For Immediate Release: May 13, 2009
Contact: Wendy Chavez, 415/947-4248, chavez.wendy@epa.gov
Two Bay Area middle school students win President’s Environmental Youth Award
San Leandro students one of ten individual, team winners nationwide to receive prestigious award
(SAN FRANCISCO) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today honored San Leandro, Calif., middle school students Clay Ferguson and Chance Boreczky with the President’s Environmental Youth Award for their efforts at raising awareness of environmental threats of plastic products.
The PEYA program recognizes young people across America for projects that demonstrate a commitment to the environment and encourage positive community involvement. The two students are among nine other winners selected nationwide.
“The President joins me in honoring these students for leading the way toward a brighter future for their communities and our planet,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “In each of these amazing projects we see our country’s future for clean energy, preservation, healthy communities and a well-protected planet.”
Inspired by the service work and environmental education outreach projects of the East Hills 4H troop of Alameda County, Ferguson and Boreczky created the video, “A Plastic Predicament,” to educate the public and propose solutions to the environmental threats associated with using and disposing of plastic products.
The middle school students initially learned about the great Pacific trash gyre, a whirlpool of plastic debris twice the size of Texas, through a 4H environmental stewardship project, Plastic Eliminators. Recognizing the significant long-term problems associated with processing huge volumes of waste plastic and with ongoing landfill management, they decided to help educate the public about the seriousness of plastic pollution, and model ways for people to reduce their plastic usage.
Ferguson and Boreczky have shown the video at 4H county, sectional and state meetings, as well as public venues like farmers’ markets. They met with the San Leandro mayor and gave their presentation at a city council meeting to increase the visibility of the issue of plastic waste in their community. The twosome also participated in discussions of a proposed plastic shopping bag ban at an Alameda County Waste Management Authority meeting attended by over a dozen East Bay mayors.
The White House established the President's Environmental Youth Awards program in 1971, and has been administered by the EPA since that time. Up to 10 winning projects nationally are selected each year. Young people from around the country and U.S. territories are invited annually to participate in the PEYA program, which is aimed at encouraging individuals, school classes, summer camps, youth organizations and public interest groups to promote environmental awareness and
For more information on the San Leandro winners and the program, as well as a listing of the 2008 award winners and their project descriptions, visit: http://www.epa.gov/enviroed/peya/index.html
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