When you’re trekking in New Zealand’s backcountry, it’s hard to get to a phone.

“She’s going to try and call you when she finds a pay phone, in between hikes,” Emily Jubenvill’s mother Joy said.

But Jubenvill never found that phone.

There’s no fault in it. She’s busy taking a course on permaculture and sustainability, all the while working on organic farms.

Jubenvill’s zest for learning how to make as little negative environmental impact as possible and living by those practices has become a way of life.

Last year she was voted the greenest person in Canada and placed second for the “Greenest Person on the Planet” title. More than 600 people from 25 countries entered the contest launched by Simon Fraser University business professor Boyd Cohen.

The Royal Roads environmental science graduate recycles pretty much everything, has her own urban garden, makes her own non-toxic cleaning products and opts for her legs rather than gas-powered vehicles.

When Jubenvill is forced to buy produce, rather than eat her own, she buys locally and all scraps end up in the worm composting bin under her sink.

Jubenvill wasn’t always quite as “green,” her mother Joy said. Growing up the family lived in North Vancouver and later on Bowen Island. The family recycled but where pretty average on the green scale, Joy said.

Jubenvill started a community garden on the island — the Davie’s Orchard Community garden. She’s also the Community Gardens Coordinator for the Vancouver Public Space Network and co-founder of Small Feet Inc., a carbon and sustainability consulting firm.

Jubenvill’s work has influenced her mother’s lifestyle along with many others. When faced with such large environmental problems, it’s hard to know where one person can start influencing change, Joy said.

“Emily is a reminder that we just have to start small and get the ball rolling,” she said.

To keep up with Jubenvill and learn about some of her green practices visit www.urbanwren.wordpress.com.