Payal Mehta has a plastic dream. This young climate leader from Guelph, Ont., was named a 2026 Starfish Canada Fellow for her work starting Reimagining Plastic , a youth-led initiative to raise awareness and take action on the impact of plastics in our environment and bodies.

Ahmad Chattha is passing on climate hope to the children who come next. This 18-year-old Toronto highschool student is determined to ensure that young children have stories of climate hope and resilience to lift them up.

Anne Liang, a 19-year-old Dawson College student in Montreal, organized and ran a thrift fashion show so successful that the college now plans to make it an annual tradition.

Veterinary medicine student Mikayla Astroff earned a Starfish Canada 2026 Climate 75 Fellowship for her work helping youth understand the impacts of climate change on our ecosystems.

Ashton Kerr connects and empowers people to take action for the environment. As acting director of partnerships and programs for Green Teams Canada, this 28-year-old North Vancouver resident shares the power and value of community organizing to create meaningful change.

Sofia Panzetta is helping restore balance to Pacific marine ecosystems. As climate change warms the ocean, the invasive European Green Crab thrives, threatening the health of clams, mussels and even salmon stocks.

Isabella Wen helps those directly impacted by climate change find their voice. This 18-year-old high school student from Surrey, British Columbia, is a Starfish Canada 2026 Climate75 Fellow. She is also media team lead for the food sovereignty conversation hosted by UBC’s Health Together project.

Mendel Skulski applies the art of conversation in service of a livable future. As a sound artist, this young Vancouverite co-produces Future Ecologies, a podcast exploring our relationships with the natural world, layered with stories, science, music and soundscapes.

Melina Ghasem-Asad encourages her immigrant peers to work with soil and reconnect with nature, which she says will help them build resilience in a challenging time.

With a belief that the climate crisis is as much an emotional and mental challenge as a physical one, 23-year-old Brampton, Ont. native Jashan Gill leads operations for Green Mind Canada, which aims to equip young people with the tools they need to process what is happening and take meaningful action.

Kiethan Theva is shifting Toronto’s coffee-drinking culture. The 23-year-old from Scarborough, Ontario, is building a network to help sustainability-minded cafés and values-aligned customers find each other.

Jacob Gerard, a 23-year-old wildlife biologist, storyteller and photographer from Ajax, Ont., has created a beautiful web-based story map called Neighbours of the North to help people protect the wild creatures that live among them.

Mackenzie Burnett explores the overlap between extractive industry and Indigenous concepts of land restoration. She also draws people into conversations about climate solutions in her work with Climate Justice Saskatoon and the Saskatoon Climate Hub.

Milad Rajabi came to Canada as a refugee in 2023. Now a permanent resident, he helps other newcomers adjust to life here.

Valerie Muñoz brings the ocean to land. As a member of EarthEcho International’s Youth Leadership Council, this 22-year-old master's degree student at McGill University designs collaborative campaigns to mobilize young ocean advocates worldwide through GenSea.

Working with the non-profit Zero Emissions Innovation Centre, Victoria Lim helps policymakers and industry leaders make the climate safer.

Tinka Robev, the co-founder of Victoria's Puzzle Lab, says the business operates on the principles of 'ethical capitalism' — reusing waste from other wood industries in its products, avoiding plastic packaging and supporting its employees with generous wages and artists with fair royalties.

Fatou Dieng, a 29-year-old Montrealer originally from Senegal, was raised to see the earth as the source of all life. Now, she dedicates hers to protecting it.

Many are tempted to focus on taxing luxury consumption, but this University of Toronto PhD student says they should aim bigger: rather than just focus on what the rich are consuming, policymakers should also keep their investments in mind.

Melody Li is designing her own path toward a fairer, more climate-adaptive future. In 2026, she will focus on her own project, Meals That Matter, helping people in vulnerable and marginalized communities see food that would otherwise be wasted can be redirected to provide delicious, culturally appropriate and climate-friendly meals — while keeping food out of landfills.