2 Bar Harbor Residents Finalists for 2020 Brookie Awards

2 Bar Harbor residents are among the 6 finalists for the 2020 Brookie Awards, which are hosted every two years by NRCM (Natural Resource Council of Maine) Rising. The Brookie Awards honor Maine's young environmental leaders. Finalists are 15 year old Sirohi Kumar, a rising junior at MDI High School and 23 year old Ania Wright.

According to the Brookie Award's website, "Brook trout, while one of the smaller trout species, are strong, mighty, and captivating to watch. When brookies rise in the rivers and streams of Maine, their impact ripples far beyond that leap. The Brookie Awards recognize the young and mighty individuals whose positive impact on Maine’s environment ripples beyond themselves, much like true brookies.

Every two years, The Brookie Awards will honor six young changemakers who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and made a significant impact in Maine’s environmental movement. NRCM Rising does this with the goal of learning from and inspiring each other to further Maine’s environmental movement."

Sirohi Kumar is a co-founder of the Mount Desert Island Climate Emergency Action Coalition, the youth representative to the Bar Harbor Task Force on Climate, and the incoming President of the Mount Desert Island High School ECOteam.

As a founding member of the Climate Emergency Action Coalition, Sirohi has been involved in every step of its growth, taking on leadership positions in forming and serving on the Task Force in Bar Harbor. Following Bar Harbor’s climate emergency declaration, Sirohi is leading and mentoring a group from Mount Desert to build support for their emergency declaration, too. She wrote a guide on how to declare a climate emergency in any Maine town.

Sirohi’s work as a part of the Mount Desert High School ECOteam has contributed to more positive change within the community. The team was an essential advocate for installing solar panels that provide the high school with 100% of its electricity. She is the co-author of a white paper on the role of youth activism in installing solar panels at schools.

Ania Wright is a climate organizer and activist. Her list of initiatives includes serving as the Youth Representative to the Maine Climate Council; helping found both Maine Youth for Climate Justice and the Downeast Climate Emergency Action Coalition; and co-authoring the Climate Justice Syllabus.

Ania has fought to bring municipalities into the conversation of climate action. Ania worked with local students in Bar Harbor and at the College of the Atlantic to encourage the town of Bar Harbor to pass a climate emergency resolution and create a Climate Emergency Task Force

All the Brookie Award Winners will be featured in a 90 minute Zoom presentation Tuesday, June 30th from 11 to 12:30 p.m.