Grade 10 Richmond Secondary student and active environmentalist Jason Pang isn’t going to overwhelm you on what you need to change in your life to improve the decrepit state of the world’s rivers and oceans. Leave the lofty goals to him. For now.
But he will nudge you to keep to some simple everyday tasks that will help clear the environment of pollution. And, well, maybe he’ll nudge you a little more.
“As long as we all work together,” said Jason, who is off to Dalhousie University this week to attend a month-long SHAD seminar, focusing on biology.
There are times people go to extremes, go vegan, go this, do that. But I’m thinking about how everyone can do their own part, say, recycling at home. I go a bit further and avoid things like disposable straws, disposable cutlery. I cut back as much as I can.
“If you’re going out for takeout, know what’s gone into that Styrofoam box and where it may end up. You’ll only use it once. Why not bring your own container from home?” SHAD is a charity that runs a Canada-wide summer enrichment program, at 13 universities, for about 800 high-achieving students, such as Jason, to learn more about science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
“SHAD fosters innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership among Canada’s best and brightest youth,” noted SHAD’s spokesperson Katie Kocher.
Jason fitted the bill, said Kocher.
Born in Hong Kong, he immigrated to Richmond at age three. Inspired by living next to the Fraser River and Pacific Ocean, he has joined many environmental initiatives.
He is also a member of the Metro Vancouver Sustainability Toolbox youth program and Green Initiative Canada, another youth-led program that helps fellow youth with start-up environmental initiatives.
He used the aforementioned programs to start The Plastic Connection (Facebook.com/PlasticConnection), a group dedicated to advocating for the reduction of plastic use and proper disposal of such products.
“I started this project to advertise about different waste and how to properly reduce, reuse and rethink – that’s the most important part,” said Jason.
This spring, Jason was the co-chair of Richmond’s Earth Day Summit. He is also a Green Ambassador.
You may have seen Jason’s colleagues in Steveston on Canada Day, helping folks sort waste at the bins. They’ll also likely be present at the Maritime Festival in August and Richmond World Festival in September.
Jason notes cross-contamination of waste can throw a wrench in the recycling process. It’s the number one thing he hopes Richmondites do more of. And it’s a simple goal, he contends.
“I’m a bit biased. Probably the one thing we can all work on is putting our waste in the bin where it belongs. Here in Richmond, we’re lucky to have the garbage bin, blue bin and compost bin,” he noted.
Of course, consuming less is also part of Jason’s plan.
“It also save a lot of money,” he said.
Jason said he intends to focus his senior high school years on environmental sustainability, with the hopes of entering a related university program.
“I’m more passionate about the social side, reaching out to people.”
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