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Every year, the President's Environmental Youth Awards recognize outstanding student projects from across the country. The projects represent the best work being done by young people to raise eco-awareness and protect the environment. As Lisa Jackson, administrator of the EPA, explained, "in each project, we see our country's future." This is true not only because they are organized and led by young people, but because they represent the next wave of environmentalism in America.
Beyond providing a vision of the future, the President's Environmental Youth Awards offer inspiration. These projects show that people of any age can work together to accomplish substantial goals and have a significant impact on environmental protection. There's also a lot we can learn from the winning initiatives.
Here are six lessons from this year's President's Environmental Youth Award-winning projects:
1.Start Small and Spread the Word When a group of middle school students in Derry, New Hampshire, decided they wanted to help the environment, they looked local and started small. Working within the school, they focused on reducing energy consumption and encouraging recycling among the staff and student body. Their "Green Your Life" campaign led to a community outreach program called "Give and Go." All told, the program has saved 1,000 pounds of waste.
It's a common refrain among environmentalists, but this project demonstrates that by starting small, and at home, people can accomplish great things in terms of eco-savings.
2.Explore Alternatives The use of ethanol bio-fuel has been heralded for its potential to reduce dependence on foreign oil, reduce air pollution, and provide a cheap, renewable alternative to fossil fuels. Corn ethanol has also been criticized for its intensive use of water resources and effect on global food prices. Many believe that cellulosic ethanol, made from non-edible parts of plants, is a superior alternative to corn-based fuels but its use has been held back by the complicated, multi-step production process.
High school senior Sujay Tyle saw this problem as an opportunity. Knowing that the complexities of production are the major stumbling block for cellulosic ethanol, he began to explore alternatives. By isolating an enzyme, he believes he found a way to quickly degrade cellulose, allowing fuels to be made in a single-stage process.
His inspiring example shows us how looking at a problem in new ways can yield unexpected results; and it doesn't only apply to the lab. Simple alternatives to daily eco-dillemas can be found, we just have to be willing to look for them.
3.Reuse Everything When Cory Adkins started the "Green Books Project" he had a different kind of green in mind. But, after a summer selling used textbooks online for profit, he realized that it was also an easy and sensible way to prevent piles of books from being sent needlessly to the landfill. Now, the program uses the money it makes to buy recycling bins for the town and supports Cory's school's recycling program.
Clearly, reusing is great for the environment but Corey's efforts show that it can be profitable as well. If you take a look at Planet Green's Do it Yourself archive you'll see it's also fun and fashionable. Exercise Your Green Thumb The kids behind the Keystone Kid's Cafe had an idea: They wanted to use the food they were growing in their school's garden to feed their friends and families. They also wanted to raise awareness about eating locally-produced food and money to donate to an orphanage in Thailand. With some guidance from the school's administrators, the students, ranging from grades one through seven, opened the cafe and now staff and run it themselves. This project is an incredible testament to the value of locally-sourced food, the fun of gardening, and the importance of local business. At the very least, the Keystone Kid's Cafe is an invitation for everyone to dig into to the soil and exercise our green thumbs. 5.Education is Powerful Elizabeth Turnbo was passionate about recycling but upset by her community's limited participation in the town's program. She decided that the best way to get people involved was to let them know just how important, and easy, it is to recycle. She organized the "Recycle Rally" to get people's attention and show them the benefits of recycling. Clearly, regular readers of TreeHugger and Planet Green are caught up on the latest environmental news and know the basics needed to reduce their impact on the environment. It's easy to forget that, in fact, many people are not as well informed. Planet Green's guide on How to Go Green: In the Community is a great way to get started getting your friends and neighbors to go green. 6.Reduce Consumption When they were first introduced to the Great Pacific Trash Gyre, Clay Ferguson and Chance Boreczky realized it was representative of waste problem. However, they quickly came to understand that the root of the issue was in over-consumption, specifically of plastic products. They created a video, "The Plastic Predicament," to inform people of the dangers of plastic consumption. They have also proposed plastic-bag bans in their county and have presented alternatives to shoppers, including reusable totes. The message is clear: Reducing our consumption has a direct impact on the amount of waste we produce. The President's Environmental Youth Awards are indented to "promote awareness of our nation's natural resources and encourage positive community involvement." Certainly, the students recognized this year have accomplished this but, more significantly, they have established models for people, young and old, to follow. There is much we can learn from their example but the most important thing is that, with a little dedication and help from our friends, we can accomplish anything.
