An Analysis of John McPhee's The Pine Barrens (Part 3 of 4)

[Note: I recently took an environmental literature class. As part of the coursework, I had to read two books that have influenced the American environmental movement and prepare a report on each. One of the books that I chose was John McPhee's The Pine Barrens.]

Who is John McPhee? A Hard-Working Journalist and Teacher

John McPhee was born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1931. Following his education at Princeton and Cambridge Universities, he started to write magazine articles, first with Time magazine and later with The New Yorker. He’s been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1965. McPhee has also worked extensively as a nonfiction writing instructor. As recently as 2009, McPhee was still teaching at Princeton University.

The Pine Barrens, published in 1968, was one of McPhee’s earlier books. Personally, I thought he rambled in places and could have used more editing. While my husband assures me that this is simply McPhee’s style, I am interested in reading McPhee’s later works to see if he tightened up his writing over the years.

Part of Itinerant Cryptographer's John McPhee collection

To date, John McPhee has published 30 books on wide-ranging topics that tend to examine the intersection of humans, history, and ecology. John McPhee won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for his essays on geology which he threaded into a book called Annals of the Former World.

McPhee’s tremendous output of work coupled with an ability to take complex ideas and break them down into enjoyable prose are surely his greatest gifts as a writer. He has been called the most gifted non-fiction writer working today and he is certainly one of the hardest working. At the age of 80, he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

***

If you like this post, be sure to read:

Part 1: Background: What are the Pine Barrens?
Part 2: What Makes the Pine Barrens So Special?
Part 4: What Type of Writer is McPhee? Why Was His Book Effective?

An Analysis of John McPhee's The Pine Barrens (Part 2 of 4)

[Note: I recently took an environmental literature class. As part of the coursework, I had to read two books that have influenced the American environmental movement and prepare a report on each. One of the books that I chose was John McPhee's The Pine Barrens.]

An area of New Jersey's Pinelands that was recently
affected by a forest fire.
Photo credit: Matt Swern, via flickr // CC BY 2.0

What Makes the Pine Barrens So Special?

The sheer size of unbroken forest in the Pinelands is unparalleled along the eastern seaboard. The region is underlain by a massive aquifer. John McPhee wrote of the groundwater:

“The water of the Pine Barrens is soft and pure, and there is so much of it that, like the forest above it, it is an incongruity in time and place.”

The sandy soils of the Pinelands, while great for purifying groundwater, make for lousy farmland. Early U.S. pioneers generally avoided the Pinelands unless they were hiding from someone or something. Their ancestors living in the region have retained that reticent, self-reliant nature. Despite some past development for iron smelting and charcoal production, the Pinelands are markedly absent of industry. Folks that lived there when McPhee was writing his book, in the late 1960’s, tended to be self-reliant. Most were not wealthy in material possessions but enjoyed their solitude, making a living by collecting and selling moss and pinecones or tending blueberry bushes and cranberry bogs.

The ecology of the pine barrens relies upon fire. Some of the pine species in the barrens won’t reproduce without fire – they need the heat to open their pine cones and release the seeds. McPhee describes this process in Chapter 7:

“It is because of fire that pines are predominant in the Pine Barrens. There is thought to be a progression in development of any forest from pioneer species to climax trees. Most ecologists agree that if fire were kept out of the Pine Barrens altogether, the woods would be eventually dominated by a climax of black oaks, white oaks, chestnut oaks, scarlet oaks, and a lesser proportion of hickories and red maples. In some areas, oaks dominate now. Fire, however, has generally stopped the march of natural progression, and the resulting situation is one that might be called biological inertia – apparently endless cycles of fire and sprouting.”

***

If you like this post, be sure to read:

Part 1: Background: What are the Pine Barrens?
Part 3: Who is John McPhee? A Hard-Working Journalist and Teacher
Part 4: What Type of Writer is McPhee? Why Was His Book Effective?

An Analysis of John McPhee's The Pine Barrens (Part 1 of 4)

[Note: I recently took an environmental literature class. As part of the coursework, I had to read two books that have influenced the American environmental movement and prepare a report on each. One of the books that I chose was John McPhee's The Pine Barrens.]

Abandoned train tracks running through
the pine barrens of New Jersey.
Photo credit: Matt Swern, via flickr // CC BY 2.0

Background: What are the Pine Barrens?

The pine barrens, or Pinelands, of New Jersey are an ecologically unique area in the center of the state dominated by various species of pine growing in nutrient-poor soils. Despite New Jersey’s reputation as a cheek-by-jowl urban area, over one million acres of land – nearly one-quarter of the state – is Pinelands. According to the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, "It is the largest body of open space on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard between Richmond and Boston and is underlain by aquifers containing 17 trillion gallons of some of the purest water in the land.”

At the time John McPhee published The Pine Barrens in 1968, people were considering building a large interstate through this natural area, complete with a supersonic jetport and a city of 250,000 people. The jetport alone would have been massive in scale. McPhee described the proposed airport as “the largest airport on earth – four times as large as Newark Airport, LaGuardia, and Kennedy put together.”

McPhee devoted the last chapter of his book about the Pinelands to describing the proposed development. In these affecting passages, he juxtaposed the developer’s dreams against the current condition of the undeveloped natural area, driving home the urgent need to protect the pinelands:

"We moved on to see the site of the jetport, which would cover thirty-two thousand five hundred acres and would eliminate virtually all of the Upper and Lower Plains, several ponds, a lake, an entire state forest, and Bear Swamp Hill … We were standing on the observation platform of the fire tower on Bear Swamp Hill. The ranger, in the cabin above us, was listening to rock ‘n’ roll. Looking out over the immense forest, Smith [the developer] went on to say, ‘One of our great problems is that you can’t get people to believe that this area is as big as this. They can’t believe that you could come down here and build a fifty-one-square mile airport and not have a structure problem – not even one building visible from here to the horizon. Bear Swamp Hill is in the terminal-service area, where the planes would come in and unload. I can just see those supersonic transports coming in here now. Gorgeous!’..."

The New Jersey Pinelands Commission states on their website that publication of McPhee’s book “spur[red] tremendous public outcry to protect the Pinelands natural and cultural resources.” In 1978, the Pinelands National Reserve – the first national reserve of its kind – was established in the United States. In 1983, the Pinelands were designated as a U.S. Biosphere Reserve; by 1988, this land was also considered an International Biosphere Reserve.

***

If you like this post, be sure to read:

Part 2: What Makes the Pine Barrens So Special?
Part 3: Who is John McPhee? A Hard-Working Journalist and Teacher
Part 4: What Type of Writer is McPhee? Why Was His Book Effective?

Acceptance

One of my dearest friends and I don't exactly see eye to eye. In fact, we have opposing opinions on a number of topics. We have a running joke that if it was up to her the world would be encased in concrete whereas if it was up to me, we'd all be living in mud huts wishing for fire. Suffice to say, our views on environmental topics differ greatly.

I am an unabashed tree-hugger. I get worked up at the thought of trees being cut down, at the wanton and often unchallenged assumption that natural habitat is only here to serve mankind, that land only has value if man can use it for something. The idea of imprisoning an ecosystem behind a chain-link fence can move me to tears.

However, I have to accept that my view isn't quite standard, that most folks don't feel so quite passionately about the topic of habitat destruction (or, as others might say, land use changes). Despite my fervent feelings, life is about compromise.

The Serenity Prayer, so often evoked as a 12-step maxim, applies here: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

My passion to educate others about green topics ends when they understand my viewpoint. I have to accept that what they do with that information is up to them.

Which is as it should be. Otherwise, I would be very cold in my mud hut.


Photo credit: Rachel Davies, via flickr // CC BY 2.0

It's America Recycles Day!

November 15 is America Recycles Day. How are you planning to celebrate?

For certain locations in the United States, 1-800-Recycling.com can help locate businesses near you that recycle everything from paper and glass to automotive wastes and hazardous materials. For example, Best Buy will recycle most electronic items at its US and Puerto Rico stores, "including TVs, DVD players, computer monitors, audio and video cables, cell phones, and more."

From now until December 13, Recycling Zychal is offering to "upcycle" your broken umbrella for free (you pay for shipping the umbrella to them). Send them your broken umbrella and they will make something nifty out of it. The Recycling Zychal Etsy shop sells items repurposed from the fabric portion of umbrellas, like rain hoods, pet toys, and dog raincoats, so I can't wait to see what they are planning! This video shows you how to strip your umbrella and ship the material cheaply to them:



Treehugger writer Lloyd Alter says we should take America Recycles Day a step further and strive for a Zero Waste Day instead. Today is good time to consider the environmental impact of what you purchase. Can you live without the latest electronic gadget? Find companies that use less packaging? Invent new ways to use old objects?

EPA has a great section on their website entitled Wastes: What You Can Do. It's broken down by location of waste generation and season, with tips to reduce your environmental impact. Check it out!

40th Anniversary of Earth Day!

April 22, 2010 is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. According to Earth Day Network, Earth Day is "the largest secular holiday in the world, now celebrated by more than one billion people."


How are you going to celebrate? You could sign a petition, pledge to take better care of the earth, find a green event (like the big Earth Day Climate Rally planned for April 25th on the National Mall in Washington, DC), or read up about some of the biggest environmental issues facing our planet.

But participating in Earth Day doesn't require a big fancy activity. You can start small. Get out your rubber gloves, find a trash bag, and organize a cleanup of your favorite park, walking trail, or even your own backyard. Every little bit helps.

I thank you and the earth thanks you. Happy Earth Day!


Photo credit: Lauren "Lolly" Weinhold, via flickr // CC BY 2.0

Earth Hour 2010

Join the global movement known as Earth Hour today - Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 8:30 pm (your local time). We'll be right there with you. Our family has participated for the last two years and it's interesting to see how momentum is growing for this little movement. Over 25 state governments across the US are participating this year (I wish I could say that it was all 50!).

How do you join? Simple. Just don't use any electricity for one hour. Spend the time talking to your family, playing board games by candlelight, noticing how quiet things are when we don't use so much electricity. This year, there's even an Earth Hour Kids webpage to help get you started.

Does an event like Earth Hour have an impact? Does it really save energy?

The first Earth Hour, celebrated in Sydney, Australia in 2007, had around two million participants. Last year, "[n]early one billion people turned out for Earth Hour 2009 – involving 4,100 cities in 87 countries on seven continents," according to the Earth Hour website.

Despite this wonderful outpouring of support, the overall effect of Earth Hour on energy usage has not proven to be significant. (As I wrote in my Thoughts About Earth Hour last year, some cities only reported a 1% decrease in power usage during the event.)

However, I think Earth Hour does two things extremely well:

* Before and after pictures taken of participating cities show us, in vivid detail, the extensive and sometimes devastating impact of light pollution on our society (speaking as someone who can seldom see the stars where I live!).

* More importantly, participation in Earth Hour makes us -- individually and collectively -- stop and think about what we are doing, how we are living, and why we are making these choices. To me, this is the most important reason to participate: to join in the global dialogue.

* * *

If you liked this post, you might enjoy:

- Earth Hour 2009

- Earth Hour 2008

- Thoughts About Earth Hour

Happy World Water Day!

Thanks to Jason at CephalopodCast, I learned that today, March 22, is World Water Day. This annual global observance started in 1993 through the work of the United Nations. Over 35 countries around the world have special water-themed events planned to mark the occasion.

Why have a special day about water? With nearly 3/4 of the earth's surface covered in seawater, it might come as a surprise that fresh water is a scarce resource on our planet. According to the US World Water Day website, "nearly one billion people around the world don't have clean drinking water, and 2.6 billion still lack basic sanitation."

What can we do about it? Remember that fresh drinking water is precious -- some people don't have any! Try your best not to waste water:

* Don't leave the faucet running when you brush your teeth.

* Be sure to fix leaky faucets and running toilets.

* Try to take less time showering. Use a timer and challenge everyone in your family to beat your time.

* Don't flush the toilet unless it's truly necessary.

* Don't dump medicine down the toilet. Some medicines are not easily removed by sewage treatment plants and these chemicals can wind up in our water supply.


Enjoy the water that you drink today!


Photo credit: Alberto P. Veiga, via flickr // CC BY 2.0

Win $500 for your green idea!

Got a green idea? Are you over 18 and living in the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)? Can you put your environmental solution into three words in a snappy video running under 30 seconds? If you can sell your green idea like a television ad, you could win $500!



The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University is running the Green in 3 video contest (detailed contest rules can be found here). There are three contest windows; five winners will be chosen from each period. The first contest ends Friday, so get those entries in! You can view submissions from other entrants at the Green in 3 YouTube page.

Good luck!

Where were you when the wall came down?

Twenty years ago today, as a college student, I sat transfixed before my television. People were standing on top of the Berlin Wall, tearing it to shreds. It was an event that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. The wall went up less than ten years before I was born. As long as I could remember, the wall had always been there, immovable and permanent. But on November 9, 1989, the wall came down. Amazing.

Today, the Berlin Wall reminds me that some problems, though they seem insurmountable at the time, do eventually have solutions. It might just take some time for us to break through.


Photo credit: Mama Joules (This portion of the Berlin Wall is currently on display at the Newseum.)

It's time for a Green Halloween®

[Note: The following article, in slightly different form, first appeared at Natural Family Online in 2007. At that time, I was fortunate enough to interview Corey Colwell-Lipson as she began her adventure with Green Halloween®. Today, Celebrate Green! has nearly 2,000 followers on Twitter. Corey and her mom Lynn have been interviewed by such journalistic heavyweights as U.S. News and World Report, National Public Radio, and ABC News, along with many other media outlets. I remain awed and impressed with Corey and Lynn's perseverance and tenacity. Despite their new-found fame, the message of Celebrate Green! remains profound, yet simple: Let's create eco-friendly, sustainable holidays.]

***

It’s nearly dusk on Halloween and, once again, you’re running behind. You sprint into the nearest grocery store and scan the shelves, looking for something to hand out to your trick-or-treaters. You find your resolve weakening. Sure, you’d like to hand out treats with less packaging, something not laden with sugar. But the bulging bags of candy look so tempting …

Hold it right there. With a little help from Green Halloween®, an eco-friendly, not-for-profit movement, you can avoid this situation entirely.

What is Green Halloween®? Founder Corey Colwell-Lipson puts it this way. “Green Halloween® is a community movement to create child and Earth-Friendly holiday traditions, beginning with Halloween. Green Halloween® incorporates choices from at least one of three considerations: child-friendliness (including health), Earth-friendliness, and people-friendliness (the people who grow or make the products we buy or use). Ideally, Halloween choices and purchases would take all three areas into account but that is often hard to do. We suggest that families do what they can and what will make their Halloween and their consciences happy.”

Corey Colwell-Lipson was inspired to start this grassroots movement while taking her daughters trick-or-treating in 2006. While most houses handed out typical sugary Halloween fare, a few gave her daughters non-sweet treats like bubbles and stickers. As she recalls on her website, “I was so thrilled that someone thought outside the candy-box.”

She vowed to visit these homes the next year, but soon forgot which ones they were. An idea dawned. “I mentioned to a nearby parent, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there were a sign you could place on your door or window that notified trick-or-treaters that their upcoming treat would be healthy?’ This way, parents could seek out those homes and turn trick-or-treating into a scavenger hunt – a hunt for treasures rather than treats.” And thus, a community movement was born.

Green Halloween® launched in 2007 in the Seattle, Washington area. Local businesses jumped on the bandwagon, asking to use the Green Halloween® logo for their products. “[We want to] make our logo a recognized symbol which will be used on holiday products such as for trick-or-treating, birthday and holiday gift bags items, and stocking stuffers,” says Colwell-Lipson. “[In 2007, you saw] our logo on a few items. [Now], we hope that our logo will be meaningful to the masses: when parents see our logo, they’ll know that the item they are buying meets our standard of child/planet/people friendliness. In addition, whenever our logo is used, a portion of the sales of that product will go towards helping others and or our planet.”

Colwell-Lipson was encouraged by the response she’s received from other parents, local organizations and businesses. She decided to tackle other holidays next. She and her mother, Lynn Colwell, co-wrote Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Traditions and Celebrations for the Whole Family and launched the Celebrate Green! website in 2008.

“The use of petroleum, palm oil and non-recycled tree products are examples of unsustainable practices that we hope to change,” she says. “All traditional holidays, including Halloween, make ample use of products made from these unhealthy or environmentally unfriendly materials, and yet numerous alternatives exist. Our planet has a limited ability to regenerate itself. [We seek] to reduce our eco-footprint by using our collective creativity, flexibility and common interest in the planet to create new holiday traditions while maintaining the heart and soul of our holidays.”

She adds, “My broader goal is to integrate easy, affordable, fun, kid and Earth-friendliness into all holiday traditions such as birthdays and Christmas. I hope that being ‘green’ all year long will become a notion embraced by mainstream America.”

So, how can you get started this Halloween? Here are just a few ideas from Green Halloween®:

* Make your own bags to take trick-or-treating.

* If you are hosting a party, keep your focus on fun rather than treats. You might dunk for apples or build your own scarecrow.

* Hand out items to trick-or-treaters that are environmentally sustainable, healthy for kids, and made using fair work practices. Think spinning tops, stickers, or seashells over candy.

* If your heart is set on handing out candy, Colwell-Lipson suggests Endangered Species Chocolate (a portion of the proceeds go to charity) or Yummy Earth’s candy drops.

Colwell-Lipson says, “Putting some green into your Halloween does not have to be difficult or costly. In the continuum of being green, all families can hop on board! You can start wherever you already are. For example, if your family already eats organic and shops mostly locally, Green Halloween® offers additional ways you can make your holiday even healthier and more green … If your family has yet to try healthy alternatives, this is a great year to start!"

"The Green Halloween® website offers even green-newbies fun, easy and affordable ways to start new holiday traditions your whole family will enjoy,” says Colwell-Lipson. Visit Green Halloween® and download a Guide for Parents (this is a .pdf file) or stop by Celebrate Green! for other green holiday ideas. Happy Halloween!

Win $20,000 for your green idea at Green Effect™

Do you have an idea for how to improve the environment in your community? If so (and you are over 18 and a U.S. citizen), head on over to Green Effect™, a new venture from National Geographic and SunChips®, to submit a short essay about your proposed project. You could win $20,000 to spend on implementing your idea. Don't wait, though, because the contest closes June 8, 2009. Ten finalists will be chosen by a judging panel (and win camcorders!); visitors to the website will select the top five. These five lucky winners not only receive seed money to start their project, they also get to travel to Washington, D.C. to present their idea to environmental leaders. You can read the current set of 1,200 submissions to see what's already been suggested.

Don't be intimidated by this contest! A good, solid, simple idea that would have a positive impact on your community and the local environment should do well. According to the rules, 1/4 of the points awarded at judging are for "alignment with SunChips® brand's philosophy of 'Small steps add up to meaningful progress and positive change.'"

Good luck!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Suess!

"I am the Lorax ... I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues ..." from The Lorax by Dr. Suess

Today would have been Dr. Suess' 105th birthday. As a child, I loved hearing my father read Suess' rhyming tales. My favorite book was Horton Hears a Who with its now-famous refrain: "A person's a person, no matter how small."

But as an adult, I'm partial to The Lorax, Suess' "shortish ... oldish ... brownish ... and mossy" environmentalist. He speaks for the trees and the birds and fish under his care. The Lorax does his best to convince the Once-ler to think about how his manufacturing plant is harming the environment before it's too late.

At the time Suess published The Lorax in 1971, the environmental movement was in its infancy in the United States. People were just beginning to think about saving the planet on a global level. The first Earth Day was held in 1970; the Environmental Protection Agency was formed that same year.

Today, almost 40 years later, the Lorax has many friends standing behind him. On Earth Day 2008, Conservation International, Dr. Suess Enterprises, and Random House started The Lorax Project™ to raise environmental awareness. Visit the website to take a pledge to help the Lorax (to do things like recycling). Read about 20 ways that you can help reduce your environmental impact and learn what students across the world are doing to save the planet. You can also read about endangered species like Golden Lion Tamarins, Red Pandas, and Lemurs.

greenfestival™

Global Exchange and Green America partnered to create greenfestival™, the "world's largest sustainable living event." Upcoming Green Fests include the DC and San Francisco events listed below, along with 2009 festivals in Seattle (March 28-29), Denver (May 2-3), and Chicago (May 16-17). Attend one of these events to meet over 300 eco-friendly businesses, listen to environmental speakers, hear great music, watch green films, and enjoy kids' activities (like making a Green Kids Earth Badge or a sock puppet).

greenfestival™ is committed to having a small environmental footprint. They claim to recover 97% of all show waste, using techniques such as providing biodegradable plates & utensils, composting food waste, providing recycling containers, off-setting electricity emissions, and banning plastic water bottles in favor of jugs of water.

Want to volunteer? Work at least 4.5 hours and you'll receive free admission each day, a free T-shirt ("limited edition, organic and sweatshop-free"), and more!

Website of the Week: Project Vote Smart

First, let me offer a quick apology to my friends outside of the U.S., since today's post doesn't apply directly to you. But for those of you voting in America's 2008 elections, please check out Project Vote Smart. This non-partisan organization has been around for over eight years, providing U.S. voters with information about their elected officials, including things like biographical data, voting records, endorsements, and interest group ratings. It's a great site to help you narrow down your choices, particularly if you have a specific issue that tends to drive your vote. I, for one, am partial to reviewing a candidate's positions on the environment.

One item I found interesting ... historically, John McCain was a big supporter of Project Vote Smart. I was disappointed to find that he hasn't filled out this election's Political Courage Test ... but, then, Barack Obama hasn't filled it out yet either.

Website of the Week: 2008 Olympic Games

This week's website is The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. I realize that it's not even loosely a science website, but with the Summer Games starting today, it just seems right.

I've been reading online that there have been some calls to boycott the games due to China's history of human rights violations. Personally, I don't think boycotting the games makes much sense. It's one thing to draw attention to the problem, quite another to place the burden of the boycott on innocent bystanders, including those Olympic athletes who have trained their whole lives for this one shot at greatness.

I love the Olympics. I think the spirit and sense of camaraderie is wonderful. It gives me hope that we, as a world, can actually work together to solve our problems, environmental and otherwise.

Update (8/21/08): Check out Grist's list of Green Olympians!

Website(s) of the Week: Year of the Frog

The Association of Zoos & Aquariums has designated 2008 as The Year of the Frog to highlight the plight of our amphibian friends. Many are facing the threat of extinction due to habitat loss and disease. Frogs are uniquely sensitive to changes in the environment because they spend part of their life cycle on land and part in the water.

Global efforts are now underway to help save the frogs. One such organization, Amphibian Ark, is co-sponsoring an auction from now through June 30, 2008. The winner gets to name an endangered frog species native to Ecuador! Proceeds from the auction will go toward helping to save endangered frogs in that country.

You can sign up to be a friend of the frogs -- and learn more about how to support this global amphibian-saving effort -- at Year of the Frog. And be sure to stop by Amphibian Ark's How people are helping amphibians for some heart-warming tales of conservation fund raising in action.
Wood FrogPhoto credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Earth Island Institute's Lorax Challenge

As part of their New Leaders Initiative, the Earth Island Institute is sponsoring the Lorax Challenge. Groups of two or more young adults (ages 12 – 20 from the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico) are invited to share their ideas for saving the planet. Entrants must submit an “action plan” that includes items like a description of the project, the names of the team members who will put this plan into action, a draft budget, and a timeline. You could win $1,000 to turn your dream of saving the planet into reality! Five grand prize winning teams will be awarded trips to the University of Florida to attend a five-day environmental boot camp. The deadline for entry is midnight, May 31, 2008. Good luck!

[UPDATE: 3/3/09 -- Some of these links were broken and have been deleted or updated. You can read about the winners of the 2008 contest at the Earth Times.]

Website of the Week: Earth Island Institute’s Brower Youth Awards

I found this great opportunity for young adults ages 13-22 over at the Earth Island Institute. The EII, founded in 1982, operates under this motto: "Innovative Action for the Environment."

If you are a young environmental leader living in North America, you should consider applying for the EII’s Brower Youth Awards. These awards, given annually, honor six young environmental activists for their achievements in environmental advocacy and the promotion of environmental justice. Action and measurable results are key; grades and research are not. You could win a trip to California for the awards ceremony in October, a $3,000 cash prize, and meet people to help you further your environmental vision. But don’t delay; the application deadline is May 15, 2008.

(And if you’ve got a great idea to save the planet, but you haven’t quite put your thoughts into action yet, stay tuned! I’ll have another great opportunity for high school students on Monday.)