This is my favorite time of year to get out and talk to people about recycling. The weather is warming up, the grass is green, flowers and trees are blooming and it reminds us of how beautiful nature and our environment can be.

In the six weeks surrounding Earth Day 2005, CVWMA staff fulfilled 22 requests for outreach materials for elementary school students. In addition, materials were provided to 3 scout troops. In total, more than 2,200 children were educated about recycling, either through an in-school presentation conducted by CVWMA staff, or through materials provided directly to the teacher or scout leader. Seventy-five percent of those were in kindergarten or first grade. At two presentations conducted by staff, our mascot "Bin" made an appearance to the delight of the children.

We hope you enjoy the following success stories about young people who are making a difference.

Chad Pregracke was watching a NASCAR race on TV when he had his brainstorm. It was 1997, and Pregracke had always dreamed of cleaning up the portion of the Mississippi River near his home in East Moline, Illinois. He thought if companies would sponsor a race car, maybe they would sponsor a river cleanup.

One company agreed: Pregracke soon raised $8,400 from Alcoa, and set out in his own 20-foot flat-bottom aluminum boat. His friends thought he was nuts as he plied a 100-mile stretch of the Mississippi, fishing milk crates and blown-out tires from the river. "A lot of people say, 'Isn't the government supposed to do this?' But I always think, We are the government, and we should take it upon ourselves," Pregracke says.

Seven years later, Living Lands and Waters, the nonprofit group he founded in 1998, employs a full-time staff of ten. They organize 3,000 volunteers per year to clean garbage from the Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio rivers. Last April he led 800 volunteers on a month-long cleanup of the Potomac.

To date, Living Lands and Waters has hauled two million pounds of trash from America's rivers, including more than 600 refrigerators, 40 bowling balls and one piano. In 2003, the group started planting trees too. Pregracke, who's now just 30, hopes that the over 20,000 trees they planted last year will lure more diverse wildlife to the banks of the Mississippi.

Find out how to join a clean up in your area.

Contributing writer: J. Alex Tarquino
Reprinted from Reader's Digest, April 2005

Barbara Brown, Lacy Jones and Kate Klinkerman became best friends in the 4-H. Like many youngsters in rural Victoria County, Texas they raised cattle, horses and goats. Then one night in 1997, they decided to research motor oil recycling for their next 4-H project.

Pouring used motor oil around fence posts and barns is a common practice there, because the toxic sludge kills weeds and fights off insects. But the girls wondered if this was such a good idea. "We noticed it would turn the land black," Jones says. So they did some research and spoke with the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality. The girls learned that one gallon of motor oil can contaminate 250,000 gallons of groundwater, and "we live off the groundwater from our wells," Brown says.

The state gave them one 400-gallon yellow-and-black container, and the girls promoted a motor-oil recycling program called Don't Be Crude. Pretty soon, their collection tanks were dotting the back roads of Victoria County.

What began as a 4-H project became a full-fledged nonprofit group in 2000. Today, Don't Be Crude collected 50,000 gallons of used motor oil per year from seven counties along the Gulf Coast of Texas. Roads are paved with the used oil, and the oil filters are made into fence posts.

Find out how to recycle used motor oil and other hazardous materials.

Contributing writer: J. Alex Tarquino
Reprinted from Reader's Digest, April 2005

President Bush says he can't immediately bring down the price of foreign oil. But sixth-grader Savannah Walters of Tampa, Fla., has a plan. Her PUMP 'EM UP! website urges kids to bug their parents to check their tire pressure. Properly inflated tires on the nation's cars would save an estimated 4 million gallons of gasoline a day.

PUMP 'EM UP! was born when 9 year-old Savannah, concerned by proposals to drill for oil in the Arctic, learned that Americans could save as much oil as would be produced by the new drilling if drivers simply pumped up their car tires to proper inflation levels. Said Savannah, "In second-grade we studied the Arctic and its animals. My animal was the gray wolf. It is so cool and we really need to protect its' environment along with all the other Arctic animals."

The website includes an educational flyer that can be posted on cars and an classroom activity to study mileage and fuel economy. Classrooms in Florida, California, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas have already joined her effort.

www.pumpemup.org