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Friday, July 30, 2010
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Serving Maine and Lincoln County for over a century. |
Volume 135 Issue 30 |
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| | Email this article • Print this article | LA Climate Club Members Return from Boot Camp
Kay Liss
Three members of Lincoln Academy's Climate Action Club just returned from an all-expense paid environmental "boot camp" at the University of Florida in Gainsville. The club had the distinction of being one of 53 teams of young people chosen for awards from 500 schools nationwide. Additionally, the LA team was one of only five grand prize winners who had the opportunity to go to Gainsville.
Chloe Maxmin of Nobleboro, who started the club last year and will be a junior this year said, "It was a great honor to be chosen and a terrific opportunity." The two other club members to attend were Winston Crowell and Haley Peavey.
The purpose of the awards sponsored by Youth Venture and Dr. Seuss Enterprises in collaboration with Earth Island Institute is, according to a press release, to recognize "young people from across the country who have launched sustainable social ventures to address pressing environmental issues."
The Climate Action Club, since its inception, has accomplished much, including reducing idling of school buses and encouraging students to car-pool, establishing recycling bins in classrooms, recycling batteries and beginning an initiative to reduce energy waste in the computers at school by installing special software.
They have also learned how to do energy audits on buildings and plan on working with the school principal to help increase the school's overall energy efficiency.
In the upcoming year one of the major projects the club hopes to work on with local businesses is to initiate a community-wide ban on plastic bags and to help design a canvas bag as an alternative.
At the boot camp, club members attended lectures and workshops focused on campus and building sustainability, for which the University of Florida at Gainsville's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has garnered state and national accolades.
With goals for both zero waste by 2015 and carbon neutrality by 2025, the university is endeavoring to integrate principles of sustainability throughout its operations, education, research, and outreach.
"They also have an awesome program of using food from local farms in their cafeterias," Chloe said. She's hoping that the farm-to-school pilot program at Great Salt Bay School in Damariscotta can be applied to Lincoln Academy in the future.
Though she and her fellow club members learned a lot in the classrooms, she said she got the most out of exchanging ideas with other high school students from around the country attending the camp.
"It was really interesting to hear about what other kids are doing and learn about leadership styles and ways we can improve our club," Chloe commented enthusiastically.
She found that the LA club with 20 members, was by far one of the largest, with most other activist groups consisting of only a few people, but doing impressive, large-scale projects.
In one small town in Pennsylvania, she said a team was planning to plant 1000 trees in the school district. In Washington D.C., a team of girls was working with the Washington Nationals baseball team to create a Green Day when important environmental information would be flashed on a big screen and organic cotton t-shirts would be for sale. The Washington Nationals stadium is supposed to be the first environmentally certified sports arena in the country.
An idea she came away with which she thought the LA club might pursue is an awareness campaign about clothing, how it is made and where it comes from, so that students might become more conscientious consumers.
"It was inspiring to see how high school students can make a difference, even if we are from small, rural towns," Chloe said.
Winston, who is also from Nobleboro and will be a senior in September, said it was "really a good experience. We made a lot of contacts and learned about how to get grants, which we need to do. What I learned about sustainability was great and most of it was new to me."
Haley, who lives in Damariscotta and will be a senior as well, said learning about what other students are doing was very important to her. "We got new ideas and learned different approaches to issues. In the classes I also learned a lot about sustainability."
Youth Venture® is an international organization whose goal is to inspire and invest in teams of young people to create and launch their own sustainable, community-benefiting ventures and connect them into a global movement of young people who are redefining the youth years as a time of leadership and positive social change.
Earth Island Institute, founded in 1982 by veteran environmentalist David Brower, fosters the efforts of creative individuals by providing organizational support in developing projects for the conservation, preservation, and restoration of the global environment. Earth Islands youth program, New Leaders Initiative, is home to the Brower Youth Awards, the premier North American awards honoring bold young environmental leaders.
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