By: Ava H.
Eco Circle International is an environmental non-profit founded in Chicago by high school students Chloe and Georgia! They educate others on the intersectionality of environmentalism and mobilizes youth through their various sustainable initiatives around the globe.
Hi Chloe and Georgia! Can you give us a little background about who you are?
Yes for sure! We are both juniors in high school at the British International School of Chicago. We are the Founders and Executive Directors of the non-profit, Eco Circle International. Both of us have a passion for helping people and the environment, and we’ve been working together for a few years now to do this. Outside of school and ECI, we are good friends and enjoy spending time outdoors, traveling, cooking vegan food and taking on new adventures!
Where did your inspiration spark to form Eco Circle International?
Our activism became more serious for us when we were in 8th grade after the Parkland shooting. We both led our schools Walkout, and this caused us to realize the power we held in leading social justice initiatives. Freshman year, we founded a club at our school called Social Justice Action, where we aimed to educate, debate and make change. We discussed topics such as gun violence prevention, homelessness and eventually, climate change. Learning about the environmental crisis was different to anything we had learned about in the past, and we both found a passion for it when we learned about how it intersected with other social justice issues. We realized how much change needed to be made in our personal lives, and in our community, so we developed a school club called the Student Sustainability Team. In this club, we led assemblies, implemented composting systems, ran a clothes swap, changed our school cafeteria products, reduced paper usage in school and sparked schoolwide interest in helping to mitigate the climate crisis. Throughout this time, we had spoken about starting a larger organization but never did, so in March of this year when we went on lockdown, we finally did it.
What is your overall goal with Eco Circle International?
Eco Circle International is a youth-led non-profit which provides education on the intersectional environmental crises and mobilizes youth through our fellowship to organize sustainable initiatives around the globe. Through our virtual platforms, we hope to inspire others to make personal changes, and act as a catalyst who encourages the people in their lives to take the necessary step towards sustainability. Our fellowship, however, is a way for youth to make a direct impact on their local communities and find a passion that will last a lifetime. We hope to provide people with the tools to change their lives (even through small steps) and take direct action to reduce their communities environmental impact.
As someone who started this magazine to showcase the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues, I love how your organization focuses on the intersectional environmental crises. Can you explain why intersectionality within environmentalism is important, and how you tackle this issue within your organization?
Sustainability is one of the few things that links to everything, it is truly intersectional in every way. Whether it be global health, racial injustices, animal rights or economics, sustainability plays a crucial role in the past, present & future. Tackling the intersectionality of the crises can be so difficult because the possibilities are endless. As an organization, we try to have open conversations and bring different perspectives into these conversations in order to ensure we remain intersectional. With our initiatives and direct action, we ensure our efforts are still intersectional by being creative as to create solutions that solve a range of issues. Sustainability is so much more than just the planet, and we are always reflecting on how we can include as many issues and interests as possible.
What have been the biggest challenges? Greatest successes?
One of the biggest challenges has been making sure that ECI is specific. Both of us are so invested in all aspects of the crisis, but as an organization we had to decide what it is exactly that we want to do because if we stay too broad it is difficult to have a direct, quantifiable impact. We have struggled with remaining intersectional, whilst being directional.
We don’t really have a defining moment or event that we would consider as our ‘greatest success’, but to us, success is when we have been a catalyst for action. It's one thing for people to listen to something you say and claim that they will take action, but it's another when they actually do it. When you see evidence of someone making a positive impact in the world because of you, it's an incredible feeling. That is what ECI is all about.
The Fellowship Program is such a unique environmental initiative! Can you elaborate more about this new program you are starting?
The ECI fellowship is an education and action based course where students will learn about intersectional sustainability & leadership, putting what they learn into practice with their own independent initiative. This fellowship is for youth in North, Central and South America ages 12-18, and runs for 5 months total, completely free of charge. The first two months of the fellowship is education and reflection on intersectional sustainability. This will consist of learning from guest speakers, presentations and more about topics ranging from global health to fast fashion. Then the students will further their knowledge and engage with their passions through debates, activities, workshops and more. Month 3 is about developing a leadership mindset and the tools to create change. The leadership development and training will consist of workshops from global leaders as well as having the students create a plan for their initiative. In months 4 and 5, the students will be leading their own sustainable initiative in their community, guided by one of ECI’s experienced youth mentors. Students will benefit immensely from this experience and come out of it with a greatly expanded knowledge of the environmental crisis and its implications for the world. Furthermore, they will gain unmatched leadership skills that they can carry on to the professional world. If you want to learn more about the fellowship, you can visit https://www.ecocircleinternational.org/fellowship
What are your dreams regarding the future of Eco Circle International?
That’s a big question! Ideally we would like to expand our fellowship so we have multiple fellowships going on at once in different regions of the world. With our virtual mediums such as the podcast really we just want to grow our audience to inspire & educate as many people as we can.
How can others support your cause?
Firstly, if you are able, you can donate to ECI via the following link: https://givebutter.com/ecocircle . If you want to get involved with ECI, you can either become a fellow or join the team. The fellowship is an outstanding opportunity for students who want to gain environmental & leadership experience, whereas the team is more for those who already have the ‘qualifications’ to help run an organization. We recommend becoming a fellow and then after completing the fellowship joining the team! Another way you can interact with ECI is by subscribing to our podcast! All of the links to do these actions are on our website, if you still have any questions you can email contact@ecocircleinternational.org
Aside from getting involved with ECI, a few ways you can help combat the environmental crisis are by simply staying educated. Being able to explain the crisis and engage in conversation is one of the best ways to spread awareness and encourage others to do the same. You can also take individual actions such as reducing your red meat intake, reducing use of single-use items, and walking/biking more. We all must develop a sustainable mindset, where we are able to reflect on our own lives and adjust our actions to benefit the planet. During more “normal” times, you can also attend climate strikes which is an amazing way to make your voice heard and fuel the movement.
What advice would you give to other young people who care about the environment and want to make a change in the world, like you are?
The main thing we would say is focus on change. With every initiative or action you do, ask yourself what impact it's having. Another big piece of advice we have is to not compare yourself to other activists. Everyone is different and there are so many types of change, so just because someone has more followers or gets more media attention doesn’t mean that what you are doing is invalid. Even if you are just getting 1% back of all the effort you put in, if you are truly passionate about your cause, that 1% is worth it. Just keep trying and keep working for change and gradually it will happen. We all need to work together to combat the environmental crises, so every action we take towards a sustainable future does make a difference.
Thank you again Chloe and Georgia to partaking in this interview! We love everything you are doing to help the environment.
I'm actually working with them in creating part of the curriculum for the Fellowship Program, and all of the lessons are so incredible and insightful, so I recommend that you sign up!