The CAPS program is aimed at helping middle school students identify an environmental issue in their community, research it, then develop and implement a sustainable action plan to address that issue. For example, a group of students at Walnut Creek Middle School in Erie, Pa., conducted an energy audit of their schools with the help of teacher Ruth Rudd. The students successfully changed their energy consumption practices and cut their school's electric bill by 19 percent. Experts saw that trash and a partially collapsed underground structure were to blame. Local authorities fixed the structure and the students launched a campaign to prohibit trash from being dumped near the river, ensuring healthy drinking water.
Students use research, surveys, interviews with transportation and city planners, and map making.
And they go on a bicycle tour to rate their communities on how supportive they are to bicyclers. The campaign's goals are to make it safer and easier for youths to use bicycles, promote independent transportation for youths, and reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. Then they can hope. That hope is empowered by reality. The experience of knowing that their effort can have an impact makes a transforming difference in the lives of young people.