A Green Social Networking Site for Teens

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By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 3/11/2009 2:00:00 PM

Call it the green Facebook. There’s a new social networking site where environmentally minded teens looking for a place to chat, share ideas, and learn about careers and university programs can now visit.

Sponsored by the Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), the Weather Channel, and Philippe Cousteau, grandson of legendary sea-explorer Jacques Yves Cousteau, the recently launched Planet-connect.org is a site designed for teens by teens.

It’s a place where students who want to learn more about environmental issues will find a wealth of teen-friendly information, as well as information about environmental clubs and activities around the country. They can also create profiles, "friend" each other, and post articles of interest and create groups—all while sharing their concerns about pollution, climate change, and biodiversity.

Planet Connect offers a grant program that encourages kids to take action. Some 29 students from around the country who submitted ideas that solve problems or raise awareness of environmental issues in their schools and communities were recently named winners of $1,000 grants, $500 to support their ideas and $500 toward an environmental internship in their community.

The high school students chosen to receive Planet Connect grants devised plans and created budgets for environmental projects. Most will participate in summer environmental internships in their communities. The grants were made possible with funding from the NBC Universal Foundation, which invests in educational initiatives that will help prepare children for productive futures. 

“Students want to be part of solutions to environmental problems,” says NEEF President Diane Wood. “Planet Connect gives them a place to find answers, to share successes, and to join a community making a positive difference in a way that they are used to—through social networking.”

Cousteau, a NEEF board member and founder of EarthEcho.org, which aims to restore and protect our oceans, says the Planet Connect site gives teens a chance to interact with others while making a difference in their communities.

“More than five million American teens are already using social networking sites,” Cousteau says. “This gives them a place to interact constructively while working toward real solutions to environmental problems and getting ideas for school and careers.”

Click here for a list of grant winners.