This Hub was written by Ana, my 16 year old daughter. She´s a true believer that people and actions can make a difference in this world.

Has the thought "What can I do if I'm only one person" ever crossed your mind?

Sometimes, when we feel we can make a difference for one reason or another we find ourselves with our dreams crushed or with a problem we can't solve. One of my school teachers once told me "Act locally, think globally". At first I didn't get what she meant but finally I got to the conclusion that she was basically telling me to do my best and encourage other to do it. It is very hard for children or teenagers to really change the world because the power we have is very restricted, but there are several ways in which we can make a difference and one of them is starting an ecology club at our schools or communities.

I will now show you all the basic steps to create an ecology club as if you were reading a recipe.

Ingredients:

• The permission and supervision of your parents or a tutor.
• A main quarter (This is were all the meeting will be held and it can be in a different house every week or as it best suits you.)
• A bunch of hardworking people who are interested in saving the earth.
• A source of information from which you can acquire valuable data (Computer, library, school, teacher, newspapers.)
• A goal or project (It is easier to focus when you have clear ideas in mind.)
• Newspaper (to make recycled posters)
• Markers, crayons, colors, old pieces of fabric, scissors, basically anything you have will do because remember your goal is to help the earth not to kill more trees by buying paper.
• Tons of imagination and great ideas.
  

Procedure:

1. Gather all the people that will join you.
2. Establish you head quarters.
3. Set a schedule for future meetings (this will assure you give continuity to your projects)
4. Create your main project. REMEMBER do not try to do more than you can handle! Decide whether you are going to focus on your school or community. Choose a topic: Recycling, organic gardening, water pollution awareness, air pollution awareness.
   
5. Start making awareness of your topic in the area you chose, campaigns or events you organize will help you get your message to many people.

Now you have your very own ecology club and it is up to you to make a difference!

Keep in mind that:

• Ecology starts by ourselves so don't throw garbage to the floor, if you see a bottle or can in the floor pick it up I promise it won't take you more than 1 minute and you will start the change.
• It is important to have a grownup who supports your group, it can be a parent or teacher.
• Changing the world is like learning, you don't just go to school one day and learn everything right? Always give followup to your projects and every time you start a new one make sure the old one's goals are achieved.

We are the future! Remember the 3 R's:

Reduce,Reuse and,Recycle!!!

"The world is formed by simple people like you and me so if we all come together we might just make a change"

-Anonymous