SACRAMENTO - Today the Air Resources Board and British Council remind state high schools of the February 1 deadline for participation in the first annual Climate Generations program, a high school competition challenging students to connect environmental school work with their daily lives.

The competition creates an opportunity for students to gain real-world experience in project-management and leadership by requiring them to design and set in place programs that reduce their school’s carbon footprint.

“The name ’Climate Generation’ says it all,” said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. “This is an opportunity for young people who will be living with the effects of climate change to focus their passion and enthusiasm on real-world projects and solutions in their school today. It will also help us identify our new Climate Champions, the leaders who will express the concerns of California’s youth about climate change.”

The Climate Generation Program, an outgrowth of the British Council’s Climate Champions program, is underway in a network of 60 countries. Its goal is to encourage young people to engage climate issues at local, national and international levels.

The program is being launched in California and Minnesota. ARB, the lead agency for implementing AB 32, California’s landmark climate change law, is overseeing the state’s competition. In Minnesota, the Will Steger Foundation is responsible for managing the Climate Generation Program.

“The British Council is excited to continue our partnership with the California Air Resources Board in the development of the Climate Generation Program,” said West Coast Manager for the British Council, Meghan Steed.  “We feel that the climate action projects will complement California’s new Education and the Environment Initiative standards-based curriculum.  We are looking forward to continuing to develop new “Climate Champions” who can represent the youth voice on global climate issues at the local, regional, national and international levels.”

The California Education and the Environment Initiative, a new curriculum comprised of 85 units teaching select Science and History-Social Science academic standards will be promoted as an important element of the new Climate Generation program. The new curriculum, the result of a multi-agency education and environmental partnership, was developed to help students discover how science, history and social science relate to individual lives and connect to the world around them, focusing on their relationship to the environment. It was designed to engage students in a way that makes learning relevant and fun.

“We believe the initiative will propel students to become tomorrow’s leaders on climate change, green technology, and any number of other environmental issues,” said Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency Linda Adams.

High schools in California and Minnesota are eligible to participate in the 2010-2011 Climate Generation Program.  The classroom projects must benefit the school and relate to one or more of the following topic areas:

• Energy Conservation;
• Renewable Energy;
• Water Conservation;
• Transportation;
• Purchasing;
• Facilities; and/or,
• Awareness/Communication (Outreach).

For more information on the Climate Generation Program go to: http://www.coolcalifornia.org/article/champion-the-cause.