Become a global warming warrior

WOODSTOCK - "Each one of you can do something about global warming," the Global Warming Warrior Princess told 450 young, eager minds at Olson Elementary School.

"Each one of you makes a difference when it comes to global warming."

The Global Warming Warrior Princess, as Bull Valley artist Nancy Steinmeyer calls herself, was introducing the Woodstock students to the idea of carbon dioxide and explaining that they could help remove it from the air by turning off lights and televisions, saving water, and recycling.

Steinmeyer showed the students a large, United States shaped object covered with 4,500 black squares. Each time the students did something at home to help reduce their carbon emissions, Steinmeyer said, she would remove some of the squares, eventually revealing the collage she had painted beneath.

Olson Elementary is the first school where Steinmeyer has introduced what she calls the Map-Atmosphere Clear project. In the coming months, she plans to brings other global warming education tools to the school, including a global warming board game, a story she wrote called "Global Warming Warriors," a global warming art project and a global warming variety show.

"I feel like we kind of won the prize because we got to [be the first]," said Olson Elementary Principal Gail Perkins.

" ... [Steinmeyer] will be hopefully a very regular visitor in our building."

Steinmeyer will be back at the school Nov. 5 and 6 to teach the fourth grade students how to play her Glo*Ball Impact strategy game and again the week before Thanksgiving to read "Global Warming Warriors," she said.

"When I started this a year ago, there wasnÕt much going on [about global warming], and now it's everywhere, but itÕs all focusing on adults," Steinmeyer said.

"I know that the way to get to adults is through kids ... Kids have time for this, and it gives them a chance to be a little bit in control."

When Steinmeyer moved from Chicago to McHenry County 13 years ago, she became interested in land use and preserving open space as she watched developers turn the land into homes. But because land use and growth are controversial issue, she had trouble finding a sponsor for a game she designed about land use, she said.

About a year ago, Steinmeyer changed her focus to global warming. Over the summer, a globe she painted of a fluorescent Uncle Sam figure was on display on the Chicago lakefront as part of the Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet project.

"The more you learn about [global warming], the more terrifying it is," Steinmeyer said. "But the idea that you can actually do something is exciting to me."

Perkins said she was excited about Steinmeyer's program, which would add a hands-on dimension to what the students were learning about caring for the Earth.

"I think it will be more family involved because it ties in the home, and I think it truly will make a difference in our community," Perkins said of the Map-Atmosphere Clear project.

"It's the ultimate hands-on learning where they're actually making a difference in the community.

For more information about what causes global warming and how we can help stop it, or to play an online version of the Map-Atmosphere Clear game with a group or take a pledge to help save the planet, visit artist Nancy SteinmeyerÕs Web site at www.globalwarmingwarriors.com."