Welcome!

Welcome to Spearmint! We are an environmental organization whose mission is to bring the environmental movement to urban areas around the world in refreshing and meaningful ways.

My name is Jane Zhang, and I am the founder of Spearmint. Why Spearmint? The idea stemmed from my experiences in Shanghai, China. I had been born and raised in the United States until elementary school. I moved back to Shanghai, China with my parents in sixth grade. During the first year I lived in China, I got sick many times because I was not used to the smoggy and polluted urban environment. I realized that many other people that visit or live in polluted areas must also be getting sick as well. The air pollution was not only causing many public health problems in China; it was also making the city and China less beautiful.

Is there a way to prevent other people from getting sick like me? As I learned more about the environment through taking environmental classes, participating in environmental clubs, my environmental initiative grew.

I interned and participated with some environmental organizations in my freshman year of high school, but I realized that not many environmental organizations focus on or emphasize the values behind events. Realizing that this gap was important to fill, I began thinking about how I could hold an event that communicated the importance of urban environmentalism and the values behind environmentalism. I applied for a grant from my high school to use to start my first event, a Clean-up Day in Wenling, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China. The goal was to raise environmental awareness in Wenling and its surrounding cities while cleaning up Wenling city. More information about the project is here.

Spearmint welcomes you to take part in our efforts and cause. If you would like Spearmint to organize events in your country or city, we would like to hear from you! Any suggestions for further events or other comments are also welcome.

In the future, Spearmint will post updates about its current actions. Stay tuned for more environmental action and some of my personal musings about the environment!