-- Production of a public service announcement about ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that reached 70,000 people -- Distribution of 15,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs to low-income families -- Collection of six 10-gallon buckets of used batteries for recycling -- Educating 450 families about the impact of mold on indoor air quality -- Creation of green roof boxes on the school's campusA complete list of winning Action Plans can be viewed at www.scholastic.com/lexus. Winning in the initial challenges qualified each team to participate in the Final Challenge for a chance to win part of $850,000. Two grand-prize winning teams will each receive $75,000 in grants and scholarships, and 14 first-prize winning teams will receive $50,000 each. In all, $1 million will be awarded. Challenge Inspires Teachers and Students to Take Action Comments from teachers and statements written in the Action Plans demonstrate the impact of the Lexus Environmental Challenge. One teacher told Lexus she loved how the competition is so motivating while also fostering a true concern for the community and teaching sound scientific principles. Another teacher wrote, "I watched this project, through the experiential learning and the hands-on approach, completely transform the students' attitude about protecting their local water resources. When we first began to approach this subject, students' attitudes were complacent and ambivalent about the topic, but they have completely transformed their attitudes to reflect concern, determination to take action, and motivation to educate and inspire others to take action." The Action Plans contained pages and pages of inspiration. The final question in the Action Plan asks students to state what they've learned through implementing their plans. Some excerpts include:
-- We learned that even making small changes in our daily behavior can have a huge impact on our environment. -- We learned the importance of raising awareness. One person cannot move the world, but as each person does one thing, the cumulative effort begins to add up to something big. -- We learned how hard it is for actual scientists to have to work on this pollution problem day after day and still have to watch people ignore all the warning signs and continue to pollute.The Final Challenge Dares Teams to Take Their Efforts Worldwide For the first four Challenges, teams were asked to take a stand for the environment in their local community. The Final Challenge requires teams to reach beyond the local community and inspire environmental action around the world through innovative ideas that the team must communicate to a wide audience. Teams are currently hard at work on their programs and must submit their entries by March 24. The winners will be announced in April 2008 in conjunction with Earth Day. Editor's Note: A complete list of winners organized by state is available on request.
Contact Information: Media Contact: Holly Ferris (562) 429-6456