A group of young people dedicated to protecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from mining pollution has announced its launch today in Washington, D.C.
“Kids for the Boundary Waters” is the work of Joseph Goldstein, a teenager who has been visiting canoe country since the age of three. He started advocating for its protection almost four years ago, after being diagnosed with leukemia.
When the Make-A-Wish Foundation couldn’t fulfill Goldstein’s wish to save the Boundary Waters, Goldstein found a new purpose in working for its protection in the face of the Twin Metals copper-nickel mine at the edge of the wilderness.
Several other young people also serve on the organization’s advisory board, including Julia Ruelle, the high school sophomore who recently won a parents-free trip to the wilderness with an essay about her own struggles with cancer and the importance of the wilderness.
Goldstein has spent the last three years working with the Save the Boundary Waters Campaign, even while receiving chemotherapy. He says that since he has now completed treatment, it’s time to do more.
“Over the past year, it has become increasingly clear to me that saving the BWCA is most especially about us KIDS who will be inheriting whatever mess gets left behind,” Goldstein writes. “This is our future – our water, our public lands, our resources, our health, our country – that is at stake. To me, that means it’s time for us kids to get on the front line of the fight for the Boundary Waters.”
The “Kids for the Boundary Waters” campaign kicked off today at a press conference in Washington, D.C., which will also welcome Dave and Amy Freeman to the city after their 2,000-mile bike ride from Minnesota.