PNC Teens!
What's your Eco-IQ?
Have fun and challenge your self to be the best earth steward you can be! An earth steward is someone who cares for the planet and thinks about how their actions affect the environment.
ShareThis! "Adults can only give good advice or put you on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in your own hands."
-Anne Frank
Simple Things You Can Do Today!
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Go zero waste!
What‘s better than recycling? It’s not creating any waste at all.
It’s actually pretty easy to eliminate waste that otherwise would end up in landfills (or worse – our water ways). So, find out the easy things that you can do to to create "zero waste."
One of the things you'll learn about is a "zero waste lunch." What does that mean? Simply put, it’s a lunch that generates no (or very little) trash. In a zero waste lunch everything can be eaten, reused, or recycled.
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Watch the story about stuff
Learn about where it all comes from and where it goes! Have you ever thought about where your stuff comes from? This fun animation tells all!
The story of Bottled Water continues the Story of Stuff: 
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Be Social and make a difference
Planet Connect, a component of Classroom Earth, is an online social network where high school students can learn about current environmental issues, funding opportunities, green colleges and environmental careers. Students can also share and exchange ideas about how they are playing a critical role in solving today’s environmental issues.
The Student Community lets teens create groups for the latest environmental topics, stories, ideas and success stories that are of interest to teens. Planet Connect even has its own Twitter Channel, planet_connect. Check it out now.
National Wildlife Federation On Campus- You can make a difference for wildlife - right on campus!
From working with campus leaders to advance sustainability and climate action to entering the 2010 Chill Out competition, there are many ways you can make a difference. Join the Campus Ecology Network or enter the Chill Out competition or participate in Greener Campus Webinars.
Earth Island Institute - The New Leaders Initiative (NLI) grows environmental leadership by raising the profile of young emerging environmental leaders in North America, celebrating their achievements, and providing them with the skills, resources, and relationships to lead effective campaigns and projects. NLI honors the legacy of David Brower -- firebrand environmentalist, community activist, and founder of Earth Island Institute.
NLI is home to the Brower Youth Awards, the premier North American awards honoring bold young environmental leaders. Since 2000, the Brower Youth Awards has recognized 61 exceptional leaders with a cash prize, a high-energy week of activities in San Francisco, and ongoing leadership support. NLI also offers mentoring and project sponsorship to rising young leaders.
Youth Venture - launched with the vision that everyone in society could take initiative and address social needs, rather than looking to the elite few who lead today. With so many more people taking initiative, imagine how many more problems we could solve! Young people are critical to this vision, because we believe that you have to start taking initiative when you’re young. If you wait till you’re an adult it might be too late, because by then you’ll already be set in your path of who you’ll be when you grow up.
California Sustainability Coalition -The California Student Sustainability Coalition unites, connects, supports, and empowers students from across California to transform their educational institutions and communities into models of ecological, economic, and social sustainability.
Started in 2001, the CSSC has grown into a network of thousands of students that are actively influencing key decisions and policies of California’s universities, communities, and governments. Our statewide convergences bring together hundreds of students twice a year to network, build community, share resources, attend workshops, and celebrate.
Sierra Student Coalition - The Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) is a broad network of high school and college-aged youth from across the country working to protect the environment. The SSC is the youth-led chapter of the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization.
Our mission is simple: "to train, empower, and organize youth to run effective campaigns that result in tangible environmental victories and that develop leaders for the environmental movement." With more than 250 groups nationwide, the SSC develops environmental leaders through our award-winning grassroots trainings programs and works to maximize our campus-based effectiveness through the creation and maintenance of state and regional networks of high school and college students.
And unlike most national organizations, the SSC is youth-run. They not only set our national priorities and plan our campaigns, they develop new resources, design and run our trainings programs, and support the SSC's volunteer network.
CN&N's Natural Leadership Network - The Natural Leaders Network empowers a worldwide youth movement to strengthen the bond between children and nature. This movement involves youth in all environments, from rural to urban, and all economic and ethnic groups. The Natural Leaders Network brings together individuals, organizations, communities, and sectors in a non-partisan, inclusive, peer-to-peer network. The network focuses on three issue areas: peer-to-peer communication, diversity in nature, and outdoor green jobs.
TakingITGlobal - "TakingITGlobal.org is the social network that connects you to the global issues that affect us all." Youth everywhere actively engaged and connected in shaping a more inclusive, peaceful and sustainable world. TakingITGlobal enables a collaborative learning community which provides youth with access to global opportunities, cross-cultural connections and meaningful participation in decision-making.
TIG offers an online community, educational content and tools, facilitated learning, mobilization and collaboration, and much, much more.
SPACEHACK- A directory of ways to participate in space exploration.Spacehack is a directory of ways to participate in space exploration, interact + connect with the space community and encourage citizen science. Its conception was influenced by the NASA Authorization Act of 2008, Sec. 408 Participatory Exploration:
“The plan shall identify opportunities to leverage technologies in NASA’s Constellation systems that deliver a rich, multi-media experience to the public, and that facilitate participation by the public, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and international partners.”
Spacehack was developed by:
Ariel Waldman, founder
Ben Ward, chief code scientist
Track the Plastiki - Through a collaboration between HP and DO SOMETHING, you can track the voyage of the Plastiki across the South Pacific to Sydney, Austraila. Plastiki, the brainchild of Adventure Ecology, is a boat made entirely out of plastic bottles. 12,000 plastic bottles to be exact!
"The Plastiki began her adventure nearly four years ago after taking inspiration from a report issued by UNEP called ‘Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas’ and Thor Heyerdahl’s epic 1947 expedition, The Kon-Tiki. True to Adventure Ecology’s values, a compelling and pioneering expedition was needed that would not only inform, but would also captivate, activate and educate the world that waste is fundamentally inefficient design.
"With more efficient design and a smarter understanding of how we use materials, principally plastic, waste can be transformed into a valuable resource, in turn helping to lessen our plastic fingerprints on the world’s oceans.
"To undertake the Plastiki expedition Adventure Ecology was not only influenced by the principles of ‘cradle-to-cradle’ design and biomimicry but brought together a multi-faceted team from the fields of sustainable design, boat building, architecture and material science in order to foster a collection of new ideas and cutting edge technologies that allow the Plastiki to be a truly unique, one-of-a-kind expedition vessel."
Go here for other Adventure Ecology sites you might enjoy.
YouthNoise empowers young leaders to act for the causes they care about locally, nationally and globally. YouthNoise offers online and offline tools that equip youth to take action for a wide range of social issues. From health to education, from violence to poverty-- YouthNoise is where leaders can turn ideas into action. YouthNoise is composed of 158,000 registered users from all 50 states and 176 countries, creating a virtual meeting place for the next generation of activists.
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Cool Resources
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute Cool Science
- Science Daily
- Wildlife Conservation Society
- Arctic Research Consortium of the United States
- Environment360
- National Snow and Ice Data Center
- Aquafornia, The California Water blog
- National Resources Defense Council
- The Princes' Rainforest Project
- Rainforest Alliance
- Earth911
- The Sundance Channel's It's the Green
- The Sundance Channel Eco-mmunity
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Scholarships, Grants and Contests!
Ashoka and Staples Launch Fourth Annual Global Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition
Grants of up to $5,000 will be given to young people between the ages of 12 and 24 whose entrepreneurial ventures are making a positive impact on their communities. Eight young changemakers will be chosen as winners of our annual Staples Youth Social Entrepreneurship Competition and invited to present at the first TEDxYSE event in Washington, D.C.
Deadline: September 20, 2010
DO SOMETHING Grants - $500 Grants offered to help start a community action project or program:
• Do Something Seed Grants - Are you working to start a community action project or program? Do you need money to turn your ideas into action? We give out a $500 Do Something Seed Grant every week to help young people just like YOU! Do Something Seed Grants are targeted towards project ideas and programs that are just getting started. These grants can be used to jump-start your program or to realize your ideas for the first time.
Deadline: None! Apply now! You will be notified whether or not you have won within 2-3 months after submission.
• Do Something Growth Grants - Did you create a sustainable community action project, program or organization that you want to grow? Are you looking for funding to take your already successful project to the next level? We give out a $500 Do Something Growth Grant every week to help young people just like YOU! Do Something Growth Grants are targeted towards projects that are already developed and sustainable. These grants go towards the next steps of your project and organization to help you as you look to expand your project and grow your impact.
Deadline: None! Apply now! You will be notified whether or not you have won within 2-3 months after submission.
Apprentice Ecologist Initiative™ Youth Scholarship Program - has engaged tens of thousands of young people (kids, teens, and college-age youth) from around the world in environmental cleanup and conservation projects since 1999.View recent Apprentice Ecologist Projects and past Apprentice Ecologist Awards to get ideas for your own environmental stewardship project. The goals of the Apprentice Ecologist Initiative™ are to:
- Elevate youth into leadership roles by engaging them in environmental cleanup and conservation projects,
- Empower young people to rebuild the environmental and social well-being of our communities,
- Improve local living conditions for both citizens and wildlife through education, activism, and action.
Three scholarships totaling $850 will be awarded annually to the authors of the top Apprentice Ecologist essays.
Deadline for uploading essay is midnight GMT on December 31, 2010 .
Are you an Eco Hero? Do you KNOW an Eco-Hero? - Action For Nature's International Young Eco-Hero Awards recognize the accomplishments of youth (ages 8 to 16) whose personal actions have significantly improved the environment.
Action For Nature will award cash prizes of up to $500 to young Eco-Heroes from around the world for their outstanding accomplishments in environmental advocacy, environmental health, research or protection of the natural world. Their individual initiatives will inspire others to preserve and protect our fragile environment.
Deadline to apply for the 2011 International Young Eco-Hero Awards is February 28, 2011
Scholarships for taking action - The DO SOMETHING website lists a collection of scholarships that support young people who take action in their community. Review the list to see which ones apply to you.
Scholarship.com - Start Your Free Scholarship Search Today! In just a few minutes, you could find thousands, maybe tens of thousands of dollars in free college scholarship money! College is expensive and you don't want to be saddled with any more student loans than necessary. Spend a little time and save a lot of money!
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