Student encourages others who love their country to love the planet, too

Sep 1

Hiba Shaikh (right, in black headscarf) with EcoPatriot volunteers planting trees on the Huron University College campus in London, Ont. Photo courtesy: Huron University College Student Council (HUCSC)

By Patricia Lane & Hiba Shaikh Ansari

Hiba Shaikh Ansari wants us to love the environment as much as we love our nations. This 21-year-old student at Huron University College was named a 2026 Starfish Canada Climate Fellow for her work founding and promoting EcoPatriot and inspiring projects and approaches that will unify people across geographic boundaries.

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EcoPatriot is a student-led project seeking to redefine patriotism by blurring national boundaries and uniting us as a global community to stand for what we stand on. We inspire our campus community to make sustainable choices, reduce our collective impact and inspire others. In our first two years, we recruited more than 100 volunteers and persuaded the university to plant 135 trees. We hosted two sustainability summits featuring guest speakers from across Canada with disciplines as diverse as quantum chemistry, AI and agro-voltaics, and introduced students to a wide range of internships and career choices that will help protect the Earth and mentoring to ease their path.

My own research also blurs national boundaries. Although I am in Canada, I am exploring challenges faced by the Indigenous communities in two states in India in implementing a just transition. For example, women often walk miles already to get water. As drought worsens, they must walk further and cross more frequently into areas where they are not safe, especially if they are a religious minority. How best can the state support them given the reality that gender and religion are often blind spots for policymakers?

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Student encourages others who love their country to love the planet, too

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