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by Daniel Parr, '07, '08
As EarthVision attendees gathered for the closing session in the National 4-H Center’s Aiton Auditorium, they were treated to a photo montage from the previous two days of the conference. Youth in the audience clapped and cheered when they saw themselves on the big screen – working, dancing, and usually laughing.
When SCA 50th Anniversary Committee Co-Chair Brian Kurzel took the stage, he pretty much summed up what everyone was feeling. “This event has absolutely blown people away, and has gone beyond everything that we hoped for,” he said. Kurzel shared a couple stories that students had told him, including that of Jake Wood, a high school student from Erie, PA, who pointed out that Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne was ”just a guy wearing cargo pants!” Not intimidated by such a high-ranking official, Wood is eager to go home and speak with his own legislators in his home state.
SCA President Dale Penny thanked the crowd warmly, stressing that the most important part of the entire four-day weekend was not the dignitaries or the extraordinary speakers, but that each student had brought their life experiences and shared it with others.
“You’ve brought all of what has made you here, and you’ve absorbed what has come at you. And you are going to live a different life because of this,” Penny said, adding that because of their commitment, the planet will be healthier for them and their children. “You’re going to change the world,” he said.
Washington state Congressman Jay Inslee, whose parents were both SCA Crew Leaders at Mount Rainier National Park, came onstage impressed by the students he had met that morning, advising the Student Conservation Association to change their name to “Super Cool Activists.” Inslee encouraged everyone to think of SCA not just as a trail-building organization, but as one that establishes personal commitments to nature for decades and decades.
He also spoke passionately about the need for a new clean energy revolution in the United States. “Two things will then happen,” Inslee said, “we can guarantee our grandkids a world like what we grew up with, and it will force development and investment into these technologies.” He encouraged the crowd of future and eligible voters to exercise their democratic right and work towards electing the officials that would support a greener future.
SCA Founding President Liz C. Titus Putnam, who had been in attendance all weekend but saved her address for last, took the stage to an enormous reaction from the crowd that left her momentarily speechless. “I thank you all…. but I think I’m going to go home right now,” she joked.
Putnam’s message to the crowd was one of inspiration. “You are the present and the future…don’t ever give up hope!” she said. “When crisis hits – and in life there are bumps and bangs along the road – treat it as an opportunity.”
“No matter what age we are, no matter where we come from, we have only one obligation. And that is: what can I do to make a difference? How can I help somebody? What can I do in my community?” Putnam asked the crowd. “We all have rights on this earth. And we all need to have a healthy environment. And that is up to us, and everyone we are working with.”
Conservation in Action Contest Winners Announced
EarthVision’s closing ceremony finished with the presentation of the SCA/Mazda Conservation in Action Contest winners. Barbara Nocera, Director of Government and Public Affairs of Mazda of North America introduced the eight finalists, who each came onstage with Putnam and Inslee. After brief descriptions of each project, the winners were announced:
The winner in the 15-19 age category was Ben Dauten from Furman University in Greenville, SC for his entry, The LifeStyle Project, a three-week exercise plan to lower individual impact on the environment. Dauten hopes to spread this idea to other college campuses and said he will work with SCA in the future to do so. Dauten was presented with a check for $15,000 for his win.
The winner in the 20-25 age category who took home a check for $10,000 and a brand-new Mazda3 was Margarete Walden of Seattle, WA, whose Pen Pal Project, a new environmental communications forum between American and foreign students, was decided by judges as the best of over 300 entries. Walden thanked everyone, calling it “a great honor to be recognized among all the other amazing entries.” Walden, a two-time SCA alumna, will put the prize money towards taxes, donations to climate change organizations, and implementing her project. “If any of you want to help me, just let me know,” she joked with the crowd.
“A little idea can really expand and touch the world,” said Dale Penny, referring to both the winning contest entries and Putnam’s original thesis for the SCA.
Before the program’s – and the conference’s – end, Penny spoke a last time to the assembled youth. “Get home safely, and be the change you have spoken about!” Earlier, Brian Kurzel told the crowd, “The next chapter in your story begins here: There I was, at the first-ever SCA EarthVision summit…”
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