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Persuasive Essay On Polar Bears

Decent Essays

Jan. 13--Using the polar bear as their mascot, some local teens, who have joined the international effort, are rallying schools and communities to become environmentally friendly.

The students hope their efforts will have a lasting impact by reducing carbon emissions believed responsible for loss of sea ice that's essential to polar bears' existence.

"We're excited to be part of something this big," said Alexandra Ruhl, 14, a freshman at South Allegheny High School. "It was overwhelming at times, but we got through it."

Ruhl and freshman classmates Jennifer Urban, 14, and Stephanie Mandella, 15, known as "The Energy Angels" team, started in August with a goal of giving away a few hundred CFL bulbs, which use less electricity than incandescent bulbs. Three months later, they'd given away nearly 2,000. …show more content…

"These teens are just so creative and so dedicated it amazes me," said Margie Marks, the Pittsburgh Zoo's curator of education. "Talk about inspiration. I'm thinking, 'If these 14-year-olds can do something, I better do something.' "

The Woodland Hills Junior High School team set a goal of improving community recycling and making the school "greener." They sold cookies and polar bear T-shirts they designed to raise money to buy 75 PVC-free backpacks for prekindergarten students. PVC is a plastic made of potentially harmful chemicals and is difficult to recycle.

Three Avonworth High School seniors raised money to plant more than 600 trees across the nation, which could reduce carbon emissions by up to 600 tons over the trees' lifetimes.

Molly Corder, 17, an Avonworth senior, said her team, "BearNecessities," did a similar tree-planting project last year. They won a trip to San Diego and took second place.

This year, they raised money at several community events, including "Bands for the Bears," where four bands performed. The event brought in $400, enough to plant 400

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