Grant and Colton Shepard were bothered by what they saw in the water while on a family canoe trip. "We were there to enjoy the beauty, but we saw a lot of litter, said Grant, 11. The brothers decided to take action when they got back to their home in Riverside, Illinois. They contacted the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and volunteered to monitor local rivers and streams. They attended training workshops to become familiar with the organisms found in local waters. The boys then started taking weekly samples from two rivers. They studied them to make certain the underwater ecosystem was balanced. Sometimes they’d find strange things. "We once discovered a big picnic table that had sunk underwater!" said Grant. It's not just rivers that these kid environmentalists care about. They have dedicated themselves to keeping their environment totally balanced. "In the future, we're going to need resources, and if we don't preserve them now, they won't be there for us," said Colton, 14. Every year, as part of their campaign for a cleaner world, the brothers go at least 100 days without using a car. Each boy has 10,000 miles under his wheels: more than the distance around the world! Their mission: to cut down on the carbon-monoxide gas that cars release into the air. The brothers have also been active in helping restore Illinois' precious prairies. For the past two years, they have spent at least one Saturday a month clearing away non-native plants from a 100-acre rare-oak savanna. "The plants and bushes threaten our heritage because they prevent the old oaks from growing properly," said Grant. Time for Kids named Grant and Colton Shepard Hometown Heroes for their efforts in helping the environment.

Melissa Poe was nine years old when she started a campaign for a cleaner environment by writing a letter to then President Bush. Her letter was reproduced on over 250 donated billboards across the country. The response to her request for help was so large that Poe established Kids For A Cleaner Environment (Kids F.A.C.E.) in 1989. There are now 300,000 members of Kids FACE worldwide, and it is the world's largest youth environmental organization. Melissa also petitioned the National Park Service to implement a "Children's Forest" project in every national park. In 1992, she was invited as one of only six children in the world to speak at the Earth Summit in Brazil as part of the Voices of the Future Program. In 1993, she was given a Caring Award for her efforts by the Caring Institute. Since the organization started, Kids F.A.C.E. members have distributed and planted over one million trees! Ongoing tree-planting projects include the creation of Kid's Yards - backyard wildlife habitats and currently Kids F.A.C.E. is involved in the exciting Earth Odyssey, which is a great way for others to start helping take care of the environment. "Starting the club turned out to be a way to help people get involved with the environment. Club members started doing things like recycling, picking up litter and planting trees as well as inviting other kids to join their club. We try to tell kids that it's not OK to be a slacker," she explains. "You need to start being a responsible, environmentally friendly person now …!”

Janine Licare Andrews and Aislin Livingstone were worried about the future of the rainforests. So they decided to sell painted rocks at a roadside table in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica to raise money to help protect local rainforests and endangered wildlife. They were just nine years old at the time.

In 1999, the girls opened a store to sell their artwork as well as the work of local artists and craftspeople. All of the store's profits go toward preserving rainforest land, rehabilitating baby animals, and educating people around the world about the connection between humans and nature.

Ever since they were little, the girls acknowledged the fact that the rainforest is home to many kinds of animals as well as other living organisms such as trees, plants and insects. Janine feels that the rainforest is an amazing place and we must protect it. It is very important that we preserve the environment because by saving it, we make sure that our future is protected and available for the next generations. If it disappears, then so does our planet.

With the help of volunteers, friends, classmates and the community the organization has come a long way. “I believe that kids can make a real difference, says Janine. “With their help, there's no limit as to how far we can go! Join us and do your part in saving the world!”

Ryan’s determination grew from the seventy dollars he collected doing household chores to a Foundation that today has raised millions of dollars and remains committed to bringing clean water and sanitation services to those affected by the global water and sanitation crisis. Although Ryan started raising money for water projects in 1998, the Foundation was not formed until 2001. Since then, Ryan’s Well Foundation has helped build over 600 water and sanitation projects in sixteen countries, bringing safe water and improved sanitation services to over 685,000 people.

Dedicated to the Foundation and its work, Ryan continues to speak passionately about the need for clean water around the world and has visited over two dozen countries in spreading his message. He has presented to hundreds of schools, churches and civic clubs, and more than two dozen international conferences and global events with a clear message that every person deserves clean water, and that everyone can help make a difference.

Just think, all of this happened because Ryan had a concern when he was just six years old!

In 1998 when Ryan Hreljac was in the first grade, he learned from his teacher that people were dying around the world because they didn't have clean water to drink. Ryan decided that he would raise money to help provide clean water for people to drink. He worked for four months doing extra chores around his house to earn his first seventy dollars. Ryan was just seven years old when his first well was built in 1999 at the Angolo Primary School in Uganda, Africa. The well continues to serve thousands of people.

When Brynn Schor was ten, she wanted to make America beautiful. She started by making the area right outside her portable classroom prettier! Brynn was a fourth-grader at Beaver Creek Elementary School in Johnston, Iowa at the time.

The school's main building was surrounded by attractive trees and bushes. But Brynn's portable classroom sat on mounds of dirt. "It seemed so ugly," says Brynn. She decided to try a little flower power. "As I walked to my classroom one day, an idea began to sprout in my mind," Brynn said. She thought a row of flowers would look lovely, so she decided to plant bulbs.

First Brynn got permission from her teacher and her principal. Then she wrote letters to two local gardening stores asking them to donate bulbs. The stores gave Brynn fifty bulbs: forty tulips, five daffodils, and five crocuses.

Brynn recruited her friends and classmates. "I wanted my friends to have a chance to do something to make their community more beautiful," she said. It wasn't easy to plant the bulbs because the soil was hard and muddy. It took three messy hours to plant all the bulbs! But it was worth it.

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