A passion for change Meyers '11.5 receives Brower Youth Award for lifetime of environmental service

Author: Catherine McCarthy

"We were just a bunch of eight-year-old kids out to save the world," laughed Phebe Meyers '11.5 as she described her role in the formation of Change The World Kids in 1998. Meyers and her twin sister, Nika, noticed that there were no community service organizations in their town of Woodstock, Vermont. And so, with the help of other members of their church youth group, they decided to do something about it.

Who would have guessed that just ten years later, this young activist would receive the Brower Youth Award - one of the most prestigious youth awards for environmental advocacy - in recognition of her work in the Bosque Para Siempre project? The award is given annually to six young people who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in the fields of environmental activism and social justice. Upon receiving the award, each winner is given $3000 and brought to San Francisco for the award ceremony.

Change The World Kids started as small as its founding members: they began with such jobs as cooking meals for the elderly, reading books to the sick, stacking firewood and raking leaves. "Basically, we did what eight-year-olds were capable of doing," said Meyers. But despite the limitations their age may have brought them, they shared a vision that spurred them on: a vision of working towards making the world a better place, and doing it free of charge.

"At first, people were tentative to ask us for help. They figured we would soon lose interest in the project, as kids often do," says Meyers of their first attempts to serve their community. But they did not lose interest. Instead, as Meyers and her peers demonstrated their persistent dedication to community service, the group continued to grow and more people joined their cause.

As a result, Change The World Kids began expanding their fundraising efforts and taking on more ambitious projects, piloting such programs as "Save Energy for Free" - an initiative that installed free clotheslines in order to reduce the energy waste of washers and dryers. As the strength and scope of the group continued to blossom, Meyers recalled that, "We decided we wanted to take on an international project."

That opportunity presented itself when Meyers, then in seventh grade, went with her family to Monteverde, a town in the Tilarán Mountains of Costa Rica. As they visited a nearby research center, however, she began to notice that something was amiss. As she looked out the window at the view of what once was a stunning rainforest, she saw only a patchwork of forest amidst barren pastures and deforested land. "I remember thinking - this is not what the landscape is supposed to look like," she explained.

Indeed, as Meyers soon learned, the lands of Costa Rica are continually plagued by the effects of deforestation at the hands of hotels, fast food chains, and companies that benefit from the sale of its lucrative lumber. And, by destroying the natural habitat of many unique species of wildlife, the process leaves countless birds and other creatures in danger of extinction.

"We learned about the crisis facing birds like the indigenous three-wattled bellbird: if a corridor of forested land is not maintained, the birds will not migrate and will soon become extinct," explained Meyers. "My sister and I decided we wanted to help." So, armed with a newfound passion for conservation and the compelling crisis of the bellbird, Meyers returned to Vermont to garner the support of the Change The World Kids.

Just like Change The World Kids itself - which started as a simple group of children hoping to make a difference - so too did Meyers' original hope for the restoration of Costa Rican land develop into a vehicle of widespread and lasting change. The group quickly got to work in what Meyers described as, "the race against deforestation;" they held community dinners and art shows, and sold fair trade Costa Rican coffee in an effort to raise awareness and funds for their new international endeavor.

By 2004, they had raised an astounding $165,000, and were able to purchase their first patch of land. Naming the area Bosque Para Siempre, or Forever Forest, they also raised enough funds that year to travel to Monteverde as a group.

"Walking on our parcel of land for the first time was amazing," Meyers remarked. "The project had really become our own." In collaboration with local biologists and conservationists, they created a tree nursery in which to grow native trees, began planting trees for the slow process of reforestation, and even began to cultivate a coffee crop. Change the World Kids continues to return to Monteverde every year, and continues raising funds in the hopes of eventually purchasing the entire migratory corridor.

"It's not just about the specific environment of Costa Rica," said Meyers. "I learned that even native Vermont birds migrate to Costa Rica's rainforest; the work we do in Costa Rica has a direct impact on our lives at home and on environmental issues worldwide." But more than that, her experience with Bosque Para Siempre has taught Meyers of the ability of Change The World Kids - and other organizations like it - to inspire and motivate their communities.

Meyers says of the local Monteverde community: "We give them so much hope. They see kids who come from so far away who aren't thinking about their own problems but who want to help the world. We inspire them to take action themselves in bolstering their environment."

So too, have the Change The World Kids inspired action in their own community of Woodstock, VT: when they started, they were the only service-oriented organization in the town. Now, inspired by the work of their young children, adults too have formed humanitarian associations. "We have served as an eye-opener for our community," explained Meyers. "It has been really cool to help foster that movement."

Change The World Kids became an official 501c3 nonprofit in 2003, and is comprised of 30 to 40 middle and high school students who share in Meyers' enthusiasm for humanitarian and environmental action. "We have just received a grant to start two new chapters in Vermont," said Meyers, and hope to one day become a national organization.

Though for the most part Meyers allows the current teens of Woodstock to spearhead Change The World Kids, she continues to work towards her goals of conservation in the Bosque Para Siempre: in June of 2008, she served as the leader of a "Make a Difference Experience" in the forest - a three week trip that educated adults about the issues of rainforest preservation.

"No one can do everything, but everyone can do something," said Meyers as she addressed the crowd at the Brower Award ceremony. Meyers has, indeed, lived by those words: she has come to represent the ability of youth to inspire a community and act as a bellwether for change - but she did not get there alone and she did not get there overnight. Rather, she has come to understand that, above all, "change has to start small, and if you start small it will ripple out."

You don't have to do something huge," she said. "Just do something."