Congratulations to Komachin Middle School, the nation-wide winner in our We Add Up fundraising contest. Together, their students sold 182 We Add Up tees and, in addition to their 15% earnings, won a cash prize of $500! Their top-selling student, and winner of a $100 cash prize, is Jayda Cobb. Congrats, Jayda!

Komachin Middle School, located in Lacey, WA, is a public school with over 800 students. Service learning is a big deal at Komachin and students work to earn seals in the categories of Academics, Pride, and Wellness. An Americorp volunteer works with the students and they grow food for the food bank in their garden, recycle, and compost food from their cafeteria, among other things.

Teacher Vicki Leonard did a great job leading the fundraiser and helped inspire motivation by offering a fundraising certificate for the Pride seal when students sold 2 or more We Add Up tees. Ms. Leonard says, “Our kids were so excited about these t-shirts. Environmental science is very much embedded in our science program and school culture. Every day you see someone wearing one – staff or student. And, every time I wear one of the t-shirts, people always ask – what does that t-shirt mean?”

Ms. Leonard and the students used their earnings to help fund a trip to their port on Puget Sound. They saw the operations there and got to see and touch the 125 foot wind turbine blades that arrived at the port, bound for a wind farm in Eastern Washington.

Congratulations to Komachin Middle School!

I met Brian and Connie Harris in November at the San Francisco Green Festival.  Like many people, they wanted to get their whole family counted in the fight to stop climate change and give We Add Up tees as gifts.  But, the Harris’ took the commitment to a whole new level - their family created a “Cousins Rule Team” made of their eight grandkids!

As Ellie, one of the kids, so clearly put it: “We Add Up to save the world.”  Each of the three families is developing 1-3 earth-saving projects and they are updating each other every month through email (in addition to frequent family visits) on their progress.  They are using “50 Simple Things Kids can do to Save the Earth” and “Winston of Churchill, One Bear’s Battle Against Global Warming” as their core inspiration.

We commend this clan of cousins and hope they’ll keep us updated on the great things they’re doing!

Cousins Rule Team: (left to right) Merrick (4 months, held by Dad), Connor, Allison, Kate, Holden, Ellie, Dayton and Lauren (aka “Number 1″).

Wish you could turn back some of the environmental decisions the Bush administration has made over the past 8 years?  Yea, us too.  We’ve lost a lot of ground  in taking a serious and active role in mitigating the climate crisis.  But, there is hope with a new administration.  Already, President-Elect Barack Obama is considering three measures to turn back decisions made by Bush.  Read about them here.

If you’re like most people who ‘add up,’ you spend a lot of time thinking about the health of our planet.  Sometimes you worry, sometimes you get frustrated, and sometimes you get really angry about what’s happening.  On the other hand, there are moments of elation as you hear a politician actually talking sense or a columnist finally getting it right on the environment.  Only by getting real do we realize what opportunities these challenges hold for us!  More on that later.

But, the thought that occurred to me last week, as I was kayaking solo around the waters of South Carolina and blissing out on the sounds of the water and the sight of diving birds and jumping fish, is that it is so easy to get wrapped up in ‘the fight.’

As summer comes to a close, consider if you’ve really enjoyed it as much as you possibly could?  If not, find your first free moment, run outside, hug a tree, listen to a bird, or take off your shoes and splash around in a creek.  We deserve to enjoy.

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Jill

Americans used to be known for speaking their minds.  When our government was off track, we were very vocal about letting them know what we wanted.  So where’s our voice now?  Where in the questioning of presidential candidates are the indepth interviews about future energy policy or climate change? The Congress isn’t going anywhere, why aren’t we putting pressure on them to press forward?   Our voices should be clamoring for answers and instead we’re silent.   

We are missing a huge ecomonic opportunity to be leaders in alternative energy technology and manufacturing.  Instead, while we do nothing, other countries are taking up the lead and we’ll be buying from them.  This article from the NYTimes sums up what our future will be if we continue to do nothing.

Can individual people impact the world?  For the answer just check your history book.  If we don’t speak up, it will be business as usual.  Our future will be dependence on other countries for technology, manufacturing, and oil.  Try your voice America, it still works.  You can make a difference. 

Deb