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Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

Bright, Green Ideas

You may not expect kids in frigid Cabot, Vermont, to be experts on global warming. They live in one of the nation's coldest, snowiest regions! "But if there is global warming, there might not be any more snow," warns concerned Cabot student Haldane Hanson, 10.

Cabot kids know that snow in Vermont is a sign of a healthy planet. They know because the Cabot School is a Green School. The five-year-old Green Schools program is sponsored by the Washington-based Alliance to Save Energy. The group gives schools money and training to teach kids how energy works and how to use it wisely.

All year Cabot students study energy-including how burning some fuels pollutes the air and traps heat near Earth's surface, causing global warming. "If we save electricity, we won't use as many harmful fuels," says Malcolm Dale-Brown, 10.

Cabot is one of 40 Green Schools in the U.S. The Alliance hopes to have more than 200 by 2002. "If we teach kids how to manage energy use, environmentalism can become their way of life," says Alliance researcher Brian Levite.

The program does more than educate kids; it saves money. Teachers, kids, custodians and administrators team up to improve the school's energy use. On average, a Green School saves $8,700 in energy costs a year.

In Cabot, town businesses pitched in too. Solar Works, a local company that designs and installs solar panels, donated 16 solar panels for a school roof. The panels collect the sun's energy, so that it can be used for electricity. Next September, Cabot's classrooms will be lit by new, energy-conserving light bulbs that could save the school $1,500 a year.

To learn more about Green Schools, visit: www.ase.org

Next: Top 5 Forest Destroyers and Top 5 Forest Replanters