Students share their journalism pieces in their own communities. They also submit them to the Young Reporters competition for judging by a panel of jurors with a range of related expertise. The jury carefully reviewed each entry, provided helpful feedback to students on what made their pieces effective as well as suggestions for taking their work to the next level, and named winners for each media type in two age categories.

Young Reporters for the Environment USA is part of the international YRE program, which encompasses programs in 27 countries worldwide. Here in the United States, students between the ages of 13 and 18 participate. First place winners in our competition proceeded this week to the international competition for another round of judging.

The winning entries are as follows:

AGES 13-15

Writing

• 1st Prize: “Emerald Ash Borer” by Eli Cason (Cuba Middle School, Cuba, MO)
• Honorable Mention: “Pollution on the Meramec River” by Colten Barrett, Katie Wolfe, and Grace Steiger (Cuba Middle School, Cuba, MO)
• Honorable Mention: “White Nose Syndrome” by Alyssa Hemby (Cuba Middle School, Cuba, MO)

Photo

• 1st Prize: “The Buzz on the Bees” by Lexi Rockwell (Kingdom Builders Co-op, Savannah, GA)

Video

• 1st Prize: “A Tale of Two Trails” by Zachary Korff (Irving Middle School, Springfield, VA)

AGES 16-18

Writing

• 1st Prize: “Saving Energy Through Lighting” by Trey Zimmerman and Zach Major (Kenton County Academies of Innovation and Technology, Edgewood, KY)
• 2nd Prize: “Sustainability at ABRHS” by Denali Trimble, Dikshant Pradhan, and Kendall Butler (Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Acton, MA)
• 3rd Prize: “Green Roof on the Kenton County Academies of Innovation and Technology Edgewood Campus” Building by Zack Fries and Marquea Schwing (Kenton County Academies of Innovation and Technology, Edgewood, KY)

Photo

• 1st Prize: “Pollinator” by Matthew Carras (Vermont Academy, Saxtons River, VT)

SPECIAL DISTINCTION

• “A Tale of Two Trails” (1st prize winner for video in the 13-15 years age category)

Young Reporters USA congratulates these students and all who submitted entries. We appreciate the time and energy they have dedicated to investigating important environmental issues and sharing the information they uncovered in writing, photo, and video. Balanced, objective, and solutions-oriented coverage of these issues is critical to protecting and restoring our communities and our planet. Young Reporters USA looks forward to expanding the program in years to come and helping more students hone their skills as environmental journalists.

For more about the Young Reporters USA program, including the criteria and schedule for the competition, see www.yre-usa.org

For links to the winning entries and comments from the jury about what makes an effective piece of environmental journalism, please visit www.yre-usa.org/winners.

Representatives from 22 countries gathered for the annual Young Reporters meeting in Malta in February 2013.

The meeting included representatives from 22 different countries (of 27 currently participating in the program). It provided an opportunity to share information and brainstorm ideas for continued development of the program. Some countries, including Cyprus, Portugal, and Morocco, have hosted YRE for a decade or more and have a wealth of experience to contribute. Others, including the United States, are in our inaugural year. In particular, we discussed how to better integrate YRE with Eco-Schools, the other FEE program that NWF hosts. There is excellent potential for Eco-Schools students at the middle and high school levels to investigate and report on issues related to their Eco-Schools work. Younger students could also report on their school’s projects, learning journalism techniques that will prepare them to enter the YRE competition in the future (YRE USA is open to youth ages 13–18).

Our meeting concluded with a workshop by expert nature photographer Dr. Mark Mifsud from the University of Malta. After demonstrating some techniques with examples from his own work, Dr. Mifsud sent us out into Xrobb L-Ghagin Nature Park to practice with our cameras. Back in the classroom, we each chose two photos for the group to consider and, in a speed-round of judging, used our new knowledge to identify the most successful shots. It was a fun exercise that will help all of us better understand the role of both students and jury in the YRE competition!

The Azure Window on Malta’s smaller island of Gozo, one of the most spectacular views I saw along the small country’s many miles of Mediterranean coastline.

The international aspect of YRE is a great strength and provides participants with a unique opportunity to take part in a truly global endeavor.  I greatly value the chance to connect with people from so many different countries all working toward a common goal of environmental awareness and action.

There are still a few more days until the March 15, 2013 deadline for the first annual YRE USA competition – it’s not too late to submit an entry!  Learn more about the program and find all the details for participating at yre-usa.org.

The new Healthy Living pathway is designed to provide schools with tools to promote physical activity, regular time outdoors and creative play.

• Childhood obesity has tripled over the past three decades, with one in three children now considered overweight or obese.
• Children play outside less today than in any other generation in human history.
• Meanwhile, the average child spends more than seven hours in front of electronic screens daily.
• The use of antidepressant drugs for children has risen sharply, and the U.S. is the largest consumer of ADHD medications in the world.

But here’s the good news. Time spent outdoors, physically active, and engaged in unstructured play is perhaps the best possible prescription for what ails our kids. It helps children grow lean and fit, enhances imaginations and attention spans, decreases aggression and stress, improves vision, and decreases symptoms of ADHD. It also boosts classroom performance; just this week, a new study connected cardiovascular fitness with higher standardized test scores. In addition, children who spend regular time in nature become better stewards of the environment.

Schools have a critical responsibility—and opportunity—to set students on course for a lifetime of healthy lifestyle choices. Today, the Eco-Schools USA program officially launched a new Healthy Living pathway designed to provide schools with tools to promote physical activity,  regular time outdoors, and creative play.

The Healthy Living pathway is designed to empower schools to:

• Enable more students to walk or bike to school
• Use the school grounds as an outdoor classroom for hands-on, active learning
• Restore recess as a vital part of every school day
• Strive for a better balance between “screen time” and “green time”
• Make physical fitness and outdoor time a priority for students and staff alike
• Extend these values home to families and out into the community

The Healthy Living pathway works in concert with Eco-Schools USA’s related Healthy Schools pathway (launched earlier this year), which focuses on the physical environment at schools—the building and grounds. Together, the two pathways also provide support for schools addressing the “Healthy School Environments” pillar of the new federal Green Ribbon Schools award program, which calls for “high standards of nutrition, fitness, and quantity of quality outdoor time for both students and staff.”

To find out how to become an Eco-School, visit the Eco-Schools USA website. To learn more about the current state of children’s health—and how a resurgence in outdoor play can reverse the downward trends—visit the Be Out There campaign.

Young Reporters for the Environment program directors (photo by Karolina Slowinska)

Two members of NWF’s Eco-Schools USA team had the privilege of attending, in preparation for launching the Young Reporters program in the United States in September 2012.

Young Reporters for the Environment, like Eco-Schools, is a program of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). It engages students in investigating an environmental issue relevant to their community and then reporting on it in writing, photography, or videography. Students’ work goes to a national competition, with winning entries progressing to the international level.

Participants from over 20 different countries shared information about their programs, some well established and some, like us, just beginning. We were inspired to hear about their innovative approaches. For example:

• In Wales, reporters from the BBC serve on the national jury, raising the profile of the competition.
• In Canada, winning students gain a position as a reporter-at-large for Environmental Defense Canada.
• France has expanded its themes to include social and economic as well as environmental issues to incorporate the full breadth of education for sustainability.
• In Portugal, students learn reporting techniques by covering the sustainability initiatives of a popular music festival.
• Cyprus held an event at which young reporters interviewed a highly regarded politician about his work on behalf of the environment.
• Kazakhstan brought students together with skilled journalists for an experience exchange.
• In Slovakia, the Young Reporters program actually became its own news agency; the country lacked any environmental journalists, so students filled the gap, submitting their best work to public media.

Program directors at the Artemis Temple

After connecting with fellow YRE coordinators from around the world and hearing about their successful endeavors, we are even more excited to bring this program to the U.S. soon!

To learn more about the international Young Reporters for the Environment program, click here.

Round Elementary's holiday treats for wildlife

When the holiday season hits at George C. Round Elementary in Virginia, the school’s Green Team makes sure the spirit of giving extends to their environment.

Green Team leader Susan Ridgeway shared with us the following creative ideas:

• Last year, students saved holiday cards and brought them to school. This year they cut them up to design cheerful new cards and distributed them to veterans at a local veterans’ hospital.

• For the holidays, the school adopts a family in need. Students cut up more of the recycled cards, punched holes in them, and made them into tags for the gifts they will give to the family members.

• Wildlife isn’t forgotten, either. Students used bird seed and other ingredients to make edible ornaments. Then they decorated a tree on the school grounds for the animals to enjoy (see photo).

Round Elementary in Manassas is a Silver Award winner in the Eco-Schools USA program.

Q: My favorite place as child was…

A: Oh, I had lots! I grew up in northern Michigan, where each season brought its own delights…in extremes. I’ve always loved snow–the deeper, the better–so anywhere became magical after a snowfall. My brother and I spent hours in the yard, romping with the dog and dragging our sleds around.

As soon as school was out, we’d head for the family cottage to spend endless summer days in a pack of cousins and neighbors. We caught frogs in the creek and crayfish under the dock. We constructed beach villages and lawn chair forts. We swam until our skin wrinkled. We walked along the road and picked bouquets of daisies and sweet peas. As we got older, we ventured further from home, biking the sandy trails in the woods and camping at the lake’s wild “”North End.”"

Q: My favorite games to play were…

A: Mostly the ones we made up ourselves. They sound silly now–a playground game called “”Dinkeldorks”" that involved a lot of spinning in circles, a spooky after-dark running game called “”Vampire,”" and one called “”Car!”" where we ducked down in the ditch every time a car drove by (and sometimes came home with poison ivy). But every kid deserves the opportunity to make up equally ridiculous ones!

Q: What did you like to do on rainy days as a child? Snowy days?

A: I walked to school in all kinds of weather, rain and snow included–and usually declined even if rides were offered! I also read a ton, so if I wasn’t outside, I was very happy curled up with a book.

Q: What life lessons did you learn from playing outdoors or in nature?

A: Curiosity–there was always another rock to turn over or trail to explore.

Responsibility–in the form of the vegetable garden I took on at age 11 and the stripy monarch caterpillars I’d bring home, name, house in peanut butter jars, and provide with a daily serving of milkweed, all for the joy of watching them change into butterflies.

Independence–as I wandered further afield, learned skills such as canoeing and backpacking, and found that I could do just about anything I needed to.

All standard lessons, but I’m pretty sure I’d be a different person today if I hadn’t spent so much of my childhood outside.

Q: When I look at how rapidly the 21st Century has changed our lives, the thing I miss most is…

A: Spontaneity. People are so busy and scheduled that it seems we only get together for events arranged far in advance. As a kid, I could just walk out the door and immediately be caught up in some unplanned activity. Sudden projects that needed many hands, such as a fallen tree in the driveway, brought all the neighbors together to pitch in. Now everyone is constantly available by cell phone or email or instant message, but we’re almost never actually available to lend a hand or play a game or just sit on the porch and chat.

Q: Why do you think a Green Hour a day is so important for children?

A: Nature is a spark for creativity. The outdoors, unlike most toys or video games, doesn’t come with a prescribed way to play with it. It’s a place of immense possibility–and real consequences. It can inspire kids to think creatively, dream big, and come up with new ideas that no one has ever had before.

Q: Do you have any advice for parents and/or educators who are interested in getting kids outdoors?

A: Just do it! Kids grow up too fast to put it off for another day. Yes, the house needs cleaning. Yes, the class needs to learn multiplication. But there are frogs in the pond and birds singing and flowers blooming right now! It doesn’t have to be elaborate or take a lot of time. Try to find ways to fit the outdoors into your daily round. Kids are rambunctious? Pretend to be rabbits and hop around the house. Time for lunch or dinner? Have a picnic under a tree. Teaching the parts of flowers? Send students on a scavenger hunt for examples. The world is waiting!

When I was a kid, I would have made a different list. Setting up house in a tent. Picking wild raspberries by the handful. Eating dinner outside. Flashlights. S’mores. Watching a campfire’s mesmerizing flames. Star-gazing.

Guess what? It all still applies!

The Great American Backyard Campout® is coming up on June 28, and many more summer days–and nights–beckon beyond that date. Pitching a tent in the backyard? Planning a backpacking trek in the mountains? Choosing the middle road with a car-camping trip? No matter which option you pick, you’ll find plenty to delight kids.

So. You’ve arrived at your destination and set up the tent. What next? Check to be sure everybody’s attitude is properly adjusted. The point of camping is not comfort and convenience. Your living room provides that perfectly well. The point of camping is to have an adventure. You’re here to see and do things that are different, exciting, and inspiring. With that in mind, you’re ready to have some fun. For example:

• Have a nature scavenger hunt. Bugs, leaves, seeds, rocks, flowers, animal tracks–many treasures await you at your campsite. Divide into teams and keep a list of what you discover.
• Meet the neighbors. Bring some field guides and get to know a few trees, wildflowers, or birds nearby.
• Walk by the water. Wander on a beach, hike a trail by the river, or follow a stream as far as you can. Then stop and dip your toes in to cool off.
• Pick a reading rock (or a reading tree or meadow). Bring a family read-aloud book to enjoy outside. Another good reading spot: in the tent in the rain!
• Watch fireflies. If you spot one flashing, try blinking a flashlight in the same pattern of flashes. Will the firefly blink back? Or even come closer?
• Listen to night sounds. Tune in and you might hear frogs or toads trilling, crickets chirping, katydids buzzing, or even owls hooting.
• Star-gaze. When it’s really dark, lie down and look up at the stars. See if you can find some familiar constellations. Or make up your own–and stories to go with them.
• Wake up early the next morning and watch the sunrise.

My own favorite camping memories are all about the unexpected surprises. The mega-shower under a waterfall in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. The lunar eclipse in Utah’s so-starry Canyonlands. The bison outside our tent in the Badlands. A few planned activities can be helpful, but even better is keeping your eyes open for whatever amazing things present themselves. Happy memory-making!

Though it’s not quite as obvious, the natural world may also benefit from this interaction. Really! Research suggests that plenty of time spent outside in childhood is key to developing an environmental ethic. And an environmental ethic leads individuals to make choices with positive effects on our environment.

A classic study in environmental education looked at the ”
significant life experiences” of a group of adults who had chosen environmental careers. What was the common thread in all of their stories? Frequent childhood experiences in the outdoors–particularly unstructured playtime in wild places. Another important factor: a mentor–parent, teacher, or other adult–who modeled environmental attitudes and behaviors. In 2006, Cornell University released a study that supports a similar conclusion. A survey of more than 2,000 adults found a strong link between participating in “wild” nature activities in childhood (such as playing in the woods, hiking, camping, and fishing) and environmental attitudes and behaviors in adulthood.

The message is clear. Today’s green hour may help shape tomorrow’s green spaces, green products, and green lifestyles. It all starts with young children and a focus on the wonder and joy of the natural world. Later, these same children may ask challenging questions about ecological relationships, weigh the environmental costs and benefits of life decisions, and fervently fight to protect the places they have grown to love.

For more, see the Cornell study.