Been looking for examples of high school kids out to help change the world and stop global warming? Maybe you’ve been trying to find activities that your classes or environmental club can get involved in to help your school go carbon neutral? Well, look no further than the efforts of Kevin Shen, a senior at Irvington High School in California. He’s been hard at work on the first version of SchoolNeutral, a carbon emissions calculator he’s designed as an Excel program to help other students learn about their school's energy use and calculate its carbon footprint.

It’s been developed in conjunction with DriveNeutral, a San Francisco based non-profit that makes it easy for anyone to purchase carbon credits via the Chicago Climate Exchange. So not only would the calculator enable your school to help reduce its carbon footprint through sensible everyday actions like adding window caulking, changing to CFL’s, and checking the tire pressure in the schools bus fleet; but the resulting analysis of the schools carbon footprint could then also be utilized as the basis for fundraising to purchase carbon credits via DriveNeutral. And not only will this calculator help schools fight global warming by reducing their carbon footprint, but the cash schools can save through reduced spending on energy bills will help districts take action to improve the quality of education at the same time. Altogether, it’s just another great example of how working towards a brighter future can also improve life on earth today. Via ::WorldChanging

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