The Pen Pal Project

By Margarete Walden

Introduction

Global warming is occurring, and will have potentially disastrous effects on humans and our environment unless greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced in the near future. Although the governments of countries across the world are joining together in an effort to address global warming, there remains little organized effort for younger individuals to participate on a personal level in the fight to lower emissions.

The Pen Pal Project would attempt to address this opportunity for change. Implemented on the classroom level, American students would be paired with students from a developing country. The pen pals would be responsible for lowering their carbon footprint to below per capita 1990 levels. This partnership would be modeled on the Kyoto Protocol so that the pairs can work together to meet their target. The project’s main goal would be to provide students with a practical opportunity for action in the short term that would lead to a lifestyle change of great benefit to the environment in the long term.

Download The Pen Pal Project [.doc]