Hannah
Hannah McHardy, Rainforest Hero

When Hannah McHardy’s family moved to the Pacific Northwest from Arkansas, Hannah fell in love with the forests of her new home. When she learned that schools in western Washington receive money from logging on millions of acres of state lands, she asked the state Board of Natural Resources to protect old growth forests and introduce sustainable logging practices. Her efforts led to increased protection on 1.4 million acres of forestlands.

But Hannah didn’t stop there! She started The Old Growth Project at Nova High School where she and her classmates convinced their school to switch to using 100 percent recycled and chlorine-free paper—a move that will save more than 50 large trees per year.

Hannah then organized teach-ins to educate her community about logging company Weyerhaeuser’s destruction of old growth forests and led her friends in demonstrations with banners and signs asking the company to ‘Wake Up’ and protect forests for future generations. In May of 2004, Hannah and her classmates hand delivered more than 2,000 Earth Day letters from Rainforests Heroes around the world to Weyerhaeuser’s CEO Steve Rogel at the company’s headquarters (watch a video of the delivery).

As a result of Hannah’s incredible work, she was recognized in 2004 as one of six recipients of the Brower Youth Award, which recognizes young people who have demonstrated outstanding leadership with projects in environmental conservation, preservation or restoration. The award was created in honor of the late David Brower, who helped pioneer the environmental movement in the United States, and includes a $3,000 cash prize (find out more about the program).

We spoke with Hannah recently about her experiences and her advice for young people that want to get involved to help protect the Earth.

Why is working for environmental protection important to you?

With the rapid rate our planet is being destroyed, we are the last generation that will have the choice of wilderness, clean air, abundant wildlife, and ancient forests unless something is done. Once I discovered our planet was in such crisis, I decided to fight for the rights of these life-sustaining essentials for future generations.

When did you first develop a concern for environmental issues and how did you get involved?

I have always found sanctuary in nature; and from a young age I've ranted to anyone who would listen about the destruction and pollution I saw. It wasn't until I moved to the Pacific Northwest, experienced my first old growth forest, and read Julia Butterfly's book that I realized I could do more than rant and recycle for the environment. I came to the conclusion that my inactions were as much part of the destruction as a corporate CEO's actions were.

Can you tell us about your experience delivering the Earth Day letters to Weyerhaeuser?

Hannah taking action
Hannah taking action

We called up some TV news stations, loaded up 8 students, a teacher, and a banner in the school van and showed up at the Weyerhaeuser headquarters with a box of over 2,000 letters to CEO Steve Rogel. They sent their media relations director out to accept the letters and try to put a positive spin on Weyerhaeuser’s terrible logging practices, but we told him "even youth are smart enough to know how necessary old growth forests are to sustaining life on Earth; now it's time for Weyerhaeuser to wake up to the facts and stop stealing future generation's old growth forests and clean air!" Then we headed to their real estate offices in downtown Seattle and read some of the letters aloud on a megaphone during lunch hour and handed out lots of information to people. It was an amazing day!!

What was your experience at the Brower Youth Awards like?

The Brower Youth Awards was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The other recipients were astonishing young activist and it was such a learning experience to spend a week with them sharing ideas and laughter. I got to meet Julia Butterfly Hill, which was such a dream come true and left me speechless! She has been a huge inspiration for me since I've been involved in activism.

What advice do you have for young people to get involved?

Let go of what you think you can't do, and gain what you can only imagine. Be creative and brave: find new ways to spread awareness and/or boldly stop destruction in a way that expresses yourself. It is up to the youth to keep the movement innovative, effective, fresh, and most importantly FUN! Just go out and make yourself heard!