From sugarcane paper to shoreline cleanups: How one teen built a climate movement

Alexandra Chow with Sustainable Union Founder Milian Chen and a poster about their sugarcane paper testing. Photo by: Milian Chen.

By Patricia Lane and Alexandra Chow.

Alexandra Chow encourages students to collaborate, so they increase their impact on the climate crisis. This 18-year-old from Vancouver was a 2024 winner of The Salt Spring Institute for Sustainability Education & Action (I-SEA) Youth Climate Activism Award for bringing together high school students from seven Vancouver schools.

Tell us about your project.

My friend Milian Chen and I formed the Sustainable Union to facilitate connections among student environmental clubs in the Metro Vancouver area. We tested the use of sugarcane paper (made from waste-bound fibres) as an alternative to wood, helped school librarians understand how to make books about sustainability more accessible and did a shoreline cleanup at Olympic Village. Working together, we were able to reach at least 5,000 students, teachers and administrators.

Sugarcane paper is available in office supply stores, and although it is the same price as wood-based paper, it is not yet used in schools. The Vancouver School Board gave us a grant that allowed us to work with local business Social Print Paper to test its use across seven schools. The results showed it is as user-friendly as wood-based paper and worked equally well in school and school board photocopiers and printers. We pointed out that its use can save the school board money because it reduces their carbon footprint. We made a video about it for our school board trustees and are waiting to hear back if they will adopt it.

Alexandra was one of our 2024 YCAA winners. Check out her entry HERE.