Inspired by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Stanley Elementary School last week, students are taking a more active role in saving the environment.
During her visit to the school, which is equipped with a solar paneling system that saves about $33,000 a year in energy costs, Pelosi addressed incentives for renewable electricity, energy and fuel.
"Kids, this is about your future," she told them. "When the rest of us are long gone you will be thriving ... it's about this environment ... it will be about the security of America."
Fourth-grade teacher Mary Ellen Tenaglia mailed 15 letters yesterday from her students to Pelosi, telling her what they plan to do to help in her efforts to conserve energy.
"I learned that we need to save the planet from (carbon dioxide) gases. There are lots of ways we can save the planet: Driving the car less and turning off the lights when you're not in the room," said Erin Jones, 10. "I told (Pelosi) that I agreed with what's she's doing and I think it's really important ... I really loved her speech and think we should stop polluting."
Jessica Berozky, 10, said she plans to recycle more.
"It will help the planet because there's a lot of pollutants out there ... the U.S. has the most trash out of any other country," she said. "It's inspired me that she's trying to help the kids of America."
Tenaglia said an informal meeting between Pelosi and her class after Pelosi's speech was what really inspired her students.
"She made it a point to say the future was all about the kids afterwards," Tenaglia said. "That was the part they we're most enthusiastic about because she was speaking directly to them in a way they could understand."
James Brenner, 9, said he was concerned about the effects that global warming will have on the Earth.
"I learned that from all the cars on the street we are creating a blanket over the Earth from the (carbon dioxide gases) and with that, the snow on the planet is melting and in Antarctica the snow is going down by 1 foot," he said. "We should not use electricity all the time ... I try to recycle a lot more and not watch that much TV."
Greta Johnson, 9, said she thinks Stanley Elementary School can start making a difference by using plastic lunch trays instead of Styrofoam.
"You can't recycle Styrofoam but you can recycle plastic," she said.
Daniel Sherry said he was more impressed by Pelosi's political resume than the message she carried that day.
"She's the first woman speaker. It's interesting that all these years there's never been a woman speaker," he said.
Kyle Medeiros, 10, said that since Pelosi's visit, he's been turning the heat down in his home and turning off the lights when he leaves a room.
Tenaglia's class is now working to spread the word about Earth Hour, an effort in several countries to simultaneously conserve energy.
"There's the Earth Hour on March 29 where everyone at 8 p.m. is to turn off their lights for one hour," said student teacher Danielle Benzaken. "We're trying to publicize it as much as we can ... the students are making posters and are going to other classrooms to tell other students and hopefully we'll put it on the Stanley Web site."
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or at jgilbrid@cnc.com
