2010 Winners
2009 Winners
2008 Winners
Small changes from a few individuals can add up to huge difference. Just ask the winning teams from our Project Polar Bear Contest: they motivate entire communities to go green!
You Can Do It, Too!
Registration for the 2011 contest is October 1-31, 2011. Check back to register then. Can't wait? Start planning your project now.
2010 Winners
The 2010 teams collectively reduced carbon emissions by more than 30 million pounds!
Smart, savvy, and skilled at problem-solving, the 14-year-old Energy Angels were tireless in their outreach and passion for change. During the three-month-long contest, the team educated their community about the benefits of switching to CFL bulbs, using the slogan, "Change a Bulb, Save a Bear." They also held fundraisers and partnered with local companies to buy the energy-efficient bulbs to give away at community events. In addition, they held a Power Down challenge in their school district in which teachers and parents competed to reduce their electricity bills.
Their efforts paid off with giveaways of 1,958 CFL bulbs; 150 energy-saving pledges; and CO2 reductions of more than 1.5 million pounds!
2009 Winners
Combined, these 2009 teams reduced carbon emissions in their communities by nearly 100 million pounds!
2009 Grand Prize Winners (two teams tied)
Canuck Nanooks from Winnipeg, Assiniboine Park
Just what didn’t the three Vickery sisters—Miranda, Rachael, and Madison—do to reduce emissions and help the environment? Here’s just a snapshot:
• Organized sheep-mowing patrols to replace lawnmowers.
• Motivated 400 families to grow their own food.
• Collected pledges from individuals, businesses, and politicians to reduce their carbon footprint—and taught them how.
• Built a greenhouse from old windows and inspired others to find recycled uses for cast-off household items.
• ... well, you get the idea.
All told, the team reduced CO2 by 80,270,850 pounds; saved 26 million gallons of water; and kept more than 4.5 million pounds of rubbish from going to landfills. Pretty good, eh?
There for Tomorrow, Louisville Zoo & Aquarium
Emily Goldstein, Sam Leist, and Kaitlin O'Bryan set out to change the world, starting in their hometown of Louisville. They:
• Developed a kit for local companies to help them easily lower their energy use
• Encouraged participation by giving talks to employees and setting up booths to spread the message
• Motivated the general public by giving presentations to school groups, zoo camps, scout troops, forestry staff, and visitors, and even an environmental education conference.
To track their progress, the students created a website pledge page that includes information on polar bears and climate change. It inspires people to make simple lifestyle changes to help prevent a worldwide climate crisis. By the end of the contest, the team generated pledges to reduce carbon emissions by over 17 million pounds a year—and counting!
2009 Second Place Winners (two teams tied)
Green Tree of Tulsa, Tulsa Zoo & Living Museum
Connor Cass, Mike Barton, and Caroline Adelson launched a campaign to reforest their community, one tree at a time. They actually created a nonprofit with the goal of:
• Planting trees to absorb CO2
• Getting people excited about lowering CO2 levels and helping the environment
They obtained free saplings from nonprofits, gave talks explaining the link between planting trees and saving arctic sea ice, and planted the saplings just about everywhere: at schools, businesses, homes, government agencies—even public housing projects!.
By the contest's end, the team had planted more than 800 trees, touched more than 200 million lives, and reduced CO2 by 163,446 pounds. Special bonus: they're so fired up they plan to continue their efforts for years to come.
Polar Bear Parktection, Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium
Molly Loy Corder and Kaley Rose Zahren reached out to their peers to inspire them to help save polar bear habitat. They even:
• Taught younger school kids about conservation and motivated them to take simple steps in their own homes
• Launched a greening effort that resulted in 68 student pledges to start their own gardens and 74 plants sold or given away to community members
• Took part in recycling efforts
Along the way, the team reduced CO2 in their community by over two million pounds, saved 806,650 gallons of fresh water, recycled 36,000 aluminum cans, obtained 50 pledges to have Christmas trees recycled, held 18 community outreach efforts that resulted in dozens of carbon-reduction pledges ... plus lots of other cool stats!
2008 Winners
Together these 2008 teams reduced carbon emissions in their communities by over 17 million pounds!
2008 Grand Prize Winner
Pledge for the Polar Bears, Louisville Zoo
Brandie Farkas and Emily Goldstein took on CO2 emissions in a big way, generating pledges to reduce carbon emissions by 16 million pounds a year—and counting! The students did this by creating a website about polar bears and climate change to inspire people to make lifestyle changes that will help avoid a worldwide climate crisis.
“One ton of CO2 fills up a football stadium,” Goldstein said, “so we're very happy that we'll save more than 8,000 stadiums worth of CO2 emissions in the next year. And that’s just so far—we have many more pledges to come.”
2008 Second Place Winner
The Canuck Nanooks, Winnipeg
Three sisters, Rebekah, Rachael, and Miranda Vickery, came up with 11 separate projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—including a goat-mowing patrol. One project, called More Sense for the Environment, focused on getting coins back into circulation to reduce the environmental impact of minting. In 2008, the team stayed busy rolling thousands of coins—then lugged over 800 pounds of them to the local bank. In 2009, the teens aimed even higher with coin drives in at least 40 area schools. All funds raised help polar bears.
2008 Finalist
The Green Teens, Portland, Oregon
Emily Carlson, Jacob Shimkus, and Sierra Sweigert created a Don't Be Idle campaign that encourages parents to turn off their cars while waiting to pick their kids up from school (in just 15 minutes, a mother in an idling SUV releases over 4½ pounds of CO2). Another campaign, dubbed the Bright Idea, provided community members with three simple products that reduce electricity usage, including compact fluorescent bulbs, hot water heater blankets, and under-house insulators. The teens supplied the products at cost and even offered to install them!
2008 Finalist
The Polar Bear Revolution, Pittsburgh
Two teens from Pittsburgh--Brendan McKelvy and Tony Pittavino—were tireless in their outreach to schools, senior citizen centers, high schools, neighborhood events, and community clubs. They taught the public about the effect of global warming on polar bears and the need to reduce carbon emissions. They helped homeowners become energy efficient and inspired students—through talks, quizzes, and games—to do their part. They even built an igloo from recycled milk jugs at an elementary school, inspiring the entire school to Go Green!
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