Kaila Tubb is an eighteen-year-old with a passion. She desires to protect the environment, and she plans to do this with the creation of Generation G.
Generation G is a Web site for the youth to share in her passion.
Kaila has always been interested in the health of the environment. However, her incentive to start something did not begin until she was a senior in high school.
“You see, I had a science teacher, that taught us not only how we were hurting the planet, but what we could do to help, and what the consequences were if we did not do something,” said Kaila. “That really affected me … I wanted to make a difference to help where I could and how I could.”
Generation G was not a direct result of this, though. In around the middle of March, 2008, Kaila was discussing the voice of the youth with individuals on the Internet. She was curious to why her generation was constantly pushed down for their ideas simply because they had “no life experience.”
“This irritated me to the point where I said, ‘Well what if [the youth] could talk to each other? What if they could state their ideas and act on them, in a way that would be positive towards themselves and the planet?'” Those were the questions that led to her creation of Generation G.
When Kaila says “the youth,” her main focus is teenagers between the ages of 13 and 23, but she doesn’t mind younger or older people.
Generation G also can grow with the teenagers if they choose to stay. Kaila said that “as long as they continue to respect the younger people in the group, everyone has a voice, and therefore everyone should be able to speak.”
So what is it like for a student to begin such an undertaking? Incredibly difficult, according to Kaila. She and her Web designer have had to slow down the progress of making the permanent site because they are both full-time students. The costs of maintaining a Web site does not help with this either.
Kaila plans to find an organization or sponsor to help with the site’s expenses. However, she knows she has to be very cautious. “All too often sponsors channel what you can and can’t say,” she said. “We never want to have to say that you can only talk about what the sponsors say you can… That would kind of ruin the whole point.”
When it comes to advertising, Kaila said it’s mostly been word of mouth, but she has also been posting adds in forums that she visits. She hopes to have a video advertisement on Youtube when she gets Generation G on its feet.
The main Web site for Generation G is still in the developing stages. Kaila has set up a temporary Web site at http://www.freewebs.com/generationg/index.htm. It includes a forum and news articles about ways people and places are going green.
Kaila wants to see something stir in her world. “I want to see us make a difference, plant trees, start a stir in the youth of America, a new kind of revolution, a green revolution. I want to see change and I want us to be part of it.”
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