Los Osos grad honored for environmental work

Los Osos High School graduate Jeff Graham, 18, was recently honored by the Cucamonga Valley Water District for his work starting Green Team America, a nonprofit organization run by high school students, which brings environmental awareness to the public through the efforts of young people.

The group works under the auspices of the water district's Frontier Project sustainability learning center located at the district office on Central Avenue.

Graham, who began Green Team America when he was 16, recently started attending UC Davis and is majoring in Environmental Policy. He hopes to one day bring renewable energy to the residents of impoverished nations.

We recently spoke to him about his work and his goals.

Question: When did you get interested in environmental issues?

Answer: I had always been interested in Environmental issues and sustainability. During the summer of my sophomore year I had gone to a leadership conference and had seen all these young adults who were doing environmental projects and they seemed really passionate about it. I took a good look at what I was interested in, and took it from there. It kind of grew.

At the time it seemed like a really big issue. I think it seemed like a common issue. I keep hearing about it on the needs and I started doing research and I got really interested in it, especially natural resources. That's what got me hooked into the Frontier Project and the Cucamonga Valley water project. I learned how water is being distributed and other countries don't have enough water as we do. I thought it was important people learned about that as well.

Q: How long were you involved with Green Team America.

A: I was involved in it until I started college in September.

When I left, we had over 100 students, not all from throughout the area. Some from Chaffey High School, some from Fontana High School, and Redlands High School. Some from Montclair. I learned about the Frontier Project because I think my family had driven past it a couple of times and at that time, it was revolutionary because I had never seen anything like that before. It's very unique and I thought this is before I had the idea of Green Team America and when I had the idea of Green Team America, that was the first place I'd go to ask for help.

Q: How did it start?

A: Initially it was me by myself and it was the kickoff a couple of months after we obtained some funding. I worked at the Frontier Project for the summer. We had a high school advisory board and so after a few months, we had a few high school students on staff. It continues to be like that today.

Q: What is the water district's Frontier Project?

A: The Frontier Project is a sustainable resource learning center at the water district (central office) for the community to come and learn about how sustainable products can be used on their homes and their businesses.

Q: What were some of the projects you were able to do in Green Team America?

A: We had students at different farmers markets in the area, and the bags were sponsored by Ralphs grocery stores. We had free reusable tote bags and people who accepted them signed a pledge to do their best not to use plastic bags when they went to the grocery stores.

We had 500 of the bags and we went to farmers markets in Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario in the spring of last year.

We also worked with the city of Rancho Cucamonga and planted trees along the Pacific Electric Trail. We had about 330 students helping with that. That was in February last year.

Q: What did you learn from forming and participating in Green Team America?

A: For the most part, definitely (I got) a better understanding of environmental issues because you hear a lot about global warming and a lot about the ice caps melting, but I definitely learned about what was true and what wasn't true and what we should be focusing on the most.

Since it's coming from students, our message to the public was we want this Earth to be around and fruitful for our generation and for the generations to come and so this is what we're doing in order to make sure it's going to be that way.

We need to just watch our lifestyles and try not to use plastics because they're harmful to the environment. We should also realize the importance of trees in the environment and for air quality.

Q: What are your plans after college?

A: I plan on getting hired by a renewable energy company. I finally graduate in 2016, and as far as graduate school, I want to go get a masters in business administration.

If I'm going to be starting renewable energy companies or providing resources in impoverished countries, I've got to have a background to start that up.