If you’ve been waiting for something great to make you stand up and find a way to change the world there’s no doubt that the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge is built for you. Launched in collaboration between the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the Siemens Foundation and Discovery Communications as a means to educate, empower and inspire students and their teachers to become agents of change in making the environment a top issue in their neck of the woods.

And the prizes for the top entries that students submit are sure to grab their attention!

No, It's Not Always the Car's Fault
Trikkonceptz, a poster on the EcoModder forums, has a nice anecdote about driving behavior and fuel economy (as his forum-signature says: "The biggest FE mod you can make is to adjust the nut behind the wheel").

He works at a car dealership and is really into hypermiling (he modified the front end of his vehicle to make it more aerodynamic). Some one day a customer came in for the third time complaining that his Sport Trac truck was getting 6.9 MPG and that there must be something wrong with it (it's rated at 13 MPG city, 20 MPG highway for a 2WD)...

Image Source: UNC Charlotte

How do you green a village all at once? Well, if you live on a college campus these days with tens of thousands of other students, staff and faculty, the challenge can feel just that daunting. Never fear, the Sustainable Solutions Expo, held jointly with the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) 2008 conference and co-hosted by Sustainable North Carolina, can hep you find out how to go green on a large scale.

If profound statements are said to issue from the mouths of babes, then it may be that important and significant innovation springs forth from the pens and computer mice of design students. At least that is the view of the Society for Responsible Design.

The almost 20 year old SRD, which merged with the equally venerable EcoDesign Foundation some years ago, has for five years been gathering up all the sustainably minded students from the myriad universities of Sydney, Australia, and holding a joint exhibition of their work. Over 16 works will be on display this year, including the solar powered, Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) louvre window from 23 year old Damian Savio, (pictured above)

Damian’s 'Lightway' window has a nanotechnology solar film printed on the glass louvres. If these can suck up at least four hours of direct sunlight and another two of daylight it will powered the OLED-enable inner surface of the window for about six hours. Apparently the it will output as much illumination as a 60 watt bulb, but only by drawing five watts. All the while still working as a normal transparent window. And there are more bright ideas from David’s fellow students.

Image Courtesy of Power Vote

The Energy Action Coalition is spearheading Power Vote, a political movement focused on getting young voters to register and to support clean energy initiatives in the upcoming election cycles. The concept is simple: interested or concerned youth log on to the Power Vote website, and sign a pledge to make voting for clean and renewable energy their priority this election. And it’s gaining traction fast—Power Vote went from 2,802 to 102,412 pledge signatures in two weeks. At that rate, the organization’s goal of one million pledges seems like no problem. But what, exactly, will the youth of Power Vote do?

Photo: Women make up a majority of the menial labour force in the mining industry (CSE)

Make no mistake, India has a lot of mineral wealth in the ground. Iron, bauxite, gold, lead, zinc, manganese, coal and copper are some of the dozens of minerals found in almost half of its landmass. However, despite the recent heavy foreign investment into its thriving mining sector, a recent report by an Indian environmental non-profit points out that most of these valuable resources lie in areas that are either ecologically precarious or heavily populated with indigenous peoples – a cause for concern in light of the government’s dismal record of neglect for its tribal communities.

New Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released their sixth State of India’s Environment Report last month – titled “Rich Lands, Poor People – Is Sustainable Mining Possible?” – challenging the industry and government’s stance that mining is good for growth and creates jobs. The report presents the state-by-state impacts of mining, highlighting the vast array of socio-environmental issues that India is facing due to lack of regulation and sound policy in its mining industry (preview here).

Image source: Clean Water Now

Come one, come all. Next Saturday is the annual California Coastal Beach Cleanup and you're invited! People all across California will be participating in restoring beaches all at the same time, next Saturday September 20, from 9am-12pm. Communities will hold beach cleanups but also pass out information on feel-good stuff like recycling, as well as host contests and beach-goers will be serenaded by musicians.

Last year, over 60,000 people participated in the event and removed 900,000 pounds of trash from beaches all over the state of California. The event is so large it has even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the "largest garbage collection." Since the program began in 1985, collectively over 12 MILLION pounds of garbage have been removed from beaches. Come out and see whether you can find the "weirdest" thing on the beach in your community - who knows what you'll find.

TreeHugger's founder Graham Hill turns 38 tomorrow. He is asking his friends and family (and now you!) to give a tax deductible donation to Charity:Water in his name. It's a fantastic organization that is drilling wells across Africa and thereby helping lower disease, by increasing access to cleaner water, and poverty, since it reduces the need to haul water for hours each day -- we've covered them last year, too.

Graham has raised $2,400 so far, and every dollar he raises will be matched. Each well costs about $4,000 to drill, so he's well above the level needed to drill one well, and he's aiming for more! His hope is that TreeHugger readers can help take this to over $4,000 which when matched will equal two wells. Charity:Water is aiming to drill 333 wells in Ethiopia via this campaign.

So help us give Graham what he really wants. All you need is 3 minutes and your credit card; click on over to Charity:Water to get started, and keep reading for more details on their mission and why this project is so important.

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