It is often said that we hold the global environment in trust for our children, and we tend to think of this as applying solely to the children of the future. As a result, we sometimes fail to recognize the role that today’s children can play in helping to preserve, save and restore Planet Earth’s habitats, climates, endangered species and biological diversity.

The Kids4Earth Foundation has been established to empower children around the world so that they, their families, friends and communities can help to restore the global environment. Through its developing Internet Web site - http://www.kids4earth.org/ - and its related educational programs, we are enabling children to raise their awareness of environmental issues and discuss these issues between themselves internationally. At the end of the day we can help them make a difference - by showing them how to contact relevant authorities, political figures and involved organizations - to make their views and desires known. To carry out this unique and important task, we need your financial support.

The Purpose of this Web Site

At the heart of the Kids4Earth effort is our Internet Web site. Currently in embryonic form, but expanding as resources permit, the site will provide access to an extensive database along with other related resources. Children visiting the site, either as part of an individual, school or community effort, will be able to choose their broad area of concern - say wildlife on the one hand or the environment in general on the other - and then select a country that is of particular interest to them. They might choose where they live, or somewhere thousands of miles away.

From this point the young visitors are able to access a wealth of resources. They can read illustrated stories of how other "Young Heroes" have tackled environmental problems of a similar type, and how their efforts have progressed - in the protagonists’ own words. For example, they might read how a boy in Sweden raised money to save 400 acres of Costa Rican forest from destruction.

The visitors can research the background and the factors affecting the particular environmental challenge that they have chosen. They can learn how to take action - writing a letter to the President, school principal or city council, for example. They can retrieve information on whom to contact in a particular country or area, at the appropriate level where their efforts will stand the best chance of generating the most effective results. They will be encouraged to work with responsible adults - their parents or teachers, for example - to monitor their progress. Then, finally, they will be able to tell their own stories to other children around the world, and the cycle of mutual empowerment will continue.

Tools for Change

While some of these resources will be accessed via the Internet at large, most of the databases, tools and documents available to our "Young Heroes" will be Kids4Earth’s own resources, made freely available by today’s communications and distance learning technology.

These Young Heroes already exist. And in addition to the Web site, Kids4Earth is raising money to fund the production of a video documentary that will tell their story. In conjunction with our colleagues at the Wildlife Awareness Foundation - an educational charity experienced in furthering the awareness of basic conservation issues in developing countries, through the use of educational materials in local languages - the documentary will be translated and distributed internationally.

To build upon the other resources at the educational level, a special Kids4Earth on-line educational program is being developed in conjunction with the staff of renowned distance-learning specialists, Laurel Springs School in Ojai, California. This will be a comprehensive program and will take several months to establish.

How You Can Help

These programs are being developed as our resources permit. The group of dedicated volunteers who have come together from many walks of life to make Kids4Earth a reality have brought many skills and seemingly boundless effort to the table.

What is needed now is one more thing: your financial support. Please help us to make our dreams a reality by supporting our effort to empower the children of the world to help save the planet on which we all exist.

If you have any questions, please contact Toni Ringo Law, our Chair, at +1 (949) 723-0337, or email her at claw@edm.net.

We look forward to receiving your support for Kids4Earth*.

Sincerely,

Toni Ringo Law,
Chair,
Kids4Earth Foundation

* If you would like to pass this message on to people you know who may be interested in contributing, the above text is available as a downloadable letter in Acrobat PDF Format. You can view and print this document with the free Acrobat Reader available from Adobe Systems' Web site.

Back to the Kids4Earth Home Page.