Traditional GreenWorks grants of up to $1,000 will be awarded in support of environmental projects that demonstrate service-learning, exemplify student voice, involve at least one community partner, and can be completed within a year. To be eligible, projects must secure at least 50 percent in matching funds (in-kind acceptable).

GreenWork! grants for registered PLT GreenSchools of up to $3,000 support projects that meet all the parameters for traditional GreenWorks grant funding. To be eligible, applicants must be a school (public or private), be registered on the PLT GreenSchoo! Web site, have an established Green Team, have completed one or more of the PLT GreenSchools Investigations, and propose a project based on the findings of one or more of the PLT GreenSchools Investigations.

See the PLT Web site for eligibility and application guidelines.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

This award recognizes the innovations of 4-H educators in honor of the timeless contributions of former

Council associate, Denise Miller. As the director of communication and marketing at National 4H Council, Denise Miller worked diligently to promote the fresh and innovative work of 4H. An innovator herself, Denise encouraged staff to tap their creative thinking to continually “make the best better” for all 4H programs. She gave tirelessly of her energy and expertise to 4H until her untimely death in 1991. As a memorial
tribute to Denise, her family and friends have created the Denise Miller National 4H Innovator Award to continue the work to which she was so
committed.

Michelle’s outlook is we don’t have to reinvent the wheel but we do need to think outside the boxand look at what resources we already have and how we can use them in a new way. By either bringing youth to the coast that have never had the opportunity or by starting up year around
clubs, the 4H Surfrider Outdoor Stewardship program has been an avenue for making change. The recognition for this program must be given to the volunteers who made it happen and had the courage to try. Dave Lacey, who is part of the Surfrider organization focusing on marine
stewardship and preservation, is the key person in all of this. Dave’s expertise and willingness to stick with the program and keep the kids motivated has made our program what it is today.

The program started with one summer surf camp that he ran, reaching 10 new youth. The next year we expanded the program to reach even
more youth in the County. Dave hosted four camps in 2011, 3 for local youth and one for Jackson County Youth. That year we were able to
reach over 60 new youth and the overwhelming response was that campers wanted a year around club.

Read more

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1r4wNzZzMsMWkVabUczT1hWYmc/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1r4wNzZzMsMLU03YnpEWDdhRms/edit?usp=sharing

1.
Check faucets and pipes for leaks – A small drip from a worn faucet washer can waste up to 20 gallons of water per day. Larger leaks can waste hundreds of gallons per day.

2.
Use a broom to sweep your driveway and sidewalks – Hosing down your driveway and sidewalks is wasteful and can contribute to declines in downstream water quality. Use a broom and dustpan instead.

3.
Take shorter showers – One way to cut down on water use is to turn off the shower after soaping up, then turn it back on to rinse. A four-minute shower uses approximately 20 to 40 gallons of water.

4.
Check your toilets for leaks – Put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If, without flushing, the color begins to appear in the bowl within 30 minutes, you have a leak that should be repaired immediately. Most replacement parts are inexpensive and easy to install.

5.
Use your water meter to check for hidden water leaks – Read the house water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, there is a leak.

6.
Put a brick in your tank – If you are still using a traditional non-low flow toilet, you can put one or two bricks in your tank. This will help displace some of the volume and reduce the amount of water used during each flush.

7.
Turn off the tap while you’re brushing your teeth – Turning off the water while you brush your teeth helps to save over 150 gallons of water a month.

8.
Rinse your razor in the sink – Fill the sink with a few inches of warm water. This will rinse your razor just as well as running water, with far less waste.

9.
Use your dishwasher and clothes washer for only full loads – Automatic dishwashers and clothes washers should be fully loaded for optimum water conservation.

10.
Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the fridge – Running tap water to cool it off for drinking water is wasteful. Instead keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator.

11.
Water plants and landscaping in the morning or evening – Watering in the morning or evening reduces loss to evaporation.

12.
Utilize climate adapted plants in your yard and landscaping – Climate adapted plants require less water. Find out how to plant your own “Ocean Friendly Garden” here.

13.
Avoid using the Permanent Press cycle on your washer – With clothes washers, avoid the permanent press cycle, which uses an added 5 gallons for the extra rinse.

14.
Find a car wash! – Using a commercial car wash that recycles their water will save over 150 gallons each time you wash your vehicle and help reduce runoff.

15.
Avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily – Dispose of tissues, insects and other such waste in the trash rather than the toilet

1. Get Dirty

Figure out how much your school wastes every day by collecting cans and bottles from students after lunch. This will provide tangible support when you’re approaching people with your idea.

2. Get Your Team Together

Get a team of students and teachers to help you with the program. Sell your idea to them by providing a list of stats and facts on recycling, along with the school facts you found. Check out Rise Above Plastics site for handouts and FAQs

3. Investigate

Once your principle approves the idea, start investigating! Search phone books for a company that can handle the recycling. Some towns even provide recycling bins and will collect recyclables on certain days. If your town doesn’t do this, then set up a fundraiser to buy recycling bins for every floor/area of your school.
Bin it

Once you are able to get recycling bins, get them in different colors or shapes, and separate them by paper, plastic, aluminum and trash. If you can’t do this, make labels that stand out.
Advertise

Post eye-catching signs around school to spread the word about your new recycling program. Make sure to include why it is so important to recycle and what can go in each bin.
Connect

Get others involved by starting an Surfrider Quad Club in your school. This is a great way to discuss environmental issues across the globe and how you guys can help.

Ideas

    Hold a kick-off event at your school to spread awareness. Have games, food and recycling facts!
    Convince your school to use the proceedings from recycling cans and bottles to buy recycling containers or fund field trips. (Hard work pays off.)

Events photo album:
https://plus.google.com/photos/104551955047881037119/albums/5846376022333696001?authkey=CPHptrXR2tW6EQ

Glimpse of students on KTLA news video and LA Times:
http://ktla.com/2013/02/17/activists-rally-against-climate-change-in-downtown-l-a/#axzz2LGz34lv9

Starting today, girls nationwide can enter the contest by sharing their story and submitting a photo at seventeen.com/prettyamazing. In the last two years, over 60,000 teens and young women have entered the contest and shared their remarkable stories.

Past finalists have included the youngest African-American female pilot to fly across country; a race-car driver with 100 wins under her belt; a gay-rights activist who created a national Spirit Day to honor LGBTQ teens; a 16-year old photographer who has already shot for international fashion magazines and major ad campaigns including Nike, and a documentary filmmaker who used film to pull herself out of ADD and depression.

For the finalists and winners, the contest can be life-changing. In 2012, the winner was 21-year-old Lindsay Brown, a champion soccer player at NCAA 1 Division Notre Dame who gave up her place on the team and a full scholarship to dedicate herself to her own non-profit, The SEGway project which teaches sports—and confidence—to girls in developing nations. Since her win, Lindsay used her newfound recognition to expand her non-profit, bringing her campaign to Kenya.

Pretty Amazing’s first winner in 2011, Zoe Damacela, grew up homeless, but used her entrepreneurial skills to create her own fashion business and propel herself and her family out of their low-income circumstances. Since her appearance on the cover of Seventeen, Zoe’s fashion business has been booming, she was invited to speak at the White House and is now filming a television pilot.

“This contest celebrates our readers for the amazing things they do every day,” says Ann Shoket, editor-in-chief of Seventeen. “These girls are forging their own paths, inspiring others, and making their dreams come true, they’re the ultimate cover stars.”

The Pretty Amazing winner will be selected by Shoket, along with pop superstar Carly Rae Jepsen.

Girls nationwide can enter the contest until April 30, 2013. For more information, including contest rules, advice, and inspiration, visit http://www.seventeen.com/prettyamazing.

http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2013/01/ucsbs-water-action-plan-conserving-today-for-tomorrow
Courtesy of Bren Water Action Plan Group

Fresh water is a limited resource with several competing uses that pose an ever-increasing burden on water supplies. In California, water supply issues are magnified by the state’s growing population and semi-arid climate. In order to better prepare for current and future challenges regarding water supply, six students from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management are working to produce a “Water Action Plan”(WAP) for University of California, Santa Barbara, which will also serve as their Master’s Thesis.

The WAP seeks to build upon the school’s historic water practices that have allowed the university to surpass California’s 20 percent water-use reduction mandate nine years in advance. The plan will examine UCSB’s historical and current water use data on the following water types: potable, non-potable, wastewater, stormwater, industrial, reclaimed, and graywater. The WAP Group has also collaborated with regional and university stakeholders to identify and evaluate strategies for water reduction and explore education and outreach opportunities pertinent to on-campus water conservation. Upon completion, the WAP will be implemented under the university’s University of California Sustainable Practices Policy; the guidance document will enable UCSB to minimize water usage while meeting growing demands of future water users.

As the first of its kind in the UC system, the UCSB WAP will be designed with transferability in mind. It will offer site-specific water conservation strategies for UCSB and additionally, will serve as a comprehensive template for external water action plans. The WAP Group acknowledges the wide range of water needs and uses across the UC System. From agricultural to hospital water demand, each UC faces its own water challenges, but underlying the differences between universities is a common goal: water conservation. The UCSB WAP will lay out a systematic approach to designing a water action plan with the ultimate goal of maximizing water conservation; regardless of each university’s individual challenges, the UCSB WAP will emphasize key components and analytic processes necessary to developing a thorough and thoughtful water action plan. The graduate students working on the project hope to facilitate collaboration within and among universities to encourage creativity and information sharing that will maximize water conservation efforts across the board.

Currently, the WAP Group is in the process of writing the plan. The WAP Group will be producing a document for their Bren School Master’s Thesis and a guidance document for UCSB. The WAP Group will defend their Thesis in late February and present the final report, which will be open to the public, in mid-April. More information about the project, group members and project deliverables can be found on the WAP Group’s website,

Currently we are searching for the next crop of projects to show how young people are dealing with global issues and ensuring they inherit their own solutions, and not just our problems. The aim is to provide a gallery of the best practical projects to be part of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and enable UNEP to have contact with those practical-minded young decision-makers, the movers and shakers of tomorrow.

To take part is easy.. just contact the Quad Manager who will walk you through the registration process.

This is a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Sweden to discuss their project with the VA partners and win up to USD $10,000 for their project. Anyone working on a practical environmental project aged between 13 and 16 years of age can enter for the Volvo Adventure. They need to be working in groups of two to five people and actively involved in devising and managing the project. We look forward to showcasing more of the remarkable work of young people from around the world!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’”   Thank you for all you do for your communities, coastlines and Surfrider Foundation!

Volvo Adventure Awards
In collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Programme, the Volvo Adventure Award rewards environmental activities among the decision makers of the future.  Environmental projects are undertaken by teams of young people, ages 13-16, to improve their local environment.  The deadline for entry is January 31, 2013.
http://www.volvoadventure.org/home.aspx

Water Champion Awards
Water Champion awards recognize superior levels of relevance, educational effort, support, and innovation in the promotion of water quality via involvement in World Water Monitoring Day.  The deadline for application is January 15, 2013.
http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/WaterChampionAwards/

10 REASONS TO APPLY

1. The RAP Speaker Training program is free!
2. Top Scientists & educators deliver training.
3. Executive speaker coaching & training included.
4. Receive hands-on training and field trips to a recycling center, science lab, beach cleanup.
5. Become a certified RAP Speaker and empower your community to Rise Above Plastics.

Interested to find out MORE?

In October there are some great youth empowerment seminars in the LA area.  Juli from the West LA/Malibu Chapter (j.schulz@surfriderwlam.org) is organizing a RAP Speaker Program with activities and learning sessions on Saturdays in October.  It is looking to ‘train the trainer’ and get more people comfortable with giving quality plastic reduction presentations. 

Our friends at Algalita are also hosting a one-day youth summit on 10/27 with a similar theme and condensed agenda.

Our friends at Bag It recently got funding to provide their film and curriculum to 200 schools nationwide.  It’s open to grades 4-12 and they hope to spur more plastic reductions in schools in the process.  If you have kids in those grades or know any teachers that might be interested, check it out here.  There’s a contest component with great prizes as an extra incentive to get involved.

Learn More About the Exhibity...

Start a School Club today and create your OWN Ocean Armor Project and display it at your school/community!

17 Belle Glade youth from Palm Beach County Workforce Alliance used computer labs and classrooms to learn about the history and prospects of the Nature Park, and the importance of specific native trees and plants to encouraging the repopulation of the banks of the lagoon with Okeechobee region native fauna. The Torry Island EcoArt Project was not just about creating and installing the art work itself, it is about intensive education of all involved as well as targeted engagement of specific collaborator professional and scientific skills and knowledge.

One big surprise for the interns was how much time was spent researching on PBSC computers, and learning about biological restoration science, landscape architecture and the roots and current practice of EcoArt. The interns had in depth workshops and presentations on typical flora and fauna of the Okeechobee watershed, exposure to the hundreds of EcoArtists practicing around the world on website review assignments, information (new to most of them) about the history of the Lake and the many human settlements across thousands of years. The interns thus gained greater awareness of the broader context for their work in “making place” for wildlife at Torry Island Nature Park.

EcoArt artist/mentor Jesse Etelson offered a “warning” to the interns on their first day: “You must persist through and overcome physical, mental and emotional challenges.” So, when all the prep classes and computer work got “boring,” Jesse arranged some strenuous hikes in the Torry Island Preserve, and lots of grueling physical work, introductions to “strange” native creatures and the fury of a typical summer thunderstorm with 50 mph winds!!

Based on scientific advice from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the EcoArt demonstration site shows how to mimic the three zones of a typical Everglades tree island. Along the water’s edge, in the water, plants that enjoy and thrive immersed are installed. Above this, in the “transition zone,” trees and shrubs that like moisture but prefer not to be immersed are located. And on the highest ground, typical “hammock” trees and understory plants are located in the areas that get the least water. Interspersed will be the EcoArt wildlife habitat sculptures that are specifically designed to attract particular species. The sculptures are constructed of scavenged natural materials. They thus deteriorate at about the same rate the native trees and plants come to maturity, providing interim habitat while the permanent trees and shrubs grow.

A collaborative effort between EarthEcho International and the NEA Foundation, the
Water Planet Challenge grant program supports student service-learning programs designed
to help improve the health of our water planet.

The Water Planet Challenge Grants are available in the form of NEA Foundation Student
Achievement Grants to middle and high school public educators.

Interested applicants must cite specifically how they are utilizing EarthEcho's Water Planet
Challenge Action Guides in the classroom with their students. From conserving energy
and improving the quality of drinking water to understanding the impact of the Gulf Oil spill,
the Water Planet Challenge's collection of action guides, videos, lesson plans, and service-
learning materials are intended to help educators connect with students and jumpstart
student awareness and involvement in affecting change.

Grants are in the amount of $2,000.

The online application process for this grant is the same as all NEA Foundation $2,000
Student Achievement Grants. Applicants should designate their grant application for
consideration for the Water Planet Challenge Grant program.

For more information, visit the NEA Foundation website @
http://www.neafoundation.org/pages/educators/grant-programs/nea-foundation-earthecho-
%20grants/

Berkeley students are tracking where the plastic goes after it’s tossed or put into a recycling bin — most often, into a landfill, onto a boat for recycling overseas or into streams and oceans. The audit will pinpoint and quantify the problem, and that will allow the campus to be the first to make full disclosure of its plastic use and to involve faculty, staff and students in devising strategies for dealing with it. The gathering and disclosure of the information is intended to drive both a broader awareness of the problem and a search for solutions that are cost-effective and environment-sparing to the university.

The effort will be managed by Campus Recycling and Refuse Services, in partnership with the school's Office of Sustainability.

To learn more about the: Plastic Disclosure Project

To read more about UC Berkeley's efforts: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/06/07/plastic-disclosure-project/

Young people are the most knowledgeable and motivated segment of the population when it comes to the environment and its protection. Youth generally have the free time, familiarity with current issues, and the motivation to go out of their way to take environmental actions. Furthermore, the research shows that parents are increasingly looking to their tween and teenage (i.e. ages 12-17) children for information and advice on these issues.

We hope you will make a concerted effort to reach out to and collaborate with young people, helping inspire them to care for our world's ocean, now and throughout their lives.

We also encourage you to focus on a issue you find intriguing, or which has a special significance to your community. A few examples:

Youth: the Next Wave for Change
Ridding the Oceans of Plastic

or

Youth: the Next Wave for Change
Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities

Don't forget to share your thoughts with the rest of the World Oceans Day community!

Explore this site http://worldoceansday.org/ for ideas, resources, and information about how you can get involved and post your project here

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldOceansDay

http://www.greenschoolsalliance.org/students/student-climate-conservation-congress-sc3

They had them dig recyclables from bowls of beach sand -spoons in their mouths -cause dolphins and turtles don't have opposable thumbs! They had a blast and several of the teachers expressed interest in a Quad program.

Starting today, girls nationwide can enter Seventeen Magazine's Pretty Amazing contest by sharing their story and submitting a photo at seventeen.com/prettyamazing. Last year’s winner, Zoë Damacela, 19, is a fashion designer and entrepreneur from Chicago who overcame low-income circumstances, and even homelessness, to become one of fashion’s brightest new stars. She is a strong entrepreneur and has also been honored by President Obama.

Summer 2011 she went back on the road, this time to East Africa to meet with and learn from young social entrepreneurs and fellows representing various organizations. If you enjoy her blog then also check out her posts on Care2.com! She cover's social entrepreneurship, politics, and the environment.  http://popcultureactivist.blogspot.com/p/about-pop-culture-activist-nicole.html