Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, both 24, created an eco-friendly replacement for Styrofoam.

We all use Styrofoam and don’t realize it. Beyond packaging, it’s in the tables we use and the airplanes in which we fly. We’ve long heard, though, that it’s not the most environmentally friendly product, taking 10,000 years to break down. Enter two 24-year-old innovators with some mushroom roots and seed husks.

Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre are the co-founders of Ecovative Design, a company that builds a completely organic and natural Styrofoam replacement. In non-scientific terms, they grind up seed husks and glue the small pieces together with the mushroom root, yielding a product that’s natural and completely compostable. Unlike other sustainable inventions, like ethanol, their product doesn’t come from anything humans or animals can consume, so their materials are available in abundance.

The two now run a 10-employee operation that is fueled primarily by grants and scientific competitions that have brought the young men upwards of $1 million. “If you have a passion and a vision and something that you know is attainable, drop everything and go for it. Don't keep your side job because your concentration and focus will be deterred. Follow your passion,” Gavin says.

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Molly and Carly Houlahan started Hives for Lives to donate money to cancer charities.

I met Molly and Carly Houlahan at Service Nation in New York recently. Before they even told me their story, I could tell these were special girls. And their story only made them more so.

When these sisters were 9 and 11, their grandfather died suddenly from throat cancer. It was devastating to them because he was so young. They wanted to do something not only to remember him, but to make sure others would not be stricken by cancer like he was.

They started reminiscing about their grandfather's love for his bee hives and the harvest he completed ever year, when they realized they could sell honey and donate the procedes to charities that help fight cancer. They started Hives for Lives with 23 hives, selling raw honey at farmers markets, craft stores and Whole Foods. Five years later, they have donated more than $150,000 to cancer charities.

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Una Kim, 30, co-founded Keep Company, a cruelty-free brand of shoes.

I get asked a lot, “What makes young entrepreneurs different?” I think it’s the underlying consciousness that links every budding business tycoon I’ve featured: the basic desire for due diligence and care for sustainability. Una Kim is a prime example of both of those things.

In her twenties, Una started Keep Company, a skateboarding-inspired shoe brand. Every shoe is cruelty-free. But it’s still full of what Una and her little team that could believe their customers want.

“I was skateboarding a lot because I was living in New York, and I hated all the girls' shoes on the market,” Una says of her inspiration for her company. She bought boys' shoes in their smallest size because they weren’t those “puffy pink ugly marshmellowy things that misappropriated the color pink” but more streamlined and authentic. “It’s all about understanding the American dream,” this first-generation American says of the good company she keeps.

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Arthur Ebeling, 23, is the CEO of Eastern Isles Teas and Tonics.

Arthur Ebeling wants to save the world one cup of tea at a time. It sounds cliché, but this 23-year-old wants to make a mark on entrepreneurship and the environment simultaneously. Like tea, his outlook is refreshing: "Young entrepreneurs are creating a new wave of business. We live in a truly global marketplace and that is a critical landscape for social change being partnered with business."

Ebeling certainly knows his teas. He grew up making tea from spearmint he picked from his grandmother's backyard. He even likes to explain the medicinal benefits of different leaves as outlined in the fabled Eastern Isles' Lost Scrolls.

Ebeling started Eastern Isles Teas and Tonics as a college student two years ago (he's graduating in the fall). It sells eight teas and donates one dollar from each sale to environmental causes. Ebeling is also working on a line of teas for kids to replace some soft drinks.

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Sam Massa, 18, started a business to convert diesel-powered vehicles to run on vegetable oil.

Don't look away. We are going to talk about oil prices. But it's positive, I promise. This "pain at the pump" story starts with a dyslexic student who had a hard time in high school.

Sam Massa had such a hard time with dyslexia, he eventually dropped out of high school to get his GED and pursue his independent spirit of entrepreneurship. He started small with mowing lawns then he started a DJ company, eventually making enough money to buy his dream car - a yellow Hummer.

Gasp! Here comes the gas prices part - Sam couldn't afford the gas to keep up the Hummer. So, he started a business, Massa Green Enterprises, to convert diesel engines to run on veggie oil. He tours with his Hummer across the country, filling up with leftovers from fast food restaurants. How will the story end? Sam, 18, hopes it will get more people talking about veggie oil prices.

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Aaron Arnold, 29, is the founder of Music is My Business.

No matter how old we are, no matter what stage we're at in life, we all tend to wonder, "If money didn't matter, what would I do?" Aaron Arnold had those thoughts. And he's acted on them.

After Arnold graduated from college, he was fast-tracked into an executive position at a major PR firm. He had money, but he was miserable. The real answer to his nagging thoughts about his true passion was music. So shortly after he got married, Arnold took a major leap to a nonpaying (to the dismay of his wife) internship with Bad Boy Records.

He worked for free to soak up all he could as an assistant to record producer and entrepreneur Sean "Diddy" Combs. After a year of grooming, the 29-year-old went on his own to start Music is My Business. "I wanted to change the music industry for the better," Arnold said. He now handles budding artists, with the goal of changing the way business is done in the music industry.

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Operation Fairy Dust helps high school girls prepare for prom night when they otherwise couldn't afford to do so.

Prom. They say you never forget the day, good or bad. The date. The hair. The makeup. The dress.

But many young girls can't afford to get all dolled up. Enter Operation Fairy Dust. Founded in 2002, this group was built by young female professionals and graduate students in New York City. It provides high school girls with makeup, accessories and prom dresses, if they can't buy them on their own.

With sister organizations around the country, these groups sustain themselves with donations and second-hand dresses. The young women who run the group wear tiaras and are as cheerful as they are kind-hearted. They can't promise a good time, but they can provide the means to have a fair shot at having one.

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Kate Atwood, second from right, was 6 years old when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

When I was 11, my father died. I didn’t know anyone my age who had lost a parent. I thought that only people who were my parents’ age lost a parent.

I certainly didn’t know Kate Atwood then, but I’m happy to know her now. Atwood’s mom died from breast cancer when she was 12. Atwood saw the need for an organization to bring bereaved children together to let them know they’re not alone.

In 2003, she started Kate’s Club, a group that empowers kids after the loss of a parent or sibling. Social, recreational and emotional support programs help them cope with their loss and remember that even though they just had to grow up fast, they're still kids at heart.

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Tyler Lyson's interest in fossil discovery led him to help create a research foundation.

Lots of kids are into dinosaurs. Tyler Lyson says he just never grew out of it. He grew up in rural North Dakota and says fossils were more ubiquitous there than in other places in the U.S.

But in 1999, he didn’t find just any fossil; he discovered something jaw-dropping: a 25-foot-long dinosaur, complete with skin and all. Lyson’s find was an Edmontosaurus he named Dakota. The 65 million-year-old mummified dinosaur was eventually unearthed with Lyson standing by in 2004.

Lyson is now the co-founder of the Marmarth Research Foundation in his hometown. The foundation is creating a museum and outreach programs to give volunteers hands-on field and lab work with fossils. While getting his doctorate at Yale, Lyson wants to make sure that other kids don’t grow out of their fascination with the extinct.

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Zachary Peskin, right, and his brother Adam discuss the Special Business Partners Program with a retailer.

It's Autism Awareness Month, but for people who have autism or live with someone who does, they are aware every day. Zachary Peskin, 16, decided not only to be aware but also to be active.

Zachary’s older brother, Adam, is autistic. After years of watching others serve Adam, Zachary noticed that his brother’s greatest joy came from helping others. It was the little things: from setting the table to setting up events at the local community center. Last year, it hit Zachary - if his brother could give back a little, then the opportunity for the developmentally disabled community to give back collectively was great.

Last year, Zachary started Special People Helping Others, or SpPHO. Group members attend SpPHO-sponsored activities and community events to sell 3-for-1 Bracelets. It’s called the 3-for-1 because for every bracelet sold, three causes can be helped: SpPHO, Meals on Wheels and Doctors Without Borders, an international medical and humanitarian aid organization. SpPHO is a group that helps people such as Zachary's brother by letting them help others.

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