Teens honor nature with eco-art road show

AS SOCIETY VEERS toward higher technology -- breathing the air from our hard drives while we crank up the new surround sound stereo system -- the future is fast becoming more robotic. Thankfully, there are many teenagers who have not forgotten the original simplicity of our environment, the original surround sound system.
Nature.

Hertz Photo

"Visuals and Voices," a traveling eco-art exhibit by local students, is currently on display at the Richmond and Pittsburg public libraries. The exhibit, which began last summer and runs through February, showcases 60 pieces of student photography, poetry, tiles, paintings and sculptures from more than 20 middle and high schools from around the Bay Area.

This unique project was the idea of high school students who are members of the Bay Area Earth Team Youth Coalition. Earth Team, a nonprofit that was founded on Earth Day in 2000, is a group of high school teachers, environmental educators and youth leaders who are passionate about nature and the environment.

The Youth Coalition does environmental projects and puts together a monthly newsletter called The Green. The coalition's mission is to be a hub of activity for young Bay Area environmentalists. Coalition members meet once or twice a month, plan events and listen to speakers. In October, more than 100 high school stu

TO LEARN MORE

If you're interested in the Youth Coalition or want to enter "Visuals & Voices," contact the youth coordinator, Carlos Gonzalez, at CarlosG@earthteam.net or 510-472-0672. Online, visit www.earthteam.net, click on Projects and Earth Team Sponsored Projects. Entries must be received by April 15.

dents attended a Student Environmental Leadership Weekend Retreat at Camp Arroyo in Livermore, which included two days of hikes with naturalists, environmental seminars and speakers like Julia Butterfly Hill, founder of the Circle of Life Foundation.

Individual high schools have

ongoing projects, too: At College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, for example, students are working to increase their on-campus recycling and restoring the Iron Horse corridor, says Carlos Gonzalez, the Coalition's youth coordinator.

In March, "Visuals and Voices" will head to the Oak

land Public Library and continue circulating throughout Bay Area libraries, galleries and community centers. In June, it will be honored at the Oakland Museum on United Nations World Environment Day.