OMG Kids Are Making A Difference

Earth Rangers have some special guests today, brother and sister, Carter and Olivia. These two eco stars have stopped by the Wild Wire to tell us about how they are helping to protect the planet!

Carter: Hi, my name is Carter, I’m 12. My sister Olivia, who is 10, and I started our own non-profit organization back in 2009 called One More Generation (OMG). Check out our OMG Video about endangered species. Our goal is to help educate kids and adults about the plight of endangered species and how our actions affect the environment.

Olivia: Shortly after starting OMG, the Gulf oil spill happened in April of 2010. We saw the images of sea birds and sea turtles caked in oil on TV and decided we had to help. First we phoned organizations involved in the animal rescue to find out what supplies they needed. We then spent the next four months visiting churches and schools giving presentations and asking for help collecting the supplies. In late August of that year, on my eighth birthday, we headed to the Gulf. We worked with the Marine Mammal & Sea Turtle Rescue Center, who gladly accepted the collected supplies. While volunteering we found out that some of the animals we were helping to save were also being put at risk by plastic pollution. It was the first time Carter and I had ever heard of this issue.

Carter: Once we returned from the Gulf we decided to create our Plastic Awareness Coalition, which now has over 70 partners helping us to educate communities about this issue. We also launched our Plastic and Recycling Awareness Curriculum, which we share with elementary schools across the country. We want to help kids our age understand that they can be part of the solution to the issue of plastic pollution.

Olivia: One of our latest initiatives is our Rhino Letter Writing Campaign. We have been working with two amazing organization from South Africa, SPOTS (Strategic Protection Of Threatened Species) and Rhino SA, together we created a Community Rhino Presentation. We bring our presentation to communities everywhere in an effort to help people understand that with the current rate of poaching of rhinos the species is likely to go extinct in our lifetime. We are asking kids to write letters to the South African President, President Zuma. The letters are written to ask President Zuma to become more involved with stopping the poaching of rhinos for horns. We plan on hand delivering all the letters we collect personally to President Zuma in the summer of 2013 to show him how much the world wants him to save these animals.

Here’s how you can help OMG protect the rhino:

Write a letter or draw a picture addressed to the South African President, President Zuma, asking him to get more involved with stopping poaching of rhinos for horns. Send your letter by e-mail to info@onemoregeneration.org or by mail to:
One More Generation
P.O. Box 143627
Fayetteville, GA 30214

You can see some of the letters kids have submitted on our website: http://onemoregeneration.org/2012/07/20/dear-president-zuma/

We wish to thank everyone for taking the time to learn about what we do at OMG and we hope each one of you will write us a letter and get your friends, parents and your entire school to do the same.
Best regards from the entire OMG Team 😉