Just looking around one of the rooms at the Palisades Centre last Friday, April 17, it was evident that the 38 junior and senior high school students who were taking part in the second annual Sustainability Conference were environmentally aware and future leaders of their community.

The purpose of the conference was to look at sustainability and “promote a little bit of leadership,” said Sandy Cox, a teacher from Jasper’s Jr./Sr. High School.

Grade 11 student Kai Okazaki said the conference was really about talking to teenagers in the area and increasing their awareness and knowledge.

“We’re trying to succeed in spreading the word about what’s our future going to be like in 10 or 15 years if we don’t change our attitudes. Talking to teenagers in our general area can help people in the future, because we’re going to be the future one day as well, right?”

Sheets of butcher’s paper, that had obviously been used throughout the day and evening prior, had messages written on them that read “Be fantastic don’t use plastic,” and “Use your brain take the train.”

Young Jasperites were joined at the conference by their fellow students from across the Grande Yellowhead Regional Division (GYRD) to be involved in the conference which was a follow-up from the inaugural conference held last year.

All meals, accommodation and a range of speakers were funded by GYRD and a grant from the Alberta EcoTrust.

Keeping up with technology, the children also got online and created a Facebook group for the conference to which they uploaded their pictures, ideas and discussions throughout the conference.

According to Cox, the Facebook group was an exciting idea as it will help the kids to “keep in touch and try to get some initiative going as to what they’re going to do when they go back to their schools.”

Students were given an opportunity to discuss important issues such as the environment, while learning new skills like photography, poetry-writing with local poet and teacher Paulette Dubé, as well as workshops with Toronto filmmaker and activist Andrew Nisker and a brief discussion with local MLA Rob Merrifield.

According to Okazaki, all of the speakers were well-received, especially Nisker who spoke to students about garbage in Canada.

“Andrew Nisker was actually really phenomenal to learn about,” he said adding that he’d always been conscious about recycling but now thinks about “the product that they made that cannot be recycled, where does it go?”

The Fitzhugh also witnessed a question period with Merrifeld, who was on location to announce infrastructure funding for the Palisades.

Students seemed to stump Merrifield by asking questions about the environmental impact of the tar sands and what the government plans to do about it, as well as how the government is dealing with the current recession and how was the government going to make the country more sustainable.

Nonetheless, before question time began, Merrifield applauded the students’ ambition and noted how proud he was of the program they were being offered.

He spoke to the students about the ideas that were a “dime a dozen” which could be found daily in his profession and the importance of learning how to get other people to buy into the idea and turn it into an action.