Youth / Students

Do you remember running along the acequia when you were a kid, or playing in the park in the summers until the streetlights came on?

These activities, which many of us took for granted as children, are not modern-day realities for most of New Mexico’s young people. With the rise of technology and more “seat time” in schools, fewer and fewer children are getting outside and connecting with nature.

Volunteers to Help Create Garden & Maintain Albuquerque’s green spaces.

Albuquerque, NM – Local residents and Sierra Club members pulled on their work boots and gloves to help create a sitting area and garden at a South Valley School, clean up trash at city parks, and help prepare a tree nursery for winter along the bosque. Today’s service projects were mostly handled by young people such as students at Nuestros Valores Charter School and UNM students that helped clean up Tiguex Park near Old Town.

On August 5, nearly 200 teachers, public health professionals, conservationist and parents gathered for the first Getting Kids Outside forum at the Bosque School in Albuquerque.

The summit aimed to start a dialogue about how getting our kids moving outdoors could provide a tool to combat the growing childhood-obesity issue in the state.

A blinking red-eyed tree frog and flitting butterfly greet visitors to the new NASA Climate Kids website. Targeting grades 4 – 6, this kid-friendly guide de-mystifies one of the most important science issues of our time. The site answers the “Big Questions” about global climate change using simple illustrations, humor, interactivity, and age-appropriate language.

This spring President Obama created the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. This weekend leaders from the Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency met with New Mexicans in Albuquerque to learn about our views of this program. This is my viewpoint on this issue.

• We should all increase our use of the world-class outdoors opportunities that exist here in New Mexico.
• The Federal government should provide new, expanded, and better protected public lands.
• Increase opportunities for youth in the Great Outdoors.
• Support local economies by investing in public lands.
• Manage all public lands to comprehend climate change.

Dr. Jim Morgan attended the Kids’ Fishing Derby sponsored by the Kiwanis Club at Lake Maloya near Raton on Saturday, June 5. Jim was representing both the Enchanted Circle Chapter of Trout Unlimited and Sierra Club. He donated 15 Sierra Club rod and reel combinations and 10 TU kids’ memberships. There was a good turnout, and many fish were caught.

The Kids’ Fishing Derby at Eagle Rock Lake on June 5 attracted about 75 children along with quite a few parents and grandparents. The youngsters won 15 Sierra Club backpacks, 14 Zebco rod and reel combinations, and a few T-shirts donated by Sierra Club. In addition, the first- and second-place winners of the 10- to 11-year-old casting competition won Sierra Club fly-fishing outfits. The fishing was not as good as at Lake Maloya, but everyone had a good time.—Eric Patterson

“I love nature.”
“I gotta work”
“I want good green jobs”

That was the rallying cry of the Sierra Club’s youth delegation at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference on May 4th – 6th. Representing dozens of communities in twenty states from across the country, 79 vibrant, green-minded young people descended upon Washington, DC demanding green jobs.

On April 24, Energy Works received the 2010 Sustainable Santa Fe Award for a Renewable Energy Project. Energy Works is collaboration between Youth Works and the Community Housing Trust, which the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club funded in 2009 in conjunction with the City of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust. This project funded eight youths to complete over 225 energy efficiency installations/audits for working class families.

The two top winners of the Pajarito Group’s Environmental Awards are going to the International Science Fair in San Jose, CA: Joe Abeyta and Nate Clements who used crayfish populations to assess water quality in the Valles Caldera National Preserve (in particular in relationship to ungulate grazing in riparian areas); and Holly and Ryan Erickson who “Beat the Heat” with an ingenious, easy-to-fabricate, and inexpensive Reversible One Way Heat Panel. Other Pajarito Group top winners at State are Daniel Ahrens, Isaac Koh, and Amanda Mercer.

Sarah is a second grader in Las Cruces who is concerned enough about the effects that climate change will have on the planet that she is taking action to do something about it. Her principal agreed to let her regularly broadcast her “Green Tip of the Week” to the school about the problem and how kids can help. We think grownups can help, too, so we are pleased to introduce Sarah’s Green Tips here: