The Earth Club (Environmental Allies Ready to Help) is a group of 9 and 10-year-olds who are actively involved in the fight against global warming. Led by president Ruby Jones, the Earth Club hosted the Step It Up 2007 event at Jackson Whole Grocer last Saturday.

Even though it was the middle weekend of spring vacation and, as Ruby's mom says, there were only about several dozen residents in town, Ruby and her family proudly flew the Step It Up banner created by club members, friends and their moms just prior to spring break. Visitors to the Earth Club tent were encouraged to stop buying bottled water and were offered the opportunity to enter a raffle for a high-quality home water filtration unit and ceramic 8-gallon dispenser (donated by Jackson Whole Grocer).

For folks who would still like to enter the raffle, Earth Club kids will be at Eco-Fair on Saturday, April 28th

Earth Club wants you to think twice about all those little plastic bottles of water you're buying…a 1.5 million ton/yr plastic epidemic, just for bottled water. Even if they are being recycled (9 out of 10 are not) we can drastically cut back on the oil-derived polyethylene terephthalate they are made from, and the host of toxic emissions that are generated in the process. Fill your own, keep them in the 'fridge to grab, and bring them back home to reuse.

Spring vacation didn't keep my other favorite group of Jackson Hole kids from having a presence in Step It Up 2007 either. My friends Amy and Forrest McCarthy led a group of ski mountaineers up Gannett Peak (13,804'). They carried with them a banner created by a group of engaged 7th grade students from Jackson Hole Middle School who call themselves the Global Warming  Hero League.

As Amy said in a local newspaper story about the trip up Gannett Peak:

When I see seventh-graders starting up a club, it's very, very inspiring.

To be sure, both the Global Warming Hero League and the Earth Club kids are setting a great example for all of us. Be sure and tell them so if you see them at Eco-Fair.

Carbon Neutral Journal's kudos are brought to you by Grand Targhee Resort.

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