Hey all Relate Girls! We have a couple questions for you.

Have you ever started your own business?

Have you ever started your own awareness organization?

Can you imagine making a huge difference in your community by the age of only 17?

What about making huge strides toward environmental awareness at15?

None are too lofty of goals. All it takes is a passion and determination. You’re never too old to speak your mind and have an opinion! It’s never too early or too late.

So check out Ally Maize and the Green Youth Movement for inspiration. Her really interesting interview is below…you don’t want to miss it! 

Relate: When did you first become passionate about going green and becoming eco-friendly?

Ally: I started when I was 15. I took a chemistry class, and my chemistry teacher at the end of the year put on An Inconvenient Truth and it really impacted me and made me think about a lot of things. And when I was about to get my driver’s license, I was thinking about what kind of car I wanted and I definitely wanted a hybrid so I kept researching about it online. I approached my parents about it and they helped me make GYM (The Green Youth Movement.)

Relate: What would you say to someone who says being eco-friendly is an inconvenience to them?

Ally: I would say that every little thing that someone does helps in the long-run. If you buy green products and household appliances, in the long-run you save money. It’s a good investment to be sustainable. Once you learn how to do it in recycling and turning off the water when brushing your teeth and turning off the lights, they’re really easy. You become accustomed to it and it’s not that hard after you learn how to do it.

R: How has your organization grown since it began?

Ally: I started when I was 15 and we really had a [great] year. We started by making a website about everything I was really interested about and it has a lot of helpful information for kids and teens about how to be green and live sustainably and I have a lot of stores on there where I like to shop that I think are cute and eco-friendly. My main target is kids and teens because if we teach them when they’re young, the habits we were talking about before will just be instilled in their lifestyle before they’re old and you kind of have to reteach them. I think we’re the next generation that’s going to save what the previous generation left for us. I think all the kids should be educated and try to prevent global warming and everything.

Relate: What is your organization’s response to these claims about falsified documents on the news in regard to global warming? How does it affect GYM, if at all?

Ally: Global warming is a whole problem that is kind of above my head. There’s too much of a release of Co2 into the environment and it changes the fossil fuels in all the manufacturing industries, but I can’t really change how we manufacture and how we make products and how we drive and use gas. I’m just trying to make little changes that will eventually lead up to that and make people realize how we’re treating the planet is wrong.

R: This green initiative event is taking place in March at L.A. Fashion Week-is it purely eco-friendly design or is it separate?

A: It is a part of LA Fashion Week and we did this because we were going to do a fashion show on our own [anyway]. It has always been my dream to do it; I thought it was a really fun way to get kids involved and motivated about going green. But we actually have connections with LA Fashion Week and I thought the bigger we could do it the better to get the word out. We’re hoping to get people excited about sustainability. Every piece of clothing is organically made with organic materials and fabrics and we’re actually having a lot of designers that are new. One of my best friends is an amazing designer and she’s showcasing some of her pieces in the show using all organic products. It is a perfect way to mix fashion with going green, but we are also having higher-end designers, so we’re keeping it up to par with LA Fashion Week. It’s going to be a huge show- hold over 200 people- and we’re still working on a celebrity to kind of co-host it with me, but we don’t have anyone officially who has confirmed.

R: How would you say fashion and sustainability go hand-in-hand?

A: Especially in LA, fashion is a huge part of our society here and if we reach out to the whole fashion industry and the culture, I think it’s a good place to [push] on sustainability.

R: Where is GYM’S focus within the green movement? I saw your organization was doing stuff with gardens, fashion. Do you create projects you see are important or is there a certain focus?

A: We meet every month with all the GYM members, whoever can come out at my house, and we just see what the kids are interested in month by month and we just do it by that. If we have a constant thing they might get bored. Whatever we want to do, we just do it; we never say no to their ideas and even if it’s a really big task, we just try to do it.

R: How is the project with your sustainable gardens going? What would be included?

A: We get a specialist who measures out the area where they want to have a garden and they provide all the seeds and utensils needed to garden and we teach them how to garden and keep up with harvesting and everything. And then in their science class, they tend to [it.] We’re doing one in the Beverly Hills Schools where they’re going to use the products from the garden and actually sell them at the farmer’s market to the community.

R: What would you say is the biggest roadblock in trying to spread this passion for going green?

A: Since my target initially was elementary schoolers, it was really hard to get through. There was a hierarchy that goes through a school system and unless you’re connected with the top, it’s hard to pass anything and you have to have the right people behind you. So when I first started, I met with the mayor of my city. He was all behind it, but he stepped out of office a couple months after we met so I had to get in with the new mayor. I never realized how difficult it would be, but you kind of have to go to the right people and know who to go to.

R: What has been one of your favorite GYM events?

A: I really liked the garden we did at my school because I don’t really do GYM through school and it was nice to incorporate something outside of school and show what was going on. I thought it was really fun.

R: What are some of the best eco-friendly items you can start with if you’re new to the process?

A: I would probably start with little easy things like replacing your light bulbs and getting a reusable water bottle; stop using [disposable] plastic and for yourself replace your shampoo and conditioner with organic products because there are so many chemicals that are bad for your hair. Put in a solar panel- you can get way more expensive [sometimes], but if you’re shopping for a car get a hybrid. Or if you’re going down the block to a friend’s house, walk or ride a bike and incorporate exercise into your transportation rather than just driving to the gym [for example] and driving home and driving to work.

R: Transportation you prefer?

A: I have a Prius. We have this electric car called a Gem which is all electric and I use that sometimes if it’s somewhere close.

Written by DeAnna Britton, Relate Contributing Writer

Have you experienced crazy weather lately? This may be due to global warming. For the last few years, we have heard of global warming and the effect it has on our lives. There has been warning for us to start treating our Earth better or we may not have much of one left. It is important for the youth of the world to be educated on the problems the world is facing so that they can unite and work to end the destruction of the place we call home. Here’s what you need to know.

The “greenhouse effect” is when there are certain gases in the atmosphere that trap heat. When there are a lot of these gases in our atmosphere, more and more heat gets trapped and it makes the Earth warmer. This is also what saves us from freezing. Greenhouse gases are valuable to us to keep the temperature on Earth stable. The problem is when we burn fossil fuels and other greenhouse gases, it increases the temperature of the Earth.

The increase in the Earth’s temperature can cause many harmful effects to our environment. When the temperature rapidly increases, the people and animals living on it can’t adapt quickly enough to these changes. It also changes the climate and starts to melt the polar ice caps, which increase sea levels. This warming also affects the weather. The weather becomes more extreme and causes more rain to fall or longer droughts to occur in some areas.

Recently, thousands of emails were released from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit showing that data was falsified. These emails showed that data was changed to fit the global warming standards in order to pass the global carbon tax and trade. These are the documents that were said to have been destroyed, but they contained the information needed to verify the global warming claims. These emails were verified as authentic and shows that the research unit was lying in order to support the global carbon tax and trade, which would cost Americans more than $100 billion a year.

Starting on December 7th, the climate experts and global leaders will meet to discuss their goals and plan to fight global warming. This meeting is the ten-day UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark. There are more than 85 leaders attending this conference, hoping to find an answer on how to start to control global warming and keeping our Earth safe. According to the UN’s Panel on Climate Change, the reasons for the increase of greenhouse gases are because of things like deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels to run cars.

You can be a part of the effort to help our environment. Some steps to take are being aware of how much energy you are using in your house.

• Begin being conscious of how much water you use and turn lights off when you don’t need them; this will help a lot if everyone works to make sure they use less.
• Another way to help is to contact your local senators and ask them to consider passing a bill for climate and energy. Your senators are representing what is best for the people, so they will take what you have to say into consideration. It never hurts to try and you can really make a difference.
• If you drive, carpooling to school or work will decrease the amount of fossil fuels that are burnt. Remember, fossil fuels are dangerous to our atmosphere.
• If your school has a choice between paper plates and glass plates, go for the glass plates. Cutting down on waste will also help our environment.

The best way to help is to inform your peers of the dangers global warming can pose on our environment. Do your part in keeping our Earth in good shape.