ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS 10-YEAR-OLDS HOPE TO SAVE THE EARTH; EARTH SAVERS IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST EDUCATION -- IT'S ABOUT ACTION

Julie Walker, a Jackson teacher and coordinator of the club, passes out "earth songs" that the club wrote.

These girls sing an earth song to the tune of "Bingo." From left are Brandy Hodges, 11; Kelly Rees, 10 and Amanda Benton, 10.

Part of the goal of the club is to educate others. They do that by putting on skits for classes that they have to practice for.

The Earth Savers Club is made up of fourth and fifth graders at Westlane Elementary School.

"It's fun," says 11-year-old Danny Lauentius, his concentration more on his cookie than the question. He's "painting" a cookie to look like the earth; the paint is blue icing for the water and green for the planets land masses.

As a member of the Earth Savers, a environmental club of fourth and fifth graders at Westlane Elementary, everything they do involves the earth.

Lauentius smoothes the icing over the cookie with a plastic spoon slowly, thinking further about what he thinks is fun about the Earth Savers.

The answer is surprising: "We pick up trash."

That's fun?

"We're helping the Earth," 10-year-old Brandon Andrews cuts in. "That's what makes it fun."

Earth Day was Monday, and while it went largely unnoticed in the area, the same couldn't be said for the Earth Savers. But the club doesn't just think about environmental issues one day a year -- they do it every day.

While the club doesn't have an official philosophy, 11-year-old Mindy Rosanna probably puts it as well as anyone: "There's really only one earth and if you take care of it, it'll take care of you."

Rosanna is one of several members of the Earth Savers Club which meets monthly at the school. They begin each meeting with a pledge that they wrote themselves:

"I am myself and what is around me,

And if I do not save it, it shall not save me."

The club consists of fourth and fifth graders who are interested in learning about things they can do to save the earth.

"We're trying to make the kids more conscious of the problem," says Julie Walker, the teacher who coordinates the meetings. "We hope to raise the awareness and let them know what the issues are."

While the club is full of earth-conscious children, saving the environment is only one benefit of being in the club.

They think a lot of the things they do are fun. They sing earth songs, pick up the trash around the school and play games made from recyclable material.

These kids weren't forced to join -- they did it voluntarily. The club began as a project for the Alert Gifted Program. Walker said the students in the Alert Program wanted to do something with the environment and Earth Savers grew from that. Now all fourth and fifth graders may participate.

These kids are genuinely interested in the state of planet and eager to learn more about things they can do to save it.

As Lauentius pointed out, they do pick up trash, but they do much more than that. They collect cans at each meeting for recycling, play earth fact games to build awareness of earth threatening issues and much more.

The Earth Savers have raised awareness in their school by making two murals and putting on environmental skits for classes. They even visited a water treatment plant to educate themselves.

But the Earth Savers are about more than just education -- they are about action.

They've started by saving the rainforest, or at least a part of it. The club has started an adopt-an-acre program. This involves selling T-shirts through the Earth Foundation with proceeds going to buy 10 acres of rainforest in Brazil.

Then the club will get to see a video of the area purchased and the school will receive a certificate of the purchased land.

They have sold 112 T-shirts, which will buy them about 12 acres of Brazilian rainforest.