The conference was a success!

Thank you to all the 6,000 teens and their teachers who came out to the 2009 Environmental Youth Conference! We hope you found the conference fun and educational. Kudos to Jordan Howard, our keynote speaker, the seven workshop panelists, and the volunteer celebrities led by Tyrese Gibson and Rob Dyrdek for the awesome job!

Check back for more photos later. Meanwhile, here are some. Please post your comments on this blog, or find us on Facebook under "Million Trees LA."

Let's all get our green on today. Start Local, Impact Global!

Young fashion designers to be highlighted at the EYC

Don't forget to swing by the Fashion Lane at the EYC's exhibit area, and meet our young fashion designers that are able to come up with unique fashion styles from recycled materials. Their creativity is a unique way of expressing their commitment to the environment. Here are your green runway maestros from R'Ashion Eco Friendly Designs, a group partially sponsored by Green Ambassador Products.

Genesis Godoy, R’Ashion Team Leader, 17 years of age. She is a senior at Environmental Charter High School. Genesis is a creative, savvy designer. She is also a maestro at finding resources that are eco friendly.

Tiffany Tam, 16 years old and a junior at Environmental Charter High School. Tiffany has been designing since last year and is passionate and creative about all her designs.

Catherine Delima, 16 years old, a junior at Environmental Charter High School. Catherine's hobby is fashion design and she can create a breath taking piece from an old t-shirt.

Tania Gonzalez, 15 years old, a junior at Environmental Charter High School. Tania is an amazing designer who can add her own style to everything she touches.

Simone Schulz, is the individual responsible for helping each of our presenting eco-designers designs come to life. She loves working with her hands, shaping fabrics into custom translations of personality, silhouette and function to a unique clothing canvas.

EYC 2009 is set for November 4, 2009

Tell all your teachers, friends and neighbors about the 2009 Environmental Youth Conference! This year's conference will be on a Wednesday at the LA Convention Center. Flyers in English and Spanish are below.

True to its theme "Start Local, Impact Global," this year's EYC will not only let participants understand how local efforts translate globally. It will also offer a chance for LA youth to interact with participants from other countries to see how they go green.

For more information, call (213) 473-9950 or visit www.milliontreesla.org.

Boyle Heights gets 54 new trees at East LA Day of Service

Hundreds of volunteers young and old joined Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today in greening Mission Road in Boyle Heights. All converged at the newly-opened Million Trees LA (MTLA) Tree Center and Environmental Facility at 850 N. Mission Rd. to kick-off the Community Day of Service activities in East LA.

Fifty-four 24-inch box trees, all California-friendly, were planted by volunteers along the industrial area of Mission Road between Cesar Chavez and the 5 Freeway. Residents also picked up bags of free mulch and adopted fruit trees for planting on their private properties.

The MTLA Tree Center and Environmental Facility will be the site of Million Trees LA's environmental workshops, tree adoptions and mulch pick-up for the East LA area. The parcel is also home to an air treatment facility owned and operated by the Department of Public Works, Bureau of Sanitation.

More photos from this event at http://tinyurl.com/muauj7.
To learn about events at this new facility, visit www.milliontreesla.org.

Mark your calendars! NOVEMBER 4, 2009

Save the Date! The 2009 Environmental Youth Conference (EYC) is scheduled for Wednesday, November 4th at the LA Convention Center.

The timing of this year's EYC is critical. We are having it in November so that we can solicit all your input about how to address climate change, and submit it to the Los Angeles delegation who will attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December. Be heard and truly see how your local efforts translate globally.

Keep checking back for more developments on the EYC!

THE COOLEST, GREENEST YOUTH EVENT

More than 5,000 attendees flocked to the Los Angeles Convention Center on December 13th to be part of the 2008 Environmental Youth Conference. It was a very excited crowd that welcomed Mayor Villaraigosa and a string of green celebrities including Will.I.Am and Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas; event hosts Olesya Rulin and David Henrie of the Disney Channel; "High School Musical" superstar Vanessa Hudgens; Tyrese; Alyson Stoner of "Camp Rock"; Bobb'e J. Thompson; and Tyler James Thompson of "Everybody Hates Chris".

The keynote speech was given by 14-year-old Alec Loorz, already an environmental youth leader trained by Al Gore himself to give the "An Inconvenient Truth" presentation. Alec suggested simple things stressed to an engaged crowed that "now is the time" to act on global warming. "Now is the time" for the youth to make a difference. "Now is the time" to address our growing environmental concerns.

Mayor Villaraigosa added, "L.A.s youth know that if we don't act now to help our environment, no one will!"

GREEN TEENS AT THE ARTIST ALLEY

Catch our budding green artists at the conference Artist Alley. This special area will highlight creative, green teens and their environmentally-theme artwork or masterpieces made of eco-friendly materials. Some of our young, talented artists include:

• Iris Martinez, 16, Photo
• Ana Baranda, 19, Painting
• Peter Meitzenheimer, 13, Etching
• Juan Correa, 14, Drawing
• Charbel Rizk, 18, Sculpture
• Emmanuel Galvez, 17, Painting
• Rebecca Guerrrero, 20, Arch-shaped mobil using recycled materials
• Eugenia Barbuc, 21, Natalie Polanco, 17, and Ivan Melchor, 19, a collaborative art piece using recycled materials

Also on display will be art work by the Million Trees LA contributing artists: Juan Rosillo, Jean Wells, Hamerslag, Kevin Inkwich, Cindy Surianyi, Ron Howard, Fumiko Armano, Goose Black Finger, Steven McElroy and Abel Alejandre.

Make sure to stop by!

FOR the Youth ... BY the Youth

What makes the Environmental Youth Conference different from other conferences you've attended? Well, how about the fact that the conference speakers are mostly teens like you? Yes, there won't be much adults at the mic. That's right! This conference is FOR the Youth and BY the Youth.

This year's conference panelists will discuss projects related to eco-consumption, urban forestry and water. Check out who they are:

Genesis Godoy
Genesis is 16 years old and attends Environmental Charter High School. She organized fashion shows highlighting 20 clothing outfits made from recycled materials which were created by 15 of her youth colleagues. Her goal is to exhibit the fashion show at 15 community events to over 700 people. www.greenambassadors.net

Kelley Butler
Kelly is a tenth grader at Harvard Westlake, and is from South Los Angeles. She and her volleyball team started the Clean Canteen program that promotes reusable containers for liquids. She is also a member of Jack and Jill, an African American organization, which uses its recycling program to raise funds for charities.

Tosh Sivertsen

Tosh and his mother co-authored a book called Generation Green which is an eco-guide for teens to “green” their lives through several ways, including green careers. www.generationgreenthebook.com

Jesus Navarro

As a youth, Jesus worked on a recycling project with the Bureau of Sanitation’s summer program and is now working for the City department.

Daniela Esparza
Daniela works with Pacoima Beautiful Youth group and partnered with a local elementary school to build and maintain a community garden and to plant trees. They also work to promote sustainability and environmental justice in communities. www.pacoimabeautiful.org

Alex Castro
Alex works with Pacoima Beautiful Youth group and partnered with a local elementary school to build and maintain a community garden and plant trees. They also work to promote sustainability and environmental justice in communities. www.pacoimabeautiful.org

Adam Gerard
Adam is 13 years old and is President of Board for Tree Musketeers, a youth organization focused on trees. From 2003-2008, the group has planted over 500 trees along the stretch of Imperial Highway that borders LAX. www.treemusketeers.org

Evelina Weary
Evelina is a student at Santa Monica High School, and works with a student group called Team Marine that competes in science competitions in Southern California. She and her peers have worked on numerous eco-projects including cleaner oceans and water pollution. www.teammarine.org

Daniel Farahdel
Daniel is a student at Santa Monica High School, and works with a student group called Team Marine that competes in science competitions in Southern California. He worked on a YouTube video to promote the problems associated with plastic bags called “Danny Going Green.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsDdFOaSd3c

Blanca Perez
Blanca is 16 years old and a student at Animo Film and Theater Arts Charter School. She is Co-President of her school’s Guerrilla Gardening Group that promotes eco-activism including water conservation.

Inconvenient Truth youth presenter is conference keynote speaker

The City of Los Angeles is pleased to announce that Alec Loorz, 14, is the 2008 Environmental Youth Conference keynote speaker.

Alec is the founder of Kids-vs-Global-Warming, a youth-inspired and youth-led organization that informs, trains, and empowers kids about the issues of global warming to inspire action. He gives multi-media presentations to schools and conferences, and starts Action Teams to empower the next generation of green leaders. After giving his own youth-focused presentation over 30 times, Alec was invited by Al Gore to be trained to give the official Inconvenient Truth presentations. He is currently the youngest trained presenter. In June, Alec and his team installed an environmental activist project called SLAP (Sea Level Awareness Project,) showing how far underwater the city will be if nothing is done about climate change.

http://www.kids-vs-global-warming.com/

GET YOUR GREEN ON at the 2008 Environmental Youth Conference

Come with your school. Bring your friends! Be part of the largest youth environmental event in the west! All Los Angeles residents ages 12 to 21 are invited to this green education event for the youth and by the youth. Come with your school, church or neighborhood group, and learn all about environmentalism through tree plantings, green jobs, and buying eco-friendly. Surprise guests will highlight this fun-filled learning experience.