I always find it touching when I read about young people who are so concerned about environmental issues that they do something. Alec Loorz, a sophomore at El Camino High School in Ventura, Cali, is one of those young people trying to make a difference.
Alec saw the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth when he was 12 years old. The film touched him so much that he applied to be one of the certified presenters to give the slideshow about the film. However, Alec’s application was rejected, perhaps because of his age.
But, he wasn’t going to give up that easily. He founded Kids vs. Global Warming and started creating his own presentations, geared specifically for a range of ages from kindergarten to college. After giving over 30 of his own presentations, Al Gore himself invited Alec to train to be a presenter for his organization. Alec became the youngest person in America trained to do so.
Since then, he has given presentations and conducted workshops for over 25,000 people while alongside a panel of experts, PhDs, and government officials. Alec is scheduled to give 50,000 more presentations this year. He was also invited to speak at the United Nations Climate Control Conference this year.
He now serves on the advisory board for Inconvenient Youth (where teens can share ideas on how to solve global warming), Alliance for Climate Education (to teach teens the science behind climate change and how to do something about it), Rainforest Action Network Youth Sustaining the Earth (an organization that aims to education the youth about protecting the Earth and supporting human rights), Ventura County School District Green Team, The Future We Want (which works towards a sustainable society), and the United Steelworkers Union.
For his efforts, Alec has won many awards including the Brower Youth Award, Earth Island Institute, the Young Eco Hero Award, Aquarium of the Pacific, iMatter Action Team Award, Every Watt Matters, Environmental Defense Center, Young Environmental Hero, Eco-Ambassador Award from The Weather Channel, and the Earth Charter Award for Youth Activist.