Young people from across the Vancouver area have joined forces to organize an historic Earth Day parade and festival scheduled to get under way at 11am on Friday April 22, starting at Commercial and Broadway.

"Our goal is to hold Vancouver's first Earth Day Celebration organized by youth for all youth and the families of Metro Vancouver," said Cassandra Ly, a grade 12 student from the organizing group Youth For Climate Justice Now (Y4CJN).

"We hope to raise awareness and show our concern towards climate change as youth are inheriting the world and we feel the need to take action to make both Vancouver and the global community a healthier and better place to live in," said Ly.

The students have enlisted the support of mentors to help make their event a success. Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee, and Andrea Curtis, an events organizer and founder of Transformation Projects, have played an active role in organizing.

"These students are showing great leadership on an issue that many politicians are not paying enough attention to," said West. "The fact that a federal election is happening a week after Earth Day provides a great opportunity for this event to increase youth participation in democracy."

The parade will go down Commercial drive culminating in a festival at the oval field at Britannia Secondary at William and Woodland. The festival will feature guest speakers including Melina Laboucan-Massimo, a First Nations woman from northern Alberta campaigning against the tar sands, as well as youth spoken word poets and music from local artists including funky East Van favourites Maria in the Shower.

"We hope to recapture the original spirit of Earth Day as a celebration of the Earth as it should be and a vehicle for environmental action," said Ly. "We are bringing back the peace sign as the symbol for our event because we want people to think about being at peace with the Earth, but more specifically we want people to focus on the goal of keeping global temperature from going up another 2 degrees, which is the tipping point for run away climate change," said Chan.

The youth organizers have sought the assistance of celebrity endorsements. 350.org founder Bill McKibben has recorded an event promo video that has been retreated by Vancouver rocker Biff Naked. George Stroumboulopoulos also recently posed for a promotional picture for the event. More special guests have expressed interest in helping out. Updates will be coming soon.

"This is going to be an Earth Day to remember in Vancouver," said West. "These young people are so inspiring, they give me hope that a better world truly is possible."