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Teens Show off Their Green Dreams in Union Square

By Test Reporter | May 27, 2010 12:31pm

By Tara Kyle

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

GRAMERCY — Shoppers in Union Square’s Greenmarket got a lesson in conscientious energy consumption from an unlikely source Wednesday.

City teenagers showed off pizza box solar ovens and miniature models of sustainable streets, houses and roadways during the Spring Energy Fair, an annual event sponsored by Con Edison.

The 35 students, who endured 90-degree midday heat to show off their projects, received training in their schools on renewable energy sources and their own energy footprint from Grow NYC, a Manhattan-based non-profit.

“I think they’ve come up with tremendous stuff,” said Mike Zamm, Grow NYC’s director of environmental education. Zamm has instructed more than 5,000 students during the eight-year life of the program.

City teens capitalized on 90 degree heat Wednesday as they demonstrated how to bake a slice in a solar-powered pizza box.
City teens capitalized on 90 degree heat Wednesday as they demonstrated how to bake a slice in a solar-powered pizza box.
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DNAinfo/Tara Kyle

“These students have learned that there are alternatives,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them followed up with it in their careers, and certainly several of them, just in the way they live their lives.”

Daniel Perez, a 17-year-old from Sunset Park, said that while his mother is a Greenmarket shopper who gave him a strong grounding in eco-friendly values, the work he did constructing a sustainable model home has expanded his understanding of the possibilities.

“I just took away more ideas, more ways to do this. I’m going to use this more in how I choose what home I live in,” he said.