珍·古道爾博士當(dāng)時正坐在飛越于美國上空的飛機(jī)上，她注意到旁邊有一位睡眼惺忪的女士。她問這位女士為何如此疲憊不堪，女士說自己凌晨兩點(diǎn)就起床去關(guān)自來水，徹夜未眠使得她精疲力竭。原來她的女兒是其學(xué)校環(huán)境保護(hù)協(xié)會的成員，對環(huán)保滿懷熱情，并要全家人都成為環(huán)保人士。女士出行的前一天晚上，他們住在女士弟弟的家里，半夜時分，她女兒被水龍頭的滴答聲吵醒。原來水龍頭的把手壞了，女兒只好向大家求助——關(guān)掉水龍頭。而要解決水龍頭的漏水問題，只有一個辦法：挖出埋在屋前草坪里的水管，關(guān)掉主閥。女兒非要漏水問題得到解決才肯睡覺。于是，在凌晨兩點(diǎn)的時候，為了把水龍頭關(guān)掉，家里的每個人都趕到外面院子里幫忙挖水管。

古道爾博士說，這就是青少年的力量。孩子們在生活中做出的改變會促使他們的家人也成為環(huán)保人士。

青少年能影響的還不只是他們的家人。古道爾博士還講了另一件事情：紐約有個男孩去聽了她的一個講座，了解有關(guān)黑猩猩的各種面部表情。有一天，他看到一個谷類食品盒上印有一張黑猩猩在咧著嘴笑的圖片。根據(jù)從古道爾博士講座里學(xué)到的知識，男孩意識到圖片上那只黑猩猩展現(xiàn)的實(shí)際上是恐懼的表情。于是，男孩寫信給該食品制造商，請他們將黑猩猩的圖片從食品盒上移除。后來，男孩收到了食品公司的回信，并在幾個月后發(fā)現(xiàn)盒子上已經(jīng)沒有了黑猩猩的圖片?！拔也扇×诵袆?，”男孩如是說，“而且那家公司更換了圖片?！睙o論如何，食品盒上的圖片被更換了，男孩和他的家人都確信那是他的“功勞”。

這兩件事情表明，青少年有能力去倡導(dǎo)和實(shí)現(xiàn)改變，這種能力往往超出成人的想象。此外，他們還往往會取得連自己也意料不到的成就。同時，這兩件事情也向環(huán)保團(tuán)體闡明了值得牢記的兩個要點(diǎn)：

首先，拯救環(huán)境并不意味著只舉行針對成年人的大型公共活動。學(xué)生也可以通過家中的點(diǎn)滴行動或大型活動來實(shí)現(xiàn)重大改變。通過影響家人、企業(yè)和政府，學(xué)生可以發(fā)揮重要的積極作用。所以，與學(xué)生社團(tuán)合作可以是實(shí)現(xiàn)大改變的第一步。

其次，點(diǎn)滴行動可以產(chǎn)生巨大影響。我們常常很容易就想到諸如“清潔綠色周”這樣的大型活動，其實(shí)，許多小行動也可以引起大改觀。假如成千上萬的學(xué)生說服他們的家人關(guān)掉水龍頭以節(jié)約水資源，將空調(diào)溫度調(diào)高一至兩度，少開車或做一些其他有利環(huán)境的改變，那么整個家庭的行為方式都將發(fā)生變化。通過這些富有象征性而反響巨大的小行動，青少年帶來了超出行動本身的深遠(yuǎn)影響。

當(dāng)青少年意識到自己的行為產(chǎn)生了比預(yù)期更大的影響時，他們便能從中受益；而環(huán)保人士也可以從與青少年（即使是與年齡最小的學(xué)生們）的合作之中受益良多。

Sitting on an airplane as she was flying across the United States， Dr. Jane Goodall said she noticed a bleary-eyed woman sitting next to her. She asked the woman why she was so tired， and the woman said she was absolutely exhausted because shed been up at two in the morning trying to turn off the water. Her young daughter was in an environmental group at school and her daughters passion had turned to making sure her family was eco-friendly. They were staying at the womans brothers house the night before her trip， and in the middle of the night her daughter woke up to the sound of a dripping faucet. The daughter asked for help turning it off as the faucet handle was broken. The only way to stop the leak was to dig to the pipe in the front lawn to find the main valve to turn the water off， and her daughter wouldnt go to sleep until the leak stopped. So at two in the morning everyone in the family was out in the yard helping to dig to turn off the water.

And that， Dr. Goodall related， is the power of youth. When children make a change in their lives， families are dragged along to become environmentally friendly too. Its not just families that are changed by youth either. Dr. Goodall tells another story about a young boy in New York who went to one of her talks and learned about the facial expressions of chimpanzees. When he saw a picture of a chimpanzee on a box of cereal and it looked like the chimpanzee was grinning， the boy realized from what hed learned at Dr. Goodalls talk that the chimpanzees look was actually one of fear. The boy wrote to the cereal-maker asking to take the chimpanzees picture off the box. Along with receiving a letter back from the company， he saw the picture of the chimpanzee disappear from the box within just a few months. “I took action，” the boy now relates， “and the company changed.” However it happened that the picture changed， the boy and his family believe it was his doing.

As these two stories show， young people have much more power to initiate and accomplish change than what adults may believe. Moreover， youth often achieve much more than they ever expect they will. These stories also illustrate two key points that environmental groups would do well to remember.

First， saving the environment means more than just holding large public events targeted at adults. Students can make a major difference through smaller actions at home or larger campaigns. By influencing families， corporations and government， students can have a significant positive impact. So working with student groups can be the start to making big changes.

And second， small actions can have a big impact. We often tend to think about big events like Clean and Green Week. Instead， a lot of small changes can make a difference. If hundreds or thousands of students convince their families to turn off the tap to save water， move the air conditioning temperature up a degree or two， drive less and make other environmentally-friendly changes， the entire family may change its behaviors. With these small and symbolic yet high-impact changes， youth have an effect beyond just their own actions.

Youth can benefit by realizing that their own actions have more power than they may expect， and environmentalists can benefit by taking the time to focus on even the youngest students.