Earth Island Institute Announces the 2026 Brower Youth Award Winners

BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative announced this year's recipients of the prestigious Brower Youth Awards for Environmental Leadership today: Esther Bonney, Kaitlyn Culbert, Garrett Ordonez, Maritza Sanchez, Ojas Sanghi, and Renee Zhao.

The annual Brower Youth Awards recognizes six outstanding and emerging leaders for their achievements to transform the environmental movement in North America and beyond. Now in its 27th year, the Brower Youth Awards is the leading environmental youth award in the country.

"We are proud to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of the recipients of this year's Brower Youth Awards," said Sumona Majumdar, chief executive officer of Earth Island Institute. "From passing America's most comprehensive school climate action resolution to developing microbial fuel cells from recycled materials that convert wastewater into electricity, their impressive accomplishments are a testament to the power and potential of youth in creating solutions for a healthy planet."

The six 2026 Brower Youth Award winners represent accomplishments across the environmental movement. Prize winners will be honored at the 27th annual Brower Youth Awards Ceremony in Berkeley, California on Monday, October 19.

This year's recipients are:

Esther Bonney, 19, of La Plata, Maryland
Esther Bonney founded the nonprofit Nurture Natives in 2022 to promote native biodiversity across the Chesapeake Bay region. Today, Nurture Natives partners with dozens of organizations to host educational programs and native plant giveaways. The nonprofit has engaged more than 15,000 youth, facilitated the planting of 3 million native seeds, and restored over 420 acres of habitat across Maryland. Nurture Natives was conferred the 2024 Presidential Environmental Youth Award by the Biden-Harris administration for helping to restore natural ecosystems while empowering youth and improving their mental health through tangible action.

Kaitlyn Culbert, 20, of Toms River, New Jersey
Kaitlyn Culbert is on a mission to address threats facing pollinators. As a high schooler, Culbert published a study in Harvard's Journal of Emerging Investigators that found a correlation between greater access to native plants and improved honeybee health and survival. She then created a State-by-State Native Plant Compendium of local native plants in all 50 states. In 2023, she worked with New Jersey legislators to create the "Parks, Plants, and Pollinators" bill that would prohibit planting non-native species in state parks and forests. In 2025, Culbert introduced a congressional bill that would ban neonicotinoids on federal lands.

Garrett Ordonez, 21, of Los Angeles, California
During a 2024 summer job with the Southern Nevada Conservancy, Garrett Ordonez wondered whether he could transform recreational hikers into dedicated conservationists. That fall, he founded Hike for Habitats, a student-led organization at the University of Southern California. Through guided hikes paired with hands-on conservation work, the group encourages students to help heal the ecosystems they are exploring. After the 2025 Eaton and Palisades wildfires, Hike for Habitats mobilized volunteers to assist with debris removal and recovery efforts in Altadena. Today, Hike for Habitats has grown from a five-person team to a community of 600 people.

Maritza Sanchez, 21, of Cuautlancingo, Puebla, Mexico
Growing up in the central Mexican town of Cuautlancingo, Maritza Sanchez was surrounded by pollution. As a high schooler, she developed a concept for microbial fuel cells that could reutilize materials from discarded local waste to generate electricity for energy-poor households and improve water quality along the heavily-contaminated Atoyac River. In 2025, Sanchez founded Aquayac Energy, where she designs, constructs, and tests microbial fuel cell prototypes; tests water quality after treatment; and measures energy generation. While she's still refining the design, Sanchez expects to scale the project over the coming year and produce 50 functional fuel cells by 2027.

Ojas Sanghi, 21, of Tucson, Arizona
As a first-year at the University of Arizona, Ojas Sanghi recognized that districtwide climate action could meaningfully lower Tucson Unified School District (TUSD)'s greenhouse gas emissions, reduce students' exposure to air pollution, and foster youth engagement. As co-lead for the Tucson branch of the Arizona Youth Climate Coalition (AZYCC), Sanghi mobilized a team of 15 students in pursuit of this goal. Following AZYCC-led letter campaigns, climate strikes, and a Tucson climate summit, TUSD adopted the most comprehensive school climate action resolution in the country in 2024. Sanghi has since led implementation efforts and is helping other student groups replicate the coalition's success.

Renee Zhao, 19, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Renee Zhao served as director of climate education for the Canadian Youth Climate Action Team (CYCAT) from 2024 to 2025. Inspired by her belief that effective climate solutions must be inclusive and relevant to people's lives, she developed curriculum resources that make environmental issues accessible for elementary through high school students. CYCAT's educational programs have reached more than 300,000 youth around the globe. In 2025, Zhao helped organize the first-ever BC Students' Climate Policy Meeting with members of parliament, during which youth advocates representing some 10,000 students pushed for environmental education, emission caps, and equitable climate policies.

About the Brower Youth Awards
Every year, the Brower Youth Awards recognizes bold, young environmentalists for their efforts to build a world where both humans and nature thrive. Since 2000, 160+ awardees have received this prestigious award for their work, representing accomplishments across the environmental movement. In order to cultivate the next generation of environmental activists, the Brower Youth Awards program provides award-winners with leadership training, networking opportunities, and a platform to amplify their outstanding achievements. The Brower Youth Awards is a signature component of Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative.

About Earth Island Institute
Earth Island Institute is an operational home and cultural hub for environmental changemakers. We are a Berkeley-based nonprofit providing critical infrastructure for the movement in the form of environmental news and analysis, leadership development, legal advocacy, and capacity building for environmental projects. By threading together many different approaches to environmental conservation and justice, we aim to strengthen our collective efforts to preserve the Earth and all life on it.

SOURCE Earth Island Institute