I'm 15 and my name is Tory Herbert. I graduated from Peninsula in 2006. My mom's name is Rocio Herbert and she's running the auction - WOOHOOO! GO MOM! She's great. My brother is 5 years old and his name is Richard. He's in Marion's now (a big boy!) and is very active. We have more family living with us too. Dawn is a blue-masked lovebird, and is my pride and joy. We also have Freddy and Chancho who complete our gang. Freddy is a little orange fish and Chancho is a round tail betta.

My mom has always told me to turn off the light when I left the room. We never use our washing machine. We haven't used our dryer in three years. We just wash them, hang them up, and then iron them. We don't watch TV but we do watch movies on the weekends or sometimes when I babysit my little brother. Last summer (2006) we took an RV trip through Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. It was 116 degrees and we didn't use the airconditioner! That was incredible, but possible. Winters and winters have passed without us even turning on our heater. We just use blankets and warm clothing! This year, I do admit we did turn it on, though not very high.Yet, we felt we could make a bigger effort. I now go to Summit Prep Charter High school. I take the train everyday from the Mountainview train station to the Redwood City train station. Every morning my mom drives me to the station (15 minutes there and back), then she drives home, bikes with my little brother back to the station, takes the train to Menlo Park, and then bikes to Peninsula. Same sort of thing on the way back. Mom stopped biking when it got too cold, wet and icy. She plans to start again when it gets warmer. I have also started using the bus to get to places from school. It's hectic, but we're helping the earth. When not in use, we unplug the power strips and other appliances. Even if the appliance is off, electicity still flows through the cord. We even unplug the TV. All this stuff sounds crazy, but it is totally worth it. You feel really good, you inspire people, you help the earth, (and for those who need a bit more incouragement) you save money! You save money on gasoline, electicity, and all sorts of stuff.

Enough about me! : )

Everyone can help!

- turn off lights when you're not in the room, and when you're in the room as few as possible

- let your clothing air dry

- if not too many people in your household then hand wash the dishes

- unplug all power strips and appliances when not in use (simply turning off your TV, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you're not using them will save thousands of pounds a year!)

- don't watch TV as much! We are not living in the OC and life is quickly passing by when you sit on the couch staring at the TV screen

- use public transportation or at the least, carpool (1 pound saved every mile you don't drive!)

- turn off or at least down the thermostat. Humans, being consumerists, have enough clothing and blankets to keep them warm(moving your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer could save about 2,000 pounds per year!)

- watch An Inconvenient Truth for more information on global warming - which I strongly suggest you do if you have not done it already

- change your light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (150 pounds saved per year!)

- reduce, re-use, recycle ( you can save 2,400 pounds per year by recycling just half of your household waste!)

- check your tires. Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3% (1 gallon of gasoline saved = 20 pounds!)

- use less hot water. It takes alot of energy to heat water. You can install low-flow showerheads(350 pounds per year!) and wash your clothes in cold or warm water (saves 500 pounds per year!)

- avoid products with alot of packaging (saves 1,200 pounds if you cut down your garbage by 10%!)

- plant a tree. A single tree will absorb a ton of carbon dioxide in it's lifetime

- help spread awareness!