By Michael Walsh

The University Sustainability Committee will be hosting a lecture featuring three individuals who were recipients of the Bower Youth Award, North America’s top prize for bold young environmental leaders, as apart of their “Our Green Future” panel in Semesters on Tuesday May 4 at 7 p.m.

Among the speakers are 17-year-old Alex Lin from Westerly, R.I. Lin has overseen the recycling of 300,000 pounds of electronic waste and has also lobbied the R.I. state legislature to ban the dumping of electronics. In addition, Lin used refurbished computers to create media centers in countries like Cameroon and Sri Lanka to combat computer literacy.

Rachel Barge, a program manager for the Business Council on Climate Change in San Francisco, is also to be noted for her part in Campus InPower, a non-profit consulting firm that advocates innovative financial mechanisms to support campus sustainability nationwide.

The third individual to be recognized with a Bower Youth Award is Erica Fernandez, whose protests and testimony at the California State Lands Commission meeting helped convince the commission to vote to deny a project that included a 36-inch pipeline that was to be routed through low-income neighborhoods on the coast of Oxnard, Calif. and Malibu, Calif.

The lecture, which focuses on leadership and empowerment, is sponsored by The Center for Public Policy William A. O’Neill endowed chair and the Student Center Living Room Lecture Series. Each of the award winners will speak for twenty minutes, sharing their own story and perspectives, with questions to follow.