Originally posted at Oregonlive.com
Read the original post here.

In a city full of sustainability fairs and green living expos, where people talk frequently and excitedly about recycling and energy use, Wednesday's event at Jefferson High School stood out.

Unlike similar events, the school's first "carbon footprint fair" was not in a convention center or hotel ballroom. It was in the gym. And the people talking excitedly were all between 15 and 17 years old.

"I've been working with green, working with climate change, since I was in middle school. I told my parents to recycle, things like that," said Joshua Stark, 15, a freshman at the North Portland school.

"Now that I'm in high school, I want to look at bigger ideas," including how to heat homes and businesses by creating community energy districts. Stark also recently bought a push mower, to use instead of a gas-powered mower when he cuts his neighbors' lawns.

"That's part of my sales pitch," he said, "because I can say it's greener."

Back in August, a group of Jefferson teachers began to meet during lunch to figure out what the city's sustainability buzz could mean for students. They hooked up with Shane Endicott, from the nearby ReBuilding Center on North Mississippi Avenue. Endicott helped line up organizations to exhibit at the fair, including Metro regional government, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and Northwest Neighborhood Energy (N2E).

A sea-green 2007 Prius, courtesy of Toyota's Portland region office, was parked on the basketball court. Beside it was a lime-green, all-electric Zaptruck from Portland's EcoMotion dealership.

But the engine behind the fair was students from Joe Ballman's and Derrick Batliner's algebra and pre-calculus classes, who have studied sustainability for months.

The students compared the ecological footprints of the U.S. and other nations with gross domestic products and graphed the relationship. They examined concepts such as underconsumption, overconsumption and exponential growth.

"You can find applicable math problems in all these ideas," Ballman said, sweeping his hand across the gym.

Then Wednesday, 15 students sat on one side of a long table along the edge of the gym, gray laptops open before them. Other students, teachers and community members took seats on the other side, submitting to 27 questions aimed at determining the area required to support their consumption and absorb their waste.

"Do you keep your thermostat low in winter?" Tianna Sly,16, asked her English teacher, Dan Coffey.

Yes, he said.

"In winter?" Sly prodded, a note of incredulity in her tone.

"Yes!" her teacher said.

Jefferson teachers envision their students designing and profiting from new jobs that may emerge from the nation's turn toward renewable energy and green construction.

For Sly, however, sustainability is bigger than a job (besides, she wants to be a dentist).

"If this global warming is going to take over, I don't want to have to worry about it," she said. "It's not a career. It's about my life. I want to live a good life."

Originally posted at Oregonlive.com
Read the original post here.