Back to School With A Healthy, Green Spin On The Freshman 15

Aug. 19, 2013 Turning negative media messages into positive, purposeful pursuits is what Shaping Youth is all about, so the newly launched "Freshman Green 15" project from Teens Turning Green.org fits smack dab into our sweet spot.I’ve long been a fan of their smart marketing, and have attended their Green University to see the winners from their annual Project Green Challenge … [Read more...]

Media Hypefest: Is Prom the New Wedding? A Teen’s Perspective

May 7, 2010 As the last vestiges of prom wind down along with Girls Rights Week, I wanted to land one last post in the queue exploring media and marketing’s impact on kids' expectations, reality show distortions, and 'over the top' depictions of celebratory fetes. From ‘proma-a drama,’ lavish limos and  fantasy night fairytales (e.g. akin to the amped up MTV My Super Sweet … [Read more...]

Green Hedgehogs in Virtual Worlds? Let Your Leprechauns Loose!

Mar. 17, 2010 This morning I changed my Firefox 3.6 "persona" to shamrocks for the day, eliciting a green with envy response from my not so lil’ leprechaun teen who delighted in a green apple sour treat and green glitter-waterball and green Love Peace & the Planet eco-shampoo that some magical critter had left at the breakfast table. Mind you, fare today is green … [Read more...]

One Teen’s View on Going Green: Use Eco as an Equalizer

August 27, 2009 One of my Title I school students said, "We recycle in my house...it's called hand-me-downs." Hmn. Since then, I've been attuned to the "green is for those who HAVE green" eco-mindset and kept track of echoes in our cross-cultural moshpit of a neighborhood. In part two of our Teens Turning Green piece, I’d asked Shaping Youth 16-year old writing intern … [Read more...]

Back to School: Are Teens REALLY Going Green?

August 20, 2009 Leave it to a teen to tap into the core eco-issue behind why there’s tons of talk about green teens but not enough ‘walking the walk’ toward sustainable lifestyle shifting ‘en masse.’ In 2007, when JupiterResearch cited 38% of teens caring about the environment and 15% being ‘hardcore green’ opinion leaders and digizens in a report, “Green Teens: Reaching a … [Read more...]