{"id":1081,"date":"2009-04-28T08:55:48","date_gmt":"2009-04-28T16:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2009-04-28T08:55:48","modified_gmt":"2009-04-28T16:55:48","slug":"climate-change-the-next-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/04\/28\/climate-change-the-next-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Change: The Next Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"California's
California's 2009 Climate Champions in Sacramento (April 27, 2009) Photo by Amanda Dyer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don’t let anyone convince you that today’s teenagers\u00a0 are all too busy watching Gossip Girl<\/em> to notice what’s going on the world.\u00a0\u00a0 At least some of them are all too aware that they’ll be inheriting whatever their elders leave them in the way of climate policy–a promising start or a global Gordian knot.<\/p>\n

So, in Sacramento on\u00a0Monday, California Air Resources Board<\/a> chair Mary Nichols witnessed some thoughtful, engaged, youth-in-action as she fielded sophisticated questions from the newly-inaugurated 2009 California Climate Champions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over lunch, these ten high school students asked Nichols about the \u00a0future of electric cars in the state, how to help low-income Californians reduce emissions, the availability of renewable energy sources, and how\u00a0CARB is dealing\u00a0with political resistance to California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, \u00a0AB 32<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Bessen, a 2009 Climate Champion\u00a0from Palos Verdes High School in Rolling Hills Estates, asked Nichols how society can translate\u00a0science into political action.<\/p>\n

“That is the secret of life,”\u00a0she\u00a0replied.<\/p>\n

Now in it’s second year, the California Climate Champions program\u00a0selects high school students from across the state to serve as educators about\u00a0global warming and\u00a0to “champion” projects that address\u00a0climate change\u00a0issues in their own communities.<\/p>\n

This year’s students are planning a diverse set of projects that include alternative fuels, solar power, water conservation, and large-scale composting.\u00a0 For example, Nicholas Dahlquist \u00a0from Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead plans\u00a0to use chemistry to explore the potential for\u00a0powering school buses with\u00a0waste vegetable oil.<\/p>\n

“The idea is to take used vegetable oil from deep frying and convert it into a fuel you can use in any\u00a0diesel engine,” said Dalquist. “The process is relatively straightforward.” Currently, using vegetable oil as a diesel fuel requires some engine modification.<\/p>\n

The challenge, he says, is getting people to actually use the fuels, so raising awareness about alternative fuels and working with local transportation authorities to explore possibilities are both aspects of his project plan.<\/p>\n

“Biodiesel from waste oil, unlike biodiesel in general, does not require food crops in order to create it.\u00a0\u00a0It’s basically a renewable resource that would otherwise be waste,” he said.<\/p>\n

Other champions include Soraya Okuda, a student at Lowell High School in San Francisco, who is working to establish a composting system at San Francisco State University and at the nearby Stonestown Galleria. Another,\u00a0Jason Bade, from Aragon High School in Foster City,\u00a0 plans\u00a0to lobby cities to develop programs that\u00a0help homeowners purchase and install rooftop solar panels.<\/p>\n

Read\u00a0about the rest of the\u00a02009\u00a0Climate Champions and check in on the progress of\u00a0last year’s Champions\u00a0and their projects at www.climatechamps.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t let anyone convince you that all teenagers today are too busy watching Gossip Girl to notice what’s going on the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11413,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[67,115,385,557,688],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-power","tag-california-air-resources-board","tag-climate-champions","tag-nichols","tag-students","tag-youth"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nClimate Change: The Next Generation | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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