The Invasive Species Council of BC is pleased to host the 2021 Youth Mini Summit: Environmental Leadership, on March 12, 2022.
You can become an environmental leader in your community! The more of us that become leaders in our community, the more problems we can solve. Be inspired and grow your leadership skills! Join young adults aged 15 to 30 from across British Columbia to celebrate youth-led volunteer projects, listen to inspiring speakers and learn valuable skills to become an environmental leader in your community.
Meet the Speakers!
Ruby Banwait
Engagement Lead, ISCBC
A champion of ocean conservation, Ruby Banwait, has explored many marine environments beneath the surface from the Salish Sea to the Arctic Ocean. A Royal Canadian Geographical Society Fellow, she helped launch the Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium in Newfoundland, Canada, a seasonal capture-and-release, educational facility. Ruby’s desire to restore abundance in our oceans motivates her to connect people to the sea. As Community Science Lead with the Invasive Species Council of BC, Ruby encourages biodiversity protection and fostering lasting relationships with nature while supporting accessibility in conservation.
Daniel Stewart
Asarum Ecological Consulting
Daniel is a plant and restoration ecologist, specializing in coastal wetland ecosystems. Since 2014 he has operated a small consulting business based out of Burnaby, where his work has included surveys for at risk plants and wildlife, wetland design and construction, and research related to the health of tidal marsh plant communities. He completed his Masters in Forestry at UBC in 2021, where his focus was on the undetected invasion of non-native cattail in the Fraser River Estuary.
Megan Blackmore
Community Science Facilitator, ISCBC
Megan is a passionate horticulturalist turned naturalist. While working in the horticulture industry she attended several botany and natural resource science classes and soon after became an ISCBC volunteer. These opportunities led her to explore a growing interest in our natural landscapes and in June of 2021, began working with ISCBC as a Community Science Facilitator. Through her work, as well as continued volunteering for various organizations, Megan strives to increase the awareness and understanding of invasive species in BC.
Cathy Yan
ISCBC Youth Volunteer
Cathy is a first year Masters student studying cancer genomics at UBC. She is interested in science policy and using big data to inform decision making. In her spare time, she likes to learn new recipes.
Han Yan
ISCBC Youth Volunteer
Han Yan is a third-year urban forestry student in the UBC Forest Faculty, with a minor in Landscape Recreation Planning. Besides student life, he is also actively engaged in the volunteer organizations like the Invasive Species Council of BC and Pacific Spirits Park Society. He is involved in invasive species removal, ecology restoration and public education on environmental context. He hopes to be working on raising public awareness of environmental issues by creating more efficient visualization media in the future. Han believes everyone has an intrinsic biophilia feature that deserves to be dug out.
Sky Jarvis
ISCBC Youth Volunteer
Sky is a recent grad from UBC where she completed the Natural Resource Conservation program in the Faculty of Forestry. She is currently living in Kamloops with her cat, Atlas, and is working for a Community Forest located in the rural town of Barriere. She enjoys working outside in the forest and believes that sustainability is key to building a thriving economy, healthy ecosystems, and a prosperous society. She wholeheartedly supports nature-based solutions and creative approaches to solving the social and environmental issues faced by today’s generation, including flooding, wildfires, loss of biodiversity, climate change, poverty, and the opioid crisis. She believes that together with nature we can make this world a little bit greener!
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