Youth Innovation Challenge

The young leaders behind Decomp won the CEC’s 2021 Youth Innovation Challenge, representing Canada, for their solution to the plastic waste problem: Decomp, an organic plastic waste disposal solution that utilizes proprietary, plastic-degrading microbes to facilitate the degradation of plastics in weeks, as opposed to natural decomposition that can take several hundred years. With Decomp, this team will work with material recovery facilities (MRFs) and companies facing extended producer responsibility (EPR) mandates to address a multiplicity of problems, including pollution. In addition, Decomp plans to support environmental justice efforts by offering a solution that positively impacts marginalized communities that currently suffer from adverse health consequences and compromised livelihoods due to living near incinerators, landfills, and polluting industries

Learn more about this youth-led solution to the plastic waste problem in North America.

Claudia del Carmen Cornelio Caraveo, alongside other youth and community members, won the 2021 Youth Innovation Challenge, representing Mexico, with their solution to the problem of infested apiaries in the town of Puebla de Morelia, a municipality of Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico. Their project is meant to support marginalized communities in Puebla de Morelia and beyond, that have witnessed the migration of honey-producing bee populations in the state as a result of various adversities, but in particular, ant infestations and intensifying dry seasons. With their solution, this team has created a device that physically supports apiaries (without endangering them), preventing ant infestations, and providing water during periodic droughts and dry seasons, besides establishing a floristic corridor for bees.

Learn more about their innovative solution to migrating bee populations.

The Mobile School for Community Foresters, a pilot continuous training program aimed at producer families in the Tabasco Rivers and Chiapas Jungle region, is one of two winners of the 2021 Youth Innovation Challenge, representing Mexico. The young leaders behind this proposal will work with the school to support marginalized communities in the region that lack direct access to tools, resources, and education which would aid them in the conservation of local forests. Using education, tools, and experience-based learning material specializing in forestry and conservation, the project will empower communities and local leaders to protect their environments sustainably.

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C2X is an initiative to re-imagine our carbon liability as an opportunity by upscaling carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) in an integrated process. The sources for CO2 include point sources such as a power plant, mobile sources such as a car, and distributed sources such as ocean waters. The captured CO2 can then be converted into a variety of useful products that people can use every day. As part of this effort, the young leaders behind C2X intend to help marginalized communities and community residents located close to coal-burning power plants by addressing the problem of fugitive carbon emissions, enabling a circular carbon economy. In addition, C2X is active in science communication, policy engagement, and the promotion of diversity and inclusion in climate and sustainability.

Learn more about this innovative solution to CO2 emissions.