Flying to Washington, D.C. from 10 different states and even Peru, a group of 40 young people spent two days in November asking officials in the nation’s capital to protect the Boundary Waters from mining pollution.
Not only did the group make their case to more than 40 people in Congress and federal agencies, but they experienced the power and promises of their nation’s political system. The “fly-in” was organized by Kids for the Boundary Waters, founded by high school student Joseph Goldstein.
“They really saw what it means to be part of the United States democracy, the democratic system,” Goldstein said. “They really saw the positive impacts they’re able to have just as citizens or advocates.”
The work has had an outsized impact. Letters the young people have sent to Senators after meeting them were read on the Senate floor. They have been front-and-center advocates during debates over land exchanges, mineral leases, and other environmental issues that have come up in on Capitol Hill.
“I think when a group of kids walks into an office of a politician and the kids know what they’re talking about, make their arguments effectively, I think it’s a little harder to look a kid in the eye and lie,” Goldstein says. “Not to say it hasn’t happened.”
With help from the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, Wilderness Society, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the Quetico Superior Foundation, the students have sought to tell their stories to anyone who will listen and can make an impact on the issue.
The kids have a simple message: the Boundary Waters is important to us, and we want it protected.
Stories of healing
A lot of what they say is about how the wilderness has had a positive impact on their lives. Many kids have personal stories of healing, whether they were dealing with body image issues and discovered the amazing things they could do, or we dealing with the divorce of their parents.
The power of the personal stories started with Goldstein, whose own relationship to canoe country was cemented by sickness. When he was 13, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and he credits the Boundary Waters with helping him get through four years of treatment. He and his family had been taking trips to the wilderness since he was six years old, and often made more than one trip each year.
He learned a lot from the wilderness — perhaps fighting cancer was a little like a long, hard portage.
“It helped me through cancer treatments, thinking how discomfort is temporary and stuff like that,” Goldstein says. “In chemo, I told myself this will be over eventually.”
When the Make-A-Wish Foundation asked him if he’d like to go to Disneyland or some other simple pleasure, he realized his only wish was to protect the Boundary Waters from mining. The foundation doesn’t get involved in political issues, but that didn’t stop Goldstein. When he had his first week off from chemotherapy, he took a trip to Washington.
Last winter, when he completed his cancer treatment, he founded Kids for the Boundary Waters. The group organized a limited trip to D.C. in June.
This November’s event was open to others, and they received about 60 applications for the 40 slots.
The work is far from over. All the youth participants in the trip were encouraged to set up local meetings with their elected representatives when they returned home. And Kids for the Boundary Waters is already dreaming up its next trip: this time hopefully to include 80 to 100 kids.
(Photos courtesy Kids for the Boundary Waters)
