green living blue planet - Natural Awakenings Magazine Charlotte
green living blue planet - Natural Awakenings Magazine Charlotte
green living blue planet - Natural Awakenings Magazine Charlotte
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They often have a specific core focus, such as cave or<br />
stream ecology. Local Audubon Society chapters, for example,<br />
may offer a Junior Audubon Club to introduce youngsters to bird<br />
watching. As National Audubon Society spokesperson Delta<br />
Willis notes, “It is vital to create new conservation stewards.”<br />
When famous alum Sigourney Weaver was recently<br />
honored with the organization’s Rachel Carson Award, the<br />
actress cited her own participation in the Junior Audubon<br />
Club as inspiration for her lifelong support of conservation.<br />
“She continues to go bird watching,” Willis adds.<br />
Green kids clubs may be bolstered by parent involvement.<br />
French serves on the Green Team at her children’s school, where<br />
she and other parents meet with administrators and students<br />
to help them accomplish their sustainable goals. “There is too<br />
much going on in a school day to ask for teachers to do more,<br />
so this is an area where parents can help,” she comments.<br />
Thinking globally, high school students in Pleasant Hill,<br />
California, formed Project Jatropha three years ago to encourage<br />
struggling farmers in India to plant jatropha crops that<br />
can be turned into biofuel far more efficiently than corn. The<br />
teens have earned honors from both the Earth Island Institute’s<br />
Brower Youth Awards and the Environmental Protection<br />
Agency’s President’s Environmental Youth Awards.<br />
Green kids clubs provide educational and entertaining<br />
activities that help young people get involved, and can even<br />
lead to a career or lifelong hobby. If there isn’t one locally,<br />
why not start one up?<br />
Brian Clark Howard is a New York City-based multimedia<br />
journalist and the co-author of Green Lighting and Geothermal<br />
HVAC: Build Your Own Wind Power System. Connect at<br />
BrianClarkHoward.com.<br />
National Green Kids<br />
Club Resources<br />
America’s Great Outdoors: AmericasGreatOutdoors.gov.<br />
Provides news of federal conservation and recreation<br />
initiatives and how local communities become involved.<br />
EPA Environmental Kids Club: epa.gov/kids. Explores<br />
environmental information, games and activities.<br />
National Audubon Society: Audubon.org/locations.<br />
Sponsors Junior Audubon Clubs.<br />
National Geographic Kids: Kids.NationalGeographic.com/<br />
kids. Offers wildlife-related news, videos and games.<br />
Richard Louv: RichardLouv.com. Features excerpts from<br />
his books, Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle,<br />
and other tools and resources to counter youngsters’<br />
nature deficit.<br />
Teens for Planet Earth: TeensForPlanetEarth.ning.com.<br />
Learn how the Wildlife Conservation Society supports and<br />
honors youth making a difference, from China’s Tetra Paks<br />
Recycling Team to Utah’s invasive species Plant Patrol.<br />
natural awakenings October 2011<br />
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