Hi! I'm Jaya Castro, the founder of Sustainable Humankind, welcome to our website.
I was concerned by the lack of environmental science taught in school curricula to young student across Florida and recognized that it was important for the younger generation to understand the severe environmental issues affecting Earth that I was only now learning about in high school. I hope to encourage early-childhood advocacy and awareness about environmental issues so young children can join the climate movement and begin making sustainable choices early on in life. That is the goal of Sustainable Humankind.
How it all began:
My climate journey began three years ago, when I first served on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee for the Miami Youth Climate Summit (MYCS), where we brought in speakers from all backgrounds to present environmental issues at the summit. In my sophomore year of high school, I led the DEI committee, began taking AP Environmental Science (APES), and competed on the Envirothon team at school. Through DEI, APES, and Envirothon, I learned so much about environmental issues currently affecting our Earth and wanted to share that knowledge with the younger generation.
Since I love the arts (especially the performing arts!),I began thinking about how I could combine the arts and environmental education for kids. I thought what better way to teach a message to the younger generation than through a song! I’ve always wanted to write a song and now I had a message. I began writing the words and harmony and then worked with my piano teacher’s husband, Mr. Bill Galliford, who helped arrange the music. When the song came together, I titled it “Take Me Back.” I began by singing “Take Me Back” at donor events to help raise money for the arts - specifically schools that lack funding and resources for early childhood music education.
During this time, I began helping a nearby elementary school with the initiation of their EcoAmbassadors Club. The club teaches students how they can become environmental ambassadors in their school and community. I served as guest speaker where I gave several presentations about the imminent dangers of climate change and taught the students how to sing “Take Me Back” for Earth Day. Eventually the students sang the song for their morning announcements.
I was thrilled with the enthusiasm I was met with while being a guest speaker, so in the fall of 2023 I decided to start a new environmental club called EcoSkits. EcoSkits sought to educate students about the environment through performing arts. At the beginning of each week, we met to discuss current environmental issues and at the following meeting we performed skits or played theatre-based games created by the students about those environmental issues.
Wanting to reach a different community of young students, one I felt never really received this information, I started an additional environmental program with the help of my ballet academy, the Armour Dance Theatre (ADT). “EcoDays” is a series of presentations I am giving to children about water conservation and single-use plastic waste within ADT’s community outreach programs at local Miami-Dade County schools. After speaking with my ballet instructor about ADT’s community outreach programs, I reached out to Elkay (a manufacturer of drinking water solutions) and advocated for the ADT outreach programs. Elkay generously offered to donate 300 reusable water bottles and 5 water refilling stations to be installed at the schools within the outreach program. In connection with my EcoDays presentations so far I have been able to donate over 100 reusable water bottles to students and staff with the help of Elkay, who I have begun a collaboration with as a student advocate.
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