Young "Green Giant" Felix Finkbeiner to Visit German School Washington, D.C. on Feb. 3

Children Can Change the World - Stop Talking. Start Planting

 

Potomac, Md. − Children are the future, but they can also influence the present as Felix Finkbeiner, 13, from Munich, Germany has taught us. It all began in January 2007, when 9-year-old Felix and his two siblings started the student initiative Plant-for-the-Planet (www.plant-for-the-planet.org) in Germany with the goal of planting one million trees in three years. The children were inspired by the Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, who has planted more than 30 million to reverse deforestation. He had reached his goal by the time he was 12. Felix's fame and commitment have earned him the title of Junior Board member for the United Nations Environment Programme, or UNEP, to support the UN Billion Tree Campaign, and a nomination by the British newspaper The Observer as one of the Top Ten on the ECO Power List 2011.

 

Now, Felix's organization has gone international, and he promotes his cause of climate justice all over the world, including Europe, Mexico, South Korea and the United States. Children in more than 56 countries have already signed on. Tomorrow, Felix will come to the German School Washington, D.C. to spread his message and inspire our students about doing something good for the environment. Of course, the German School is already very dedicated to green activities and technologies. A LEED (Silver) certified science building that will open this year, and an award-winning recycling program are tangible evidence of this commitment.

 

After a healthy lunch, he will address sixth and seventh graders with a brief presentation and discussion, followed by a hands-on workshop to let the kids know what they can do to make this world a better place – one tree at a time. Change often starts small; in the words of Felix: "Let's plant millions of trees worldwide – a million in each country!"

 

Contact:               Katja Sipple, German School Washington, D.C.
                                ksipple@dswash.org; 301.767.3823