New York Teens Take On Global Warming

While I’ve always thought of myself as being “environmentally conscious” (whatever that means), it wasn’t until I saw the documentary An Inconvenient Truth last summer that I realized that; 1) I wasn’t nearly as environmentally conscious as I would have liked to believe, and 2) I wanted to make changes in my life to try and reduce my personal “ecological footprint” on the planet.

After seeing the movie, my husband and I did a lot of things around the house to try to do our part to stop global warming…we switched from paper napkins to cloth, stopped buying paper plates and the like, started buying only produce from local farmers and made an effort to turn off lights and appliances when we weren’t using them.

One of the easiest changes we made was replacing all of our standard lightbulbs with energy-saving compact flourescent light (CFL) bulbs. It was simple, cheap, and actually makes a serious dent in the amount of carbon emissions our household is contributing to the atmosphere. A bonus of the CFL bulbs? They last much longer than a standard light bulb, so they’re not only good for the environment…they’re good for our budget, too.

Today I learned about a new teen-run organization called RelightNY that is taking matters into their own hands by distributing the compact flourescent light (CFL) bulbs to low-income families in New York City. 15-year-old Avery Hairston and eight of his high school friends started the organization in late 2006 to “educate and inspire young people to live in ways that protect the Earth’s environment for current and future generations.”

Here is their mission statement:

RelightNY aims to inspire social change by:

• supplying low-income housing units with energy-saving CFL bulbs, both helping families to save on utility costs and fighting global warming
• spreading awareness of the benefits of CFL bulbs
• encouraging all New Yorkers to switch to CFL bulbs in their homes

Don’t think a group of nine ninth graders can make an impact? Think again. RelightNY has already gotten the attention of big companies and organizations, like sponsors Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Virgin Mobile, and most recently, advertising agency JWT.

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According to a recent survey of American teens by JWT, “80% of American teens are bothered by the fact that the US represents one of the world’s leading sources of pollution,” and “more than 78% believe there is still time to repaire the damage already done by the environment.”

Where do you stand? Are you concerned about the environment? Do you think we can still turn things around?

If you’re motivated to do something in your own home or life to stop global warming, read on for some recommendations from Climate Crisis for simple changes you can make that have a big impact.

• replace the lightbulbs in your home (or your room) with CFL bulbs
• take shorter and cooler showers
• unplug your cell phone and iPod chargers when you’re not using them (they still use energy even when they’re not charging)
• unplug your computer and other big appliances (even when they’re turned “off” they’re using energy by being plugged in)
• recycle anything and everything that you can!
• carpool, use public transportation, or better yet, walk or bike when you can

To find out more on what you can do, visit Climate Crisis online. To get inspired, check out An Inconvenient Truth!