Earth Island Institute established the Brower Youth Awards in 2000 to honor our founder and legendary environmental activist, David R. Brower and to call forth a new generation of leaders. This award manifests the Earth Island Institute’s abiding commitment to growing environmental leadership.

Our annual Brower Youth Awards honor six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Each winner is awarded $3000 and brought to San Francisco for the award week and a backcountry camping trip.

The Brower Youth Awards not only promote the accomplishments of these young leaders but also invest in their continued success by providing ongoing access to resources, mentors, and opportunities to develop their leadership skills through Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative.

Dave was a pioneering leader in the evolution of the 20th century environmental movement. Time after time in a career that evolved over more than 60 years, until his death in 2000, he saw the need for expanding what people thought of as environmental, to meet the needs of an evolving, fair, sustainable society. A key part of Brower's vision for action was his mentorship of younger emerging leaders. Earth Island Institute founded its Brower Youth Awards program to celebrate the spirit of Brower's mentoring, and it has expanded its New Leaders Initiative to provide other opportunities for young people finding their way in working for the planet's agenda.

In his sixty-plus years of activism, nothing gave David Brower greater joy than see the success of the many young leaders he mentored, among them Dave Foreman, Amory Lovins and Julia Butterfly Hill. “My secret,” Dave said, “is to surround myself with bright, young people, stand back, then wallow in their accomplishments.”