Sep 10, 2008 4:33 pm US/Pacific
Fighting "Mr. Carbon" One Family at a Time
Jefferson Award Winner: Carleen Cullen
Kentfield (CBS 5) ―
"I feel this is the greatest crisis that we will have in our lifetime!" Carleen Cullen says determinedly.
She's worried about the world her kids, Lena and Tyler, will inherit. After seeing Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," Carleen researched global warming and became convinced something has to be done.
"It seemed like that if this was actually true, if the house was actually on fire, why aren't we all running for water?" she asks. "Why are we all just going about our daily lives?"
So Carleen started at her children's school. With the help of family and friends, she founded the non-profit
"Cool the Earth."
At school assemblies, parents and teachers take the stage to inspire children to join the fight against global warming. From the audience, students help characters like "Koda the Bear" and "Mother Nature" fight off the villainous "Mr. Carbon." In the process, they learn valuable lessons to take home.
Students like Violet can now help their families take action.
"I've taught them how to change the light bulbs and take shorter showers, and I tell this to my brother and sister too," Violet explains.
Young student Luke adds, "I learned that hybrids have a lot more gas mileage than Lamborghinis or Hummers."
Kids get rewarded for taking action at home: they turn in coupons to tally their progress. Each coupon represents an action taken. In the last two years, Cool the Earth participants have taken 10,000 actions toward reducing their carbon foot print.
"It makes me feel good to help the environment," says young student Whitney. "I don't want the polar bears to get their ice melted."
Last year Carleen took her "Cool the Earth" program to twenty-five schools in the Bay Area. This year, she hopes to reach one hundred and expand nationwide.
"When you see the children respond, there is no denying that you know you have to move forward," says Carleen.
So for empowering kids and their families to take action in reducing carbon emissions, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Carleen Cullen.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments