A Canadian woman's environmentally friendly way of life has earned her a place among the top five greenest people in the world, and she's in the running for the top spot.

From guerrilla gardening to growing her own food and running a community garden project, 22-year-old Emily Jubenvill's everyday life revolves around respecting the environment.

Whether it's stuffing reusable shopping bags into her roommate's purse to make it "easier for her to avoid using plastic," riding her bike to her environmentally friendly workplace or maintaining a worm composter in her one-bedroom apartment -- being 'green' is a lifestyle for Jubenvill.

"A lot of the stuff I do is pretty basic," Jubenvill told CTV.ca from Vancouver. "It's the type of stuff that a lot of people try to do. But maybe it's that I'm doing them all rather than just one or two."

Simon Fraser University Professor Boyd Cohen launched the 2008 Greenest Person on the Planet contest on Earth Day, with the goal of raising awareness about living green.

More than 600 people entered, with that list now whittled down to just five finalists. The others are from the U.S., Malaysia, Venezuela and China.

The eventual winner will be named on Sept. 16 -- based on the results of online voting-- and will have an entire pod of Arctic beluga whales adopted in their name.

It's difficult to imagine a candidate more worthy of the honour than Jubenvill.

A graduate of Royal Roads University, who grew up in Vancouver and Bowen Island, she is a strong advocate for eating locally.

She maintains a flourishing vegetable and herb garden in the one-room apartment she shares with a roommate in Vancouver's downtown west end and has adopted a plot in a community garden to grow even more of her own food.

Jubenvill also volunteers as the community garden projects co-ordinator for the Vancouver Public Space Network and recently started a new community garden project on Bowen Island.

She also maintains a worm composter, rides her bike everywhere she can, makes her own cleaning products and works at an alternative energy company.

So what does she do for fun? Perhaps not surprisingly, one of Jubenvill's favourite pastimes is guerrilla gardening -- sneaking around in the middle of the night to turn neglected public spaces into beautiful gardens.

Just the other night she planted 20 spruce seedlings in a covert gardening operation.

Her bid for the award has certainly received some momentum. Jubenvill's YouTube video explaining "what's so green about my life" has helped spread the word, as well as local media coverage and word of mouth.

Most importantly, she said, green awareness is increasing.

"It's pretty exciting," Jubenvill said. "I think one of the reasons I entered the contest was because it would be a great way to learn about what other people are doing and to raise awareness about being green."

Guerrilla gardening, striving to eat locally, maintaining a worm composter -- these are all things that are normally done under the radar and far from the spotlight -- and Jubenvill admits the sudden interest in her personal life feels a little strange. But if it helps people realize how easy it is to be green, she says, it will be worthwhile.

"It's been a little bit overwhelming because it's not like I do it for a certain purpose," Jubenvill said.

"It's just part of my life so it's a little weird, but it's good as well because the more people that know about this stuff can do the same sort of thing and get involved in their communities."

To cast a vote in the Greenest Person on the Planet contest, visit www.3rdwhale.com.