term commitments in support of a healthier environment.

To realize Maia’s vision, she laid the foundation for a brand new organization in Vancouver, BC. Maia managed the fundraising, marketing and advertising and implementation. In addition Maia, with the help of volunteers, developed educational curriculum focused on youth living sustainable lifestyles and enabling them to take a leadership role for the environment in their respective communities. Other activities included bicycle maintenance, hiking and building mini solar-powered cars.

To address the larger needs of Vancouver youth, Maia made the program accessible to all, regardless of their financial situation, via a scholarship program.

In its first summer of operation, the FUN Society welcomed 60 youth into the program. These lucky individuals had an opportunity to build a connection with nature and learn how they can be the environmental change communities need. To ensure this opportunity was extended beyond the FUN Society, program participants took home an environmental pledge to share with their family, helping households become more environment-friendly on a daily basis.

Feedback from Society members and their families was overwhelming. One mother remarked that the FUN Society gave her son wings and that teachers had noticed a huge improvement in his behaviour and attitude at school.

Look for more great things form Maia in the future. She is currently a Regional Coordinator for Vancouver Bike Week and continues as a volunteer member of the Steering Committee for this year’s Canadian Youth Delegation to COP 15 in Copenhagen. Maia has also launched The G Force, a fundraising initiative to fund environmental projects in Victoria, BC.