Dear EarthTalk: Im thinking about starting an environmental club in my
middle school. Can you give me some ideas about how to start? Can you connect me
with other school clubs? -- Rosemary, Andover Township, NJ
Starting an environmental club at school is a great way to get students
energized about taking care of the Earth and helping their community while
learning about some of the most important issues facing the world in the 21st
century.
EarthTeam, a non-profit environmental network for teens, teachers and youth
leaders, offers many tips on how to start an environmental club. First and
foremost is to make sure there are at least a half dozen or so other students
interested in forming such a club to begin with, and then also finding a
teacher, community leader or parent who is willing to serve as an adult sponsor.
The sponsors role is to provide advice along the way and to help ensure the
stability of the group from year-to-year given that all of the students, even
the founders of the club, will eventually graduate, or move on to other
interests or endeavors.
Once the core membership and adult sponsor have been established, EarthTeam
suggests all sitting down together to decide on the clubs vision (Why are we
here?) and to brainstorm about possible activities or projects to undertake
(What do we want to accomplish?). Once these questions have been answered,
its time to hold the clubs first official meeting, which should be advertised
as widely as possible to other students who may be interested in finding out
what the group is about and how they can get involved, too.
The next step, according to EarthTeam, is to forge an action plan that
focuses on one group-oriented, year-long project that has measurable benefits to
the school or community and that can keep the interest of the student
memberswho will no doubt be spending long hours volunteering. Whatever
project(s) the group decides on, members should develop a timeline that clearly
lists goals, dates and responsibilities.
In addition to undertaking the one major project, clubs can also host or
sponsor special events for extra visibility. EarthTeam suggests getting students
outside for a river or beach clean-up, a tree planting day, or a field trip to a
local wetland, zoo or nature reserve. Another popular idea is to hold an
Environmental Awareness Day to educate the entire student body about relevant
green issues.
EarthTeam is also a networking platform so clubs can work together and share
experiences with each other to help get a sense of the bigger picture beyond one
individual schools locale, given the global nature of most environmental
issues. Another great networking resource is the Greenspan website, which lists
clubs in 21 different U.S. states as well as in Australia, Canada, Japan, Ghana
and Malaysia.
Another great resource for those starting up new or managing existing school
environmental clubs is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPAs)
Student Center website, which offers dozens of ideas for projects that both
stimulate and enlighten participants while helping the local community. The
website also provides links to several partner non-profit groups with
club-worthy activities.
CONTACTS: EarthTeam, www.earthteam.net;
Greenspan Environmental Club Network,
www.greenspanworld.org/environmental_club_network.htm; U.S. EPA Student
Center, www.epa.gov/students.
Dear EarthTalk: How can the new Obama administration and/or Congress undo the
many anti-environmental actions the Bush administration undertook over the last
eight years, including the obstruction of Bill Clintons landmark roadless
rule legislation? -- Ann Lyman, Lake Tahoe, CA
The Bush administration has certainly been no friend to the environment.
Besides working for eight years to overturn the Clinton administrations
Roadless Rule that prevented road building (and the logging that usually
follows) on 58.5 million acres of national forests, the Bush White House has
opened up 45 million additional acres of public land across the American West to
oil and gas drilling during its tenure.
Right now Bush is pushing to open up thousands more acres in sensitive areas
around three national parks in Utah to more oil and gas extraction. According to
The New York Times, these new oil and gas leases (the government leases
drilling rights on public land to private companies) will be auctioned off on
December 19, 2008, the last day the White House may carry out such transactions
before leaving office.
Obama transition team insiders have already hinted that they will work to
overturn the Utah oil and gas leases once they are in power. Obamas trump card
might be the fact that Bush failed to give his own National Park Service (NPS)
sufficient opportunity to comment on the proposed leases before forcing them
through. Green leaders hope that Obama can at least re-set the decision-making
process to give the NPS and other interested parties time to voice their
concerns before the oil rigs and gas pipelines move in. Green leaders also hope
that, beyond stopping the Utah leases, Obama will curtail the number of leases
sold altogether, in part by forcing extraction firms to develop sites they
already have rights to before leasing more acreage. Oil companies have already
leased 68 million acres of lands they have yet to access.
On the Roadless Rule, itself an 11th-hour executive order by Bill Clinton
that has been mired in the courts since Bush tried to overturn it in 2001, Obama
promised during the campaign that he would work with Congress to codify it as
the law of the land. Luckily for greens, the back-and-forth on the issue over
the past eight years has meant that only seven miles of new roadsyielding
access to just 500 acres of timberhave been cut on lands slated for protection
under the Roadless Rule during Bushs tenure.
Obama also has his work cut out on a number of other environmental
initiatives ignored or opposed by the Bush White House. Chief among them is
taking action on global warming. If one can believe the campaign rhetoric, Obama
will work to get the U.S. on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent
by 2050 through a number of initiatives. Jason Grumet, the Obama campaigns lead
energy and environment advisor, has indicated that the president-elect plans to
move quickly on getting climate change legislation through in 2009 and working
to make the U.S. a leader on mitigating global warming.
Another way Obama can win green friends is to undo a Bush proposal, slated to
take effect in December, to cut wildlife experts out of decisions affecting
plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. Bush has faced
sharp criticism for disregarding or ignoring the input of scientists on many
issues. Obama seems likely to want to re-assert the importance of science in
policy decision-making.
CONTACTS: Barack Obama on the Issues,
www.barackobama.com/issues; U.S.
Forest Service Roadless Rule Information,
www.roadless.fs.fed.us.
GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at:
www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek, or e-mail:
earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past
columns at:
www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.
