Follow this blog:
RSS

You don’t have to be an “adult” to have a smart planet impact

By | January 28, 2010, 3:11 PM PST

The Action for Nature non-profit group out in San Francisco is running the 2010 International Young Eco-Hero Awards contest and is looking to recognize kids between ages 8 and 16 who are making an impact in environmental advocacy, environmental health, research or protection of our planet. The awards program is now in its eighth year.

The deadline for entries is Feb. 28, 2010. The award is a $500 cash price, plus other forms of recognition. The 2008 recipient, Alec Loorz, is now the youngest member of Al Gore’s speaking panel at the ripe old age of 15. Alec is the founder of Kids Vs. Global Warming. What I’m wondering is: How will Alec approach driving when he’s of age? Seriously.

Another past recipient is Otana Jakpor, whose research on air purifiers and ozone emissions actually ended up inspiring California regulation on ozone-generators. She’s only 16.

Kind of makes me feel really proud and really old at the same time.

Anyway, it’s neat to see inspiration at such a young age when many other kids are fixated on things of a more material nature. If you know someone who deserve some props, encourage him or her to step forward.

Start your week smarter with our weekly e-mail newsletter. It's your cheat sheet for good ideas. Get it.

Heather Clancy

About Heather Clancy

Heather Clancy is a contributing editor for SmartPlanet.

Heather Clancy

Heather Clancy

Contributing Editor, Business

Heather Clancy has written for United Press International, ZDNet, Entrepreneur, Fortune Small Business, the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times. She holds a degree from McGill University. She is based in New Jersey.

Follow her on Twitter.

Heather Clancy

Heather Clancy
Writing publicly about what the high-tech industry is actually doing to help itself and the world get greener or more sustainable is one way I figure I can contribute more meaningfully to said effort. I'm also a big OMG-kind-of-fan of smart leadership, which is why the goodly folks who publish this blog let me go on about this topic and why I am always on the hunt for forward-looking business management ideas.

My daily writing is focused on looking for topics for my blogs, GreenTech Pastures and Business Brains. I also write often about emerging technology trends such as mobile computing, unified communications and cloud computing. Occasionally, I will pop up at an industry conference in some sort of speaking capacity. In cases where a speaking engagement involves a sponsor that may be covered in this blog, that fact will be disclosed in coverage as appropriate.

My corporate writing work usually consists of crafting research white papers about some aspect of technology. In the event that my commentary (in written, audio or video form) mentions a company for which I have provided consulting advice, I will disclose that fact. However, there is no connection between these projects and the topics that I'm covering in my blog.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

The discussion hasn’t started yet. Why don’t you begin it?
Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

Join the SmartPlanet Community and join the conversation! Signing-up is free and quick, Do it now, we want to hear your opinion.