Being green for good Being green for good (January 02, 2004)

Environmentalists reunite after leaving local youth group

By Julie O'Shea

In a gathering organizers hope to continue as an annual event, about 40 members of an environmental-action youth group met last week to catch up on old times, share a few laughs and play a little Jeopardy.

The Dec. 23 reunion was the first time in months many members of Acterra's high school alumni have seen each other, and the backroom of the Peninsula Conservation Center in Palo Alto, decked out in holiday lights, was full of good cheer.

"I was planning to come to this for months," said David Saxton, a 2002 grad from Los Altos High School, now majoring in environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz. "I think it's important that the next generation finds out about (environmental justice issues) sooner than I did. I was almost out of high school when I found about this."

Started in 1990 by Bay Area Action, which became Acterra in 1999, the high schools group brings teens together from around the Peninsula and helps mold them into the state's future environmental leaders.

Now in its 13th year, the group meets Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m. at the conservation center on E. Bayshore Road to discuss and plan environmental restoration projects as well as weekend activities like rafting, day hikes and backpacking excursions. Youth education coordinator Peter Drekmeier said Acterra is always looking for more members.

Teens in the group now are gearing up for their annual Deep Green Global Training, an environmental conference organized by students for students with an emphasis on leadership skills. The conference will be held Feb. 7. More information will be available soon on Acterra's Web site at www.acterra.org.

"It's so tremendous to be able to look back and see what you have done, to come back and see what you are doing," said Katherine Armer, who helped form the schools group more than a decade ago.

"It's really student-led, these meetings. The power of the group is really the power of us," said Aaron Zonka, an 18-year-old who attends Foothill Middle College. "It makes me feel good that I'm trying to make the world a better place."

Malcolm Milanovich, a freshman at Los Altos High School, agreed. "It's kind of messed up what people are doing (to the Earth), even if they don't realize it," he said.

Rosie George, a senior at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, has been involved in the group for the last two years and says she likes the "vibe," adding this is were she met some of her closest friends.

"My parents were hippies, so it's just something I grew up with," George said. "Environmentalism runs in the family."

Later that night, teens broke up into groups and played a round of Acterra Jeopardy, with questions that tested their knowledge of the organization's history.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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