MAEOE’s 1st Annual Maryland Green School Youth Summit

Polar Bear Sky from Daniel Dancer on Vimeo.

This is the text that accompanies this awe-inspiring video called "Polar Bear Sky" from Daniel Dancer. "Polar Bear Sky" is a 10 minute video/music montage detailing pictures and some of the pretty amazing events that happened on June 5th of this year. MAEOE held it's 1st Green School Youth Summit at Sandy Point State Park near Annapolis.

"Would you believe Maryland's Governor O'Malley was the sole human on the melting ice berg in this Art For the Sky depiction of global warming?! That's him in the picture above. Courageous guy he was to be part of this performance sky art piece for the Maryland Green School's Summit at Sandy Point State Park on the Chesapeake Bay. As usual in this latest round of sky art projects the magic number "350" is depicted . . . that's the max parts per million of carbon, according to climate scientists, that we can handle in our atmosphere if we are going to make it through this climate changing era with some degree of safety. As most everyone knows, the current number is 390 and going up. Coincidentally, Maryland has 350 "green schools" (16% - the highest in the nation) and this summit and special sky art extravaganza was a celebration of their success!"

MAEOE (or those in the know) sounds like "Mayo."  However, this is no condiment. MAEOE stands for "Maryland Association of Environmental & Outdoor Educators." MAEOE, a major force in Maryland, is a force of "green." MAEOE is the organization that designates the Green School Status for Maryland public & private schools and environmental/nature centers.  Slated to be an annual event (complete with the Chesapeake Bay as the backdrop), this all day youth summit brought together approx. 2,000 students, teachers, environmental educators, community partners, and elected officials (including Governor Martin O'Malley) came together to celebrate all things "Green."

To see some pretty amazing "human action" art. watch the video here, click the title, or go to http://vimeo.com/12326153.   You can also find both student and teacher take-aways of the event at these two links:

• Student commentary: http://www.maeoe.org/greenschools/2010SummitStudenttake-aways.pdf
• Teacher tidbits: http://www.maeoe.org/greenschools/2010SummiTeacherTake-aways.pdf

And if you just can't get enough,download a copy of the entire MAEOE Green School Youth Summit Ceremony here: http://www.maeoe.org/greenschools/2010CeremonyProgram.pdf
Picture from http://www.maeoe.org/about/contact/images/newgslogo.jpg