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Young activists put pressure on
adults to save the planet
Local environmentalists (of all ages) look
to Earth Day and beyond
by Allison Baker
April 2007
With Arbor Day and Earth Day around the corner, Takoma Park kids have been busy with environmental issues and concerns.
With script in hand, seven Piney Branch Elementary school students and two Takoma Park Middle School students stood in front of the city council on Monday to convey their concerns about global warming.
| Photo: Julie Wiatt |  | | Ben Miller, a fourth grader at Piney Branch Elementary School, designs a T-shirt for the Young Activists Club. Ben and other club members are organizing a lobbying campaign to effect action on environmental issues. |
"If we don't produce so much carbon dioxide, we can stop global warming," Dylan Goldvale, 10, told the council. "So we need to use solar power and wind power instead of fossil fuels. We need to use fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent light bulbs. And we need to walk or bicycle, instead of using a car."
Dylan is one of the members of a new group called the Piney Branch Young Activists Club. These passionate elementary school students have been busy teaching people about global warming and convincing them to consider energy efficient alternatives. The enthusiasm of these young activists has inspired Takoma Park Middle School students to get involved as well. Over 80 students at the middle school signed a petition this month promising to help stop global warming by finding ways to be more energy efficient.
"Before it seemed like global warming was so far away but then my brother started doing all of this research and I was, like, wow it's not that far away," Casey Goldvale, 14, said. Casey also presented at Monday's meeting.
Some of the suggestions the students made to the council were to encourage people to buy hybrids by dedicating the best parking spots at the community center for hybrid cars, to plant more trees and to find a way to make fluorescent light bulbs cheaper.
| Photo: Eric Bond |  | | Young activists took their concerns to the Takoma Park City Council on March 23. From left, Esperanza Loaiza Bond, Casey Goldvale, Javier Casterano-Lopez (partially hidden), Dylan Goldvale, Ben Miller, Heather DeMocker, and Haki Johnson (holding microphone). |
Roberta Valente, Dylan and Casey's mom, says at home they use fluorescent light bulbs and Energy Star appliances that require the least amount of water and energy. When they built an addition to their Poplar Avenue home recently, they had the wall built out to put in more insulation. They also have a 2003 Toyota Prius hybrid parked outside, which averages 45 miles per gallon. Dylan says he's doing his part to end global warming by walking to school everyday and not keeping lights on at night.
"Individuals are willing to make changes now with the attention in the media on global warming," Catherine Tunis, head of the Takoma Park committee on the environment, said. "I'm so pleased people are getting involved." Established in 1992, the committee has seen different times when the city is ripe to adopt new initiatives and this, Tunis says, is one of those times.
Also on Monday, the city council voted to approve Mayor Kathy Porter's endorsement of the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement. Over 400 mayors across the country have added their name to the agreement, thereby pledging to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution. The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that calls for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
"It's a no-brainer," Daryl Braithwaite, the Takoma Park public works director, said. "We were all shocked it hadn't already been approved. We've been focusing efforts on reducing greenhouse gas emissions for years now."
| Photo: Julie Wiatt |  | | Above, Rob Valente, mother of two of the young activists and a club sponsor, meets with the activists to help them strategize. A trip to Capitol Hill is in the works. |
The agreement includes a few things that Takoma Park cannot meet due to jurisdictional complications like issues concerning planning which the city doesn't control. I think [the city council] is doing what they can," Valente said. "The city has a limited capacity. The state is really where change needs to happen."
And the state has also been doing its part. For instance, in the early '90s, Maryland adopted the Green Lights program which is responsible for reducing energy use by 15 to 30 percent after making air conditioning systems and city lights more energy efficient. And three years ago Maryland launched the Energy Star program which actively promotes the use of Energy Star appliances.
For two years, the Takoma Park committee on the environment has been trying to pass state legislation that would require the removal of mercury switches from vehicles before they are scrapped. When these switches aren't disposed of properly, the highly toxic chemical gets into the food chain. One switch has the potential to contaminate a 20-acre lake and 200,000 switches are improperly disposed of each year. But for right now, Arbor Day is one of the committee's immediate concerns.
| Photo: Julie Wiatt |  | | The young activists put their message front and center. From left Casey Goldvale, Heather DeMocker, Liza Curcio-Rudy, Javier Casertano-Lopez, Esperanza Loaiza Bond, Ben Miller, Dylan Goldvale. |
As per tradition, Takoma Park will be celebrating Arbor Day on April 14 th at the Takoma Park library this year. As part of the annual festivity, the committee on the environment will sponsor a tree adoption. This year residents may adopt the native Maryland seedling of their choice. The trees available this year are the black cherry, hazelnut, chestnut oak, northern red oak, white oak, Atlantic white cedar, persimmon, Virginia pine and white pine.
Every year since 1984 Takoma Park has been recognized as an official "Tree City USA" by the National Arbor Day Foundation for its efforts to maintain its tree resources and for its role as a community that cares about its environment.
"The people of Takoma Park care," City Arborist Todd Bolton said. "The city and the citizenry are working to find ways to reduce environmental impact and better the environment." This will be Bolton's first Arbor Day as city arborist.
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