A young man decided early in life that he could change the way people think about the environment. He’s already brought change to his hometown in Connecticut. Now, he’s got even bigger plans.

Colin Carlson is on a journey, an essay about his walks in the Connecticut woods won him a trip to the Galapagos Islands…There, where Darwin formed his theory of evolution, Colin found a calling.”I expected to see a lot of Galapagos penguins while I was down on the islands and I really only saw 5 the whole week,” says Carlson.Colin asked questions and learned about climate change. How man-made greenhouse gasses were warming waters and impacting the food chain and the animalsA mere 10 years old then, Colin decided to do something, and started a campaign in his hometown of Coventry urging residents to cutback on energy to help reduce global warming. It was not an easy sell.

By trying to change the way people thought about climate change and showing them that even if they don’t believe in it they can still reduce their energy use and save money and energy that way.He started at Highland Park Market, urging president Matt Miner to put more energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs on his shelves.Then he went to electrician Tim Ackert for a pledge.”To say that we would promote the need for alternative energy sources and also more importantly energy conservation. Now, he’s taking his campaign to schools around New England,” says Ackert.

Extraordinarily bright, Colin is in college, but he still is just 12 years old.”And the really big question is why should we care about our carbon footprint?”Urging his peers to do simple things… Turn off the lights, use less water, recycle…. So they too can have nature’s beauty on their journey through life.