But, how does the Super Bowl fit into going green? Here are some tips for greening your Sunday:

Having a huge party? Email all of your friends instead of using paper invites. You get to send fun customized cards AND help the environment!

Go meatless! Serve veggie tacos instead of meet, and put beans on your nachos instead of ground beef. Feeling like you need some protein for the big game? Buy local beef from a farm near you.

User real plates and utensils. Not only is it classier, but you’ll save paper plates from filling up landfills.

Decorate a recycling bin with your team’s logo. It will be a fun reminder for your friends to recycle their soda cans!

Did you throw a slammin’ green Super Bowl Party? Tell us! Email gaby.berkman@climateeducation.org and be featured on our blog.

Alright, so we just told you ways you can go green on Super Bowl Sunday, but did you know that the Super Bowl it’s self is also going green? Check it out:

The stadium (this year it’s at the Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium) features a retractable roof with natural ventilation and eco-friendly light bulbs rather than the normal florescent lights. Huge fans were also installed to cool the place down rather than AC units.

Green Mountain Energy Company worked hard to find alternative sources of energy to power the spectacle. They bought 15,000 megawatts hours of RECs (renewable energy certificates) from wind farms in order to offset the huge amount of energy the Super Bowl uses. This is enough to offset the energy used both at the game AND for the entire month the NFL has been using the stadium. Check out this infographic for more info.  The NFL has also been planting 1,000 trees in every  Super Bowl host stadium to offset carbon. That’s a lot of trees!

Just like your Super Bowl Party, Lucas Oil Stadium is serving up both local and organic food in biodegradable dishes.

Lastly, they’re recycling like crazy! There will be more bins than ever before.

Whew! Now let’s just hope the Giants win…

Several athletes took time out of their busy days to come present with me as well as sign some autographs . Presenting with athletes provided real context to how climate change is already affecting mountain communities that rely on snow to drive their economies, and what the future may entail for winter sports all over the world. They even shared their DOTs (Do One Things) like using a reusable water bottle, eating locally, utilizing public transportation, supporting companies that have good business practices, and biking instead of driving. Then they picked three lucky students to come up on stage to say their DOT and receive a sweet t-shirt! And the schools loved it!

By far the most inspiring event, however, happened post-presentation. After the presentations, we invited students to come up front if they wanted to start an Action Team. In every school, huge numbers of inspired students flocked to the stage eager to start an Action Team. At Eagle Valley High School nearly two-thirds of the audience (over 200 students) came forward ready to form a team. Even the athletes were impressed by how many students came up.

Sure, it was a little stressful coordinating around the athletes’ schedules, but in the end it was all worth it! Witnessing all these students deciding to take a stand to better their lives, schools, communities, and the environment became the highlight on my week. Sorry Shaun.

As the Founder of ACE, I’m thrilled to announce that we’re launching a quarterly newsletter. We look forward to keeping you up to date, and sharing stories of amazing high school students who are creating their own extraordinary climate solutions all around the country. We also hope to hear from you. Send us your feedback, ideas, and questions.

As the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) begins its third year of operation, I had to take a moment to express our gratitude. We’ve achieved incredible results— from the 1,600 high schools  that have invited us into their communities, to the more than 1 million students that have experienced our award-winning climate education program. Thank you for supporting us on this journey.

People often ask me, why ACE? Because today, there is no formal climate science education in our nation’s schools. ACE is filling that void – educating students on what I believe will be the challenge of their lifetimes. But with great challenges comes tremendous opportunity. Young people get that. Unleashing their creativity, authenticity, and innovative spirit will give us our best chance of tackling climate change. Even in the face of any skepticism, our resolve to invest in the leadership of today’s youth is stronger than ever.

Mike Haas

ACE Youth Advisory Board leaders Shreya Indukuri and Daniela Lapidous with Mike Haas at the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative conference.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hello fellow Greenies! Alright, so I’m up here right now to prove to you guys that being young means we CAN make a difference. Teachers, adults, and professionals might all try to claim otherwise, but truth is every single one of you out there has the ability to be activists of change in this world. All you need is a few things… So let me hear you answer these questions:

1) Do you care about stopping climate change?
2) Are you willing to work together and be a force of change for this movement?
3) Are you ready to show the world with passion, ambition, and dedication, we CAN be leaders of
change in this world?

I personally became inspired, once I realized it wasn’t just humans being effected by climate change, but trillions of animals world wide that now face the effects of our action. Polar bears have been doing nothing to contribute to climate change, yet they have been hit hard by our actions. The beautiful corals aren’t doing anything bad, but because of us coral reefs and all the species they sustain are being destroyed. Here I am, trying to use less energy, emit less carbon, and be more green, however even with those actions these animals still are suffering. I decided enough is enough and now is the time for me to stand up and make a difference. I watched an ACE presentation my freshman year, and almost like a calling, I joined forces with them to begin my path as a leader of change.

My story begins with becoming the president of my school’s green action team as a freshman! We received multiple ACE grants and started on several projects ranging from developing biodiesel for our buses to run on, to designing and building 30 ft bio swales as an alternative to an intense irrigation system that would cost tons of money and carbon output to manufacture and install. From those initial actions, I began to receive more attention and support, and was asked by sustainable schools Danville to lead the contra costa country green schools alliance. Suddenly my impact had expanded from me and my small family of four, to my entire county’s school district. Together we pushed the green movement in our high schools and made going green a reality.

Now you might think everything just clicked, but I too had to face many rejections. Everyone from my own school maintenance team, to principals of other schools told me what I wanted to do was not possible and they could not offer me any support.

Yet here I am, standing here today as having accomplished not only those projects, but many many more, and finally today I do have the support of every one of those adults, including the ones that said I was too young to make a difference.

So when it all comes down to it, you don’t have to be an adult with a job and house and college education with a masters in environmental science to make a difference. Instead, any ordinary kid like me with passion, ambition, and dedication does have what it takes to be an activist of change in this world. Thank You.

2012 is an especially big year for President Obama because it’s an election year. Okay, enough with the political talk, you’re probably thinking. How is this relevant to climate education?

Well, this year Obama talked about renewable energy and how the United States can begin transitioning over to clean energy sources. He called Congress to pass a federal “clean energy standard,” which would mean that by 2035, at least 80% of power used by electric utilities must come from natural gas, nuclear and renewable sources. Obama explicitly stated: “…I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy.” Which is great news, especially after years of fossil fuels being subsidized instead of clean energy sources. President Obama also proposed a $5 billion subsidy to help start up clean energy manufacturers.

Again, great news! According to the CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), President Obama and his calls to action for a clean energy mandate get right at the heart of clean energy development.

In his speech, he also noted that the US is currently less reliant on foreign oil than it has been for 16 years and that US oil production is at it’s highest. Which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Fracking is a growing issue in the US, but a new controversial energy source is shale gas, which is natural gas that is trapped within the fine-grained sedimentary rocks shale. A paper published by Cornell University last year claimed that shale gas is actually worse for the environment than coal, a position that was heavily critiqued and criticized by the gas industry. So, is it?

Scientists and climatologists aren’t sure yet. They don’t yet have a firm grasp on how much methane that is accidentally spilled into the air during the production and shipping of the shale. The accidental spillage is on of the most important details in determining the footprint of energy technologies.

This is shaping up to be a long debate, and don’t expect it to end any time soon. It was just released that around 8% of methane from shale gas production finds its way into the atmosphere. Methane is actually worse for the atmosphere that carbon dioxide: although it stays trapped in the atmosphere for less time, it has 23 times the potential to warm the planet. WOW.

We’ll see just how this fits into President Obama’s promise to deliver clean energy. In the meantime, keep doing your part to help cool the climate!

Chloe Maxmin attended Lincoln Academy in Damariscotta, Maine for high school and is currently a first-year student at Harvard University. While in high school, Chloe founded her school’s Climate Action Club (http://laclimateaction.webs.com), which saved 700,000 plastic bags from local landfills, installed solar school panels on Lincoln Academy, and more. Chloe organized an ACE assembly at her high school for all 600 students. She also founded First Here, Then Everywhere (www.firstheretheneverywhere.org). We’re excited to welcome her back as an ACE Alumna blogger! Read on to learn more about her story:

Where do you go to college now and what work are you doing around climate change?

I go to Harvard College, and I’m involved with various projects both and on and off campus to educate people about climate change and contribute to mitigation efforts. I’m involved with one group that is organizing the first Green Economy Caucus in the Massachusetts Legislature. I’m part of another organization that is planning a renewable energy demonstration on campus to educate students about renewable energy and Harvard’s commitment to solar panels, wind power, and geothermal. I also work with an exclusively first-year organization dedicated to making energy-efficiency improvements around campus.  Earlier in the year I worked on campus  to protest the Keystone XL pipeline and educate students about the proposal. I am on the Editorial Board of the Harvard Crimson, writing about environmentalism on campus and around the world. I also write for Next Gen Journal to share some of my ideas about climate change and educate a larger audience. I tweet and maintain my website–First Here, Then Everywhere–as well.

Why did you decide to continue working on climate change in college?

Nature is my passion, and I want to continue dedicating my life to protecting our planet and its inhabitants. I believe that climate change is the defining issue of my generation. Today more than any point in history we are feeling the devastating effects of global warming: rising sea levels, droughts, floods, extreme precipitation, hurricanes, decreased agricultural productivity, dangerous air quality–now is the time for action. Colleges have enormous opportunities to support environmental activism. There are speakers, professors, research options, and classes. There are multiple environmental groups to choose from on campus and many others in the community. Plus, since many colleges are located in urban areas, there is the opportunity to get involved with policy-making. I come from a rural area where this range of options did not exist. It is even more inspiring to see all the amazing work in the college community.

What were some new things or different things about working on environmental issues in college vs. high school?

There were no opportunities for environmental activism at my school. I had to start from scratch with my peers. I founded the Climate Action Club (http://laclimateactionwebs.com) , and we spearheaded campaigns that suited our school and town, and we learned about networking, campaigning, fundraising, and educating along the way. In college–at least at my school–the foundation is already there. I didn’t need to begin an eco-club. I needed to fit into an already existing structure. It was interesting to see how college students approach environmentalism, and I think that Freshmen and Freshwomen have a unique ability to see this approach from a fresh perspective. Instead of asking “how do I get started,” I found myself asking “how do I expose more Freshmen and Freshwomen to these green clubs and opportunities?”

How did you find your college climate group?

I decided to join the three major environmental groups at Harvard so I could learn about their projects, goals, and strategies. It’s all about taking a leap of faith. It is a time commitment, but the best way to find “your” group is to understand all the groups and their distinct perspectives and priorities. I still haven’t committed myself to one group exclusively. All the student environmental groups overlap, and so I’m trying to find a way to unite them and increase efficiency and transparency so that, combined, there can be a bigger impact.

What did you learn in high school with your Action Team that has helped you be a college organizer?

Everything that I learned from high school is helping me in college. The major lesson that I learned in high school was that education is crucial to catalyze and sustain change. If people don’t understand why they need to act, they won’t.   Environmental activism is as much human-centered as it is nature-centered. Yes, we are fighting to protect wilderness, stop deforestation, reduce pollution. But why? To create a healthier safer life for all creatures and humans. Many times activists tends to be too true to their name and only act. College students sometimes fall into this category. It is essential to remember that mitigating climate change won’t simply happen on the national, state, or even municipal level. Policy is important, but individual dedication is vital. Grassroots bottom-up movements in coordination with top-down legislation will enable a transition to a greener society.

What are you most excited about for this year or college in terms of the impact you hope to have?

I spent the majority of my first semester figuring out the different opportunities at Harvard and where I fit in. Now I feel like I have better grasp of what I want to be doing, and I have a bunch of different projects lined up for this semester. I am most excited about joining a community of vibrant, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and dedicated student environmentalists. There is a close-knit community at Harvard, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know its members. I’ve joined the Harvard newspaper, The Crimson, as an editorial writer. I am excited to write op-eds about environmental issues on campus and around the world.

What advice would you give ACE students heading off to college next year?

Maintain the lessons that you learned about environmental activism in high school, but be prepared to forget the structure. Be open to new opportunities. Be willing to try different types of campaigns. You might even stumble into something that you never dreamed of doing. There is a vast network that you can take advantage of, and try to soak in as much as you can. Attend guest lectures and try out different clubs. Make as many connections as you can. Jump in, don’t be shy. Don’t think that just because you’re a Freshman or Freshwoman that your opinions don’t count. Speak up, be active, get inspired.

How long have you been at ACE?

I’ve been working at ACE for about 5 months and loving my time here.

What was one of the first things that stood out about this team?

It’s such a close-knit team of very dedicated and passionate people.  Our goals are ambitious and people really rise to the challenge because they’re happy about what  they do.

What do you do?

After the ACE presentation students are really fired up and seeking ways to get involved in the climate movement. ACE Action Teams provide that opportunity and infrastructure for this. I run the overarching program of engagement for these teams that give them opportunities to attend leadership trainings, participate in carbon cutting competitions and get grants to take their efforts to the next level.

Can you tell me about the Biggest Loser: Energy competition?

Sure! The Biggest Loser: Energy competition has schools all across the nation turning off lights and electronics to reduce their energy consumption and compete for a $1,000 grant. It is incredibly unique because it’s highly numbers oriented. We can help students estimate how many pounds of CO2 they’ve reduced by turning off lights and electronics in their classrooms and consequently how many dollars they’ve saved their school in energy costs. I think students and teachers really like having that kind of tangible feedback.

What are you most looking forward to about this semester’s competition?

We are very connected to our students in the field and when we were crafting this new iteration of the competition, we paid very close attention to feedback from our educators and survey results from students and teachers. This has really allowed us to strengthen the competition and tailor it to the needs of all of these constituents. We’re taking a very holistic approach to how we are marketing Biggest Loser: Energy and engaging students with it, from brand new collateral materials, new video support materials, changes to the presentation and even down to giving students kilowatts to help them find watts on electronics.

What projects are you most excited about beyond BL?

The way I look at it, since ACE is such a small and quickly growing org, it allows us to be very nimble and creative. If I have good ideas or if one of our educators brings forth a creative idea, we can put our efforts into implementing it in a very short time.

What are you expecting from this year’s Biggest Loser: Energy competition vs. last years?

I think we’re going to see tremendous growth in participation levels for this competition. I also think that students and teachers will stay more engaged throughout the process because of the way we’ve streamlined it.

What do you tell your friends about when you get home?

We pay very close attention to what students and teachers want. I’ve been very privileged to be able to get out into the field and see presentations, conduct leadership trainings and work 1:1 with students.

In terms of feedback on Biggest Loser: Energy, given that the first time that we ran it was rather experimental, we made a lot of assumptions and took some risks. So it was very gratifying at the end of the competition to see how big of an impact it made in just 20 daysnand how much fun students had with it. It was a very validating and gratifying feeling. At the end of the competition we had students submit stories to us about their innovative approaches to build Biggest Loser: Energy awareness in their schools and get a leg up in the competition.

Last year, the U.S. got hit with a record-breaking total of 14 weather disasters of over a billion dollars each, from Hurricane Irene to wildfires in Texas to the series of tornado outbreaks last spring. (2008 is the #2 year with only 9 billion-dollar weather disasters.)

The Mississippi River massively flooded in the spring, prompted by heavy rainfall and lots of melting snow in the Midwest. This flood was considered a 100-year event, even though similar floods along the Mississippi have happened several times in the last few decades. Could climate change be at work? The Army Corps of Engineers says, “Possibly, yes.”

At the same time, neighboring Texas endured (and continues to endure) its worst drought in the state’s history. Although rain brought minor relief at the end of the year, much of the southern part of the state is still classified as in an “exceptional” drought. In total, wildfires burned almost 4 million acres (approximately double the previous record in Texas) and over 2,800 homes.

Much of the country, especially the east coast, got slammed with a major heat wave this July, shattering thousands of temperature records, buckling roads and railroads. The high humidity and hot nights made this heat wave especially brutal.

Playing roles behind the scenes in these events are a couple key factors: climate change and La Niña. Was climate change involved? Yes. Climate change plays a role in all our weather events these days. To use an increasingly popular phrase, “We are loading the dice” towards more heat extremes and intense storms as we increase both the heat in the atmosphere as well as the moisture. (Read more here on why climate change brings with it crazy weather.)

La Niña, a cooling of the equatorial Pacific Ocean that affects global weather patterns, also played a role. La Niña was in strong effect last winter and continues in 2012 in a more weakened form. (Think of climate change and La Niña like two directors in a performance, each shaping the outcome of events with sometimes coordinated, sometimes competing directions.) La Niña tends to make global temperatures cooler than average and that proved true in 2011 as well. Preliminary calculations for the year’s average temperature put 2011 as only the 10th hottest year on record, but still warm enough to make it the warmest La Niña year ever. (Check out graph of yearly temperature with Na Niña years marked in blue.)

So now, what’s in store for 2012? Being winter in the northern hemisphere, hopefully it’ll mean snow in the near term, at least more than the 0” we in northern California have gotten so far this year. For the year as a whole, La Niña is still in the mix, making forecasters predict a slightly warmer year than 2011 but not as hot as the hottest year on record, 2010.

Maybe it’s the year when Rebecca Black will record a new hit single, “Turn out the lights – it’s Friday” or the world-famous talking dog will speak up about canines leading the way to a sustainable future. It could happen! Young people will be right there with them.

ACE was founded to fill an enormous gap in our educational sciences curriculum around this very subject. Currently, there are no state or national science standards in public high schools that address teaching of the science of global warming, even though 98% of the world’s climate scientists agree that humans are causing climate change, and the consequences could be extraordinary.

In 2009, ACE amassed a team of the best educators, communicators, and creative minds in the country to develop a 45-minute multi-media assembly presentation that explains basic climate science in a way that sticks with high school students. We take an issue that could be complex and ground students in the most current science, drawn from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We felt young people deserved to know what nearly all climate scientists understand – and we set out to help communicate their scientific conclusions to our nation’s youth. In just 2 years, ACE has reached over 1 million students nationwide.

With that in mind, one might find the news in the LA Times article disheartening. However, at ACE, we see it as an opportunity.

Science is all about discovery. It’s about learning how the world works, and why, and connecting empirical data to a better understanding of the world we live in. It’s about questioning hypotheses and building conclusions. ACE believes that if students in our nation’s schools have the opportunity to learn the conclusions of 98% of the world’s leading climate scientists – no matter what else they hear - it will help to reverse the recent increase in public skepticism about global warming.

Moreover, the recent effort to force climate change denial into the classroom underscores the importance and power of youth, the foundation of ACE’s program. The cornerstone of a successful program for ACE is an inspired, educated and motivated youth population.

Students may well hear about climate change denial. For its part, ACE will continue to work every day to ensure that students also have the opportunity to learn about climate science, based on the scientific consensus, from an ACE Educator. This gives students a chance to begin the process of discovery and understanding about science for themselves.

ACE also helps young people focus on solutions. In our first nationwide energy efficiency competition last fall, called “Biggest Loser: Energy,” student-led teams at over 60 schools across the country competed to see which school could achieve the greatest energy savings over a 20 day period – and the results were
amazing. While climate change might be a hot topic of debate for some, few people will argue that saving schools money in challenging economic times is not a good thing

In our first two years of operations, ACE has already reached over 1 million high school students nationwide. Our goal is to continue to expand our program - we want to reach every high school student in America. Sure, there will be challenges along the way, but we believe in the passion, authenticity, and leadership of youth. This Millennial Generation is diverse and large – in 2012, this generation will make up 25% of the electorate. Furthermore, 13,000 young Americans turn 18 every single day. This demographic is important, powerful, and deserves our attention.

We think it is important to convey to students the consensus of the world’s scientific community, not the dissenting views of a very small minority. Students will benefit from a basic understanding of what we believe will be the greatest challenge their generation will ever face.

But at the top of our list of wordly happenings is that teaching climate change in schools is now on the same level as teaching evolution in schools. What I mean is this:  there is now more and more resistance to to teaching man-made climate change in both middle and high schools despite the fact that all scientific evidence shows that yes, climate change is caused by man-made activities, such as copious amounts of fossil fuel consumption.

According to an article in in the LA Times, “Texas and Louisiana have introduced education standards that require educators to teach climate change denial  as a valid scientific position. South Dakota and Utah passed resolutions denying climate change. Tennessee and Oklahoma also have introduced legislation to give climate change skeptics a place in the classroom.” Um, really?

This sounds shockingly similar to the evolution debate that happened over twenty years ago now. According to Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) located in ACE Headquarters City Oakland, CA, there have been accounts of students walking out of the classroom when their teacher begins to discuss global warming, saying that their parents say it’s not real. Scott notes that just as “The basis for antievolution is ideological… there’s also an ideological basis for anti-global warming, it just happens to be a political and economic ideology.”  The LA Times notes that you can break down climate change deniers based on location, as there is much greater push back to teaching climate change in areas in the south and in regions that have based their livelihood on energy industries.

So what does this all mean? The NCSE is turning to their previous experiences of defending the teaching of evolution in schools to help move forward with the climate change controversy, such as using the “deficit method” which focuses on discussing the science with people who hold different views from yourself. Plus, it’s mostly up to individual states to determine what science they want to include in their curriculum, which will continue this conversation on a state by state level. The problem with this? Climate change education is becoming a politicized issue. The goal of the NCSE is to stop the politicization of climate change education.

As climate science educators, our assemblies are based on the most current science from the IPCC, the U.N Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Do your teachers teach climate science in their curriculum?