The modern day environmental movement began when rivers began to catch fire and our ecosystems began to fail. Brave citizens marched on Washington to demand that Congress enact laws; brilliant attorneys began to defend the rights of our people to live in healthy communities; and passionate advocates launched campaigns to protect the natural inheritance of future generations. And yet, environmentalism was still not a part of our national consciousness. In fact, being green was considered something that was only left to the elite or to “tree-huggers”. It wasn’t until our children got involved that it became part of our national values.

The general population began to see how all of us can – and should – go green when schools taught kids to recycle. Teachers inspired a new wave of environmentalism that wasn’t just about getting laws passed – this environmentalism required personal responsibility, encouraged ingenuity, and demonstrated economic viability.

Today, this young tradition that started with sorting garbage continues as schools are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint and help solve to our growing energy crisis. One such school, Point Dume Marine Science School (PDMSS), in Santa Monica, CA, just became one of the first public elementary school in the U.S. to join the local power grid by adding solar panels to their campus. Students not only learned about how personal choices make a vital difference in the world, they helped pay for panels with lemonade stands and by joining with private individuals in a public/private partnership. Electricity generated at PDMSS will prevent 3.52 tons of coal from being burned and 10,919 points of carbon dioxide from being released in the atmosphere. Students will be able to log on to any campus computer and see how much of the sun’s energy is being converted into electricity. The education provided at schools, like PDMSS, will carry on as families incorporate these lessons into their choices at home.

It will also serve as the foundation for the next step of the environmental movement as these children grow up. Already, children who sat on their parent’s shoulders as they marched up the stairs of Congress in the 70s are running sophisticated campaigns against multi-national corporate polluters. The advocates of tomorrow will lead industries that reinforce this new national value by operating in a clean, responsible manner. They will give people good jobs while being a good neighbor. They will show the skeptics that the benefits of doing right are not only good for the environment, but good for the pocketbook.

Because of schools who are teaching green curriculum, the future of our environment is looking as bright as those solar panels on the roof of PDMSS in Santa Monica.