It’s Getting Hot In Here

Shreya Indukuri and Daniela Lapidous, ACE Youth Advisory Board members and juniors at the Harker School in San Jose, CA, paid a visit to the White House yesterday, but they didn’t just go for a tour. Through working with ACE, this energy-smart duo is scaling up their efforts to spur efficient energy use in America’s high schools – and sharing their ideas with America’s leaders.

Yesterday, in front of an invite-only audience of CEOs, White House advisors, and utility industry leaders, Shreya and Daniela shared the story of how they reduced their school’s energy use by 13 percent and founded their own non-profit, SmartPowerEd.

They shared a stage with U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu; Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack; Director of the Office of Science and Technology, John Holdren; and Chairperson of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Nancy Sutley.

In their talk, they let our leaders know that young people care about the future and energy use, and that they are ready to get involved with solutions. They closed with two questions for Secretary Chu and others: how are you going to harness the potential of young people? How are you going to prioritize energy education and inspire young people to act?

You can see a video of their talk with White House officials here. More to come from ACE’s Emily Adler, who accompanied Shreya and Daniela to the event. What a day!

By Daniela Lapidous, high school junior at the Harker School in San Jose, CA, and member of ACE Youth Advisory Board

Phew… it’s been a week since one of the most amazing weekends of my life.

You see, from April 15-18, fellow ACE Youth Advisory Board member Shreya Indukuri and I got the chance to attend PowerShift in Washington, D.C. and it was INCREDIBLE!

Basically, it was a gathering of about 10,000 inspiring young people rallying for clean energy action – you can read more about our trip on the blog post Washington D.C.’s awesome regional educator, Daisy, wrote up.

Besides the details of who we met and what we said, I guess one thing I still marvel at when I look back at the experience is the unified diversity we saw there. (Attack of the oxymorons!)

The thousands of college students there came from all walks of life – from all parts of the country – from all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We don’t listen to the same music, we don’t all say “hella”, and we probably don’t even have the same definitions of what being completely “green” looks like – but we were all there, being united by the issue of clean energy! Who expected that?

The fact is, everyone should have expected that, because the issue of climate change and clean energy deserve to unify us all.

Shreya and I met people who are being affected by these issues now. We met Cassie, a 17 year-old activist from Southern California who got asthma because of pollution-emitting factories in her city. We met countless people who live next to toxic waste, who have seen extreme weather, and who are seeing pollution destroy their communities. We heard stories of people in Appalachia who are suffering enormously because of mountaintop removal (for the sake of coal mining!).

Climate change and dirty energy are not issues that will “someday” affect our “grandchildren” – they are right here, right now. It’s only a matter of time before they show up on all of our doorsteps and force us to work together, whether we like it or not.

Shreya and Daniela shake hands with Aneesh Chopra and staff

There was also the diversity of people we met outside of PowerShift. We met Aneesh Chopra, the Chief Technology Officer of the US, and Arun Majumdar, the director of ARPA-E (an innovative energy research department of the government).

Let’s face the facts: Shreya and I are still high school juniors. We are from California, and we do not wear business clothes on a regular basis. We have APs next week and prom in two weeks. We are very different from the high-level executives we were lucky enough to meet.

But hearing about a low-cost, very effective solution to energy efficiency – the smart meters that we are installing at high schools – was positive for everyone! Mr. Chopra and Mr. Majumdar were both impressed that we saved 13% off our school’s energy bill in one year and they want all of the schools in the country to get involved.

No matter how different you are, passion and simple solutions can inspire and connect people – “environmentalists” and “non-environmentalists” alike. When you share your story, people are inspired to craft their own. Continue reading ‘Unified Diversity – lessons from PowerShift ’11′

By Victoria Pan, ACE Field Correspondent and high school student at Ridgewood High School – Ridgewood, NJ. Crossposted from the ACE blog.

My name is Victoria Pan, and I’m a junior at Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, NJ. I’m also the co-president of the Students for Environmental Action (SEA) club, and I’m very concerned with environmental issues, especially regarding energy consumption.

One year ago, our school, Ridgewood High School, started the Turn Off the Lights project. It involved students turning off the classroom lights every week, which saved energy and electricity costs while raising awareness about energy conservation at the same time. Now, we’re planning for the installation of a motion-sensor lighting system, as well as other projects to reduce our school’s energy consumption and educate others. Our vision is to make our school more sustainable—and that means enforcing such practices to protect our resources for the future.

I couldn’t help wondering, though, about the even bigger impact we would make if we got a whole network of schools across the nation turning off the lights. If my school alone can save so much energy from such simple idea, imagine the amount of energy that can be saved from thousands of schools!

I knew there were schools just like mine that were trying to deal with the problems of wasting money and resources from unnecessary energy consumption. I wanted to help those schools become more energy-efficient too by connecting with my school, and joining us on the same path toward that goal.

The Students for Environmental Action club is introducing a new, exciting initiative to other high schools across the nation, called Students Saving Energy. The goal is simple: to help schools become more energy-efficient. Keep reading for how you can help…

Our vision is to create a network of schools joined by the same goals for becoming more sustainable. With this collaboration, we can work together to spread a powerful message across the nation about our efforts to achieve sustainability.

We’re reaching out to as many schools as we possibly can to gather participation, and we feel that one of the best ways to do so is through community involvement. Imagine if schools across the nation started implementing similar processes. Imagine the amount of money we would save, the awareness we would raise in our communities, if we all worked together to make our schools more sustainable. We hope high schools like ours to join the Students Saving Energy network today to become part of the growing student-led movement to take energy-saving initiatives in our own schools!

Joining this network is very simple. You don’t necessarily have to be involved with your environmental club, or even have one for that matter (We could help you start one though!) All that is required is the passion and the motivation for change. If you want to make a difference in your school, then you’ve come to the right people.

All you have to do is submit a Sustainability Pledge for your school. When do you, we will contact you right away to give you the necessary resources to start a hands-on energy project!

A Sustainability Pledge is an action a school is taking or a goal it wants to take to reduce its energy consumption, whether it is through turning off the lights every week, installing motion sensored lights, doing an energy audit, or getting solar panels.

So far, 11 schools are SSE members and are working to reduce their energy consumption. Some have actually started the Turn Off the Lights project. Others already have made progress with efficient systems and are working toward even more improvements. In the future, we hope to see all schools in the nation follow the same goals to achieve sustainability.

We’re aiming for 100 pledges by the end of 2011. But in order to reach that goal, we need YOUR effort. Achieving these steps will prove that students can make a difference to achieve a greener earth. You see, the power lies in the numbers. If all students work together, a lasting impact will be created.

Visit our website for more information: www.studentssavingenergy.org

Just in time for Cyber Monday and the beginning of the climate talks in Cancun, we’re releasing the world premiere of Green Cribs – holiday edition:

Santa is on a quest to green up the neighborhood before he needs to start using a rowboat instead of a sleigh.

Watch the video to learn two simple ways to help keep Santa’s northern habitat from turning into Cancun.

Will Santa green YOUR crib? If the answer is yes, share it on Facebook!

Happy holidays. – click below to see the video!

Continue reading ‘World premiere: green cribs – holiday edition’

By Kristina von Hoffmann, ACE Educator in Los Angeles

Ever thought about how fun it would be to ride your bike down LA’s historic streets, without any traffic getting in your way? I mean no cars, no honking buses, no exhaust… sounds like a dream, right?

Well, in conjunction with 350.org’s 10/10/10 Global Work Party, that dream is coming true! CicLAvia is blocking off 7 ½ miles of LA’s streets on Sunday, October 10th from 10 am to 3 pm – with an awesome rally at 12:30 pm on the route!

The event, which began in response to congestion and pollution in Bogotá, Colombia (sounds familiar, right?), will give you and your pals the chance to explore our city’s parks, churches, public art, and more, smog-free! Check out the 10 neighborhoods on the CicLAvia path here.

And while you’re biking around, why not swing by the Greenpeace and Sierra Club-sponsored Rally to Kick Coal and Oil Out of LA? Ethan, Sophie, and I will be there, holding it down for ACE. This rally will be taking place on the South Lawn at City Hall from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. – conveniently located right on the CicLAvia route!

Did we mention that Inception and Juno actress Ellen Page will be at the rally!? She will and… Continue reading ‘Smog free LA!? Make it happen on 10/10/10′

After spending a few weeks on the road with The Bluebird, Alliance for Climate Education‘s Connect the DOTs Biobus Tour team – Ethan “Superman” Burke and Michael “Dude with the DOTs” LaFemina has become a well oiled machine, literally!

Last Thursday, stomachs a-rumbling, they grabbed some fried plantains and Central American pastries in South L.A., while also feeding the bus a little good morning grease. The breakfast was a success: they were full AND got enough grease to drive to San Francisco. See how they power the bus with fry grease:

The biobus began its journey through California on July 17th and its fearless crew has wound through San Diego and Los Angeles, throwing solar-powered concerts on the bus roof with bands like The Wiley One and day-long events at places like the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.

They are now getting back on the road, zooming north at nearly 55 mph (whoa slow down!), to close out the tour in San Francisco later this week.

This Saturday, August 7th, we’re throwing a day-long climate shindig outside of the ever-awesome California Academy of the Sciences. Seasunz will be performing from his new album Earth Amplified at 4pm and we’ll host tours of The Bluebird in between performances of our interactive climate Assembly. If you live in the Bay Area, we hope you’ll come out to see us and choose your DOT, your Do One Thing!

By Michael LaFemina, Alliance for Climate Education’s dude with the DOTs. Crossposted from the ACE blog.

Between Ethan and me, we’d slept around 20 hours in 4 days to prepare for our bus tour in California… not enough by a long shot, but the adrenaline was pumping because we were about to launch the Connect the DOTs Biobus Tour! That’s right, we’re hitting the road on a 3-week guilt-free road trip on a former school bus converted to run on recycled veggie oil to inspire people to choose their DOT – that’s their Do One Thing to cool the climate.

For those of you who may remember, Ethan Burke – our Bluebird Captain – is no stranger to the veggie-oil-powered adventures. He’s a co-founder of Biotour, a big inspiration to what we’re doing on the Connect the DOTs tour.

Our first event went down this weekend and supported two local organizations in Venice, California. It was a beautiful way to kick off the tour. After a full 1 and a half hour “sleep,” we headed to Venice Beach to support Heal the Bay‘s beach clean up.

While we were getting our hands dirty, a camera crew from NBC Los Angeles filmed us and did a spotlight on the bus in action. Continue reading ‘ACE biobus tour: solar-powered concerts + more!’

School may be out, but over at ACE, we are searching for some answers! This summer, we hired a detective to investigate pressing climate questions.

Follow ACE’s Detective Meadows as he answers an urgent climate conundrum: Is the warming that we’re seeing natural or not?!

Stay tuned as Inspector Thorough gets on the trail next week! I

If you have a question for Detective Meadows, email him at: detective.meadows@climateeducation.org — you may just end up in our next video!

Cross posted from the ACE Blog

Just in time for the longest day of the year – this glorious summer solstice – EARTH AMPLIFIED, the new full-length album by ACE Educator AshEl Seasunz + J. Bless is out now and AVAILABLE HERE!

A little Thursday inspiration… crossposted from the ACE Blog.

11 year old Olivia Bouler of Islip, NY, cried when she heard about the devastation going down in the Gulf.

A budding orinthologist who already knows she wants to study at Cornell University, Olivia…was shaken by the growing disaster and wanted to do something. So she wrote a letter to the National Audubon Society and told them she had one skill to offer: drawing. (from NYTimes)

Her offer was met with open arms. AOL ponied up more than $25k — and soon enough several other other donors hopped on board. Olivia is making 500 drawings — all of them are already spoken for — and with every drawing, money will be donated to help with gulf recovery.

Way to go, Olivia!!

While her efforts are remarkable, we know there are even more Olivias out there. Please share what you’re doing in the comments below!