Vision

Student Education for Environmental Development, or SEED, was founded as an application to the World Federation of United Nations Associations’ Youth Action for SDGs program, which asked applicants to submit a proposal for a project that would create an impact in their local community to advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Originally, the four founders of SEED discussed making a project around composting, but we eventually decided that as students, we wanted to create something revolving around education.

We each shared a passion for sustainability, and upon discussing found that the reasons for our interests stemmed from things like family and having pets. However, we found that none of us actually had become interested in the environment because of something we learned in school. We began wondering if this was a wider trend and if students across Canada and the US had sufficient access to environmental education.

Looking further into our question, we found that students across Canada face low rates of environmental literacy. Only one-third of graduates from Canadian universities are taught about sustainability in their curricula. According to the Montreal Gazette, that number is even lower at our university, McGill, with only 21% of students reporting having been exposed to such topics. With such low percentages for university graduates, we realized that the rates of environmental education in elementary and middle schools were likely to be even lower, particularly for students from low-income and marginalized communities. As a result, we settled on creating a project that would provide K-6 students with the opportunity to spark a passion for fostering sustainability in their neighborhoods.

We decided to use composting as our starting point. We conducted extensive research into composting systems and food waste in Montreal, building an interactive lesson that would teach students about the issue and how they can take steps to make change. Eventually, we settled on the idea that students would use mason jars to build mini composts which would serve as microcosms for larger composting bins. Meanwhile, we began several competitive rounds of selection for the UN’s SDGs program where we began building out SEED’s logo, outreach strategy, and social media channels.

Action

Student Education for Environmental Development, or SEED, is an initiative that brings free, interactive environmental education lessons to schools in Canada and the US with a focus on underprivileged students. Founded in December 2022 by four undergraduate students from McGill University, SEED has educated over 500 students in topics such as composting, circular economy, and climate change.

In early 2023, SEED won acceptance into the World Federation of United Nations Associations’ Youth Action for SDGs program as one of 15 out of 3,000 international projects. SEED’s founders participated in six months of project development training from the United Nations and climate change experts from across the globe, culminating in a UN summit in Norway in Fall 2023. Additionally, SEED was selected as a Top 3 Environment project by the prestigious Quebec-based awards program Forces AVENIR and serves as a member of the UN’s Youth Sustainable Development Solutions Network. SEED has also been featured three times in the McGill Tribune, McGill Bull and Bear, and Canada’s most widely-read newspaper, the Globe and Mail.

SEED has now grown to include 12 new members covering four departments: research, finance & budgeting, outreach, and education. SEED actively manages a website, LinkedIn, and Instagram and has taught classes in Montreal, New York City, and California.

Reflection & Celebration

The issues SEED works to address are not ones that our project can solve alone. Insufficient education, racial and income equity, and sustainability are global issues that millions of students struggle with. In Montreal, we’ve worked to make a difference locally by educating hundreds of students about how they can impact their communities. However, communities across the world face a similar challenge. Our four founders were lucky enough to foster our passions for sustainability outside the classroom, however, we believe that each student should be capable of impacting the future that they will reside in. Thus, one of the main lessons we’ve learned is that there is a huge amount of work to be done to advance environmental education, especially in low-income, marginalized areas.

Additionally, we’ve also learned the importance of collaboration. Throughout the implementation of SEED, we benefitted from the guidance of experts from the UN, faculty and students at McGill, teachers and students from local schools, and other sustainability leaders we had the chance to meet from around the world. Our connections served as a constant source of motivation and advice which we could lean on to keep growing our project. Even if SEED were replicated on a smaller scale, having a network of people who believe in the project’s mission is crucial to its success.

The final lesson we learned is that students learn best when they are taught by people they can relate to. As young students, we find it inspiring and hopeful to connect with other young people who are so receptive and thankful for the work we are doing. After almost every lesson, students will come and hug our educators, gleefully re-explaining what they learned about composting or sustainability. We’ve realized that students truly are passionate about changing the world around them, they just need a spark to be able to do so.

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