One Small Step: Paddling for the Planet

"I went through hard times in my teens and spent some time on the streets. I had always lived in big cities--never spent time in the outdoors. I had never pitched a tent and didn't know what poison oak looked like. Then at age 22, I was invited to participate in a rafting trip with the Sierra Club's Inner City Outings [ICO] program.

"I was really afraid of rafting. But I saw one of the tough kids crumble in the boat, saying, 'I'm afraid to swim. I can't do this.' Helping him conquer his fears made me conquer my own.

"The year after my first trip, I joined the training program to become a volunteer trip leader. Now I'm the regional representative, so I coordinate 11 different Inner City Outings groups. During the rafting season, the San Francisco Bay group runs a trip every weekend, about 35 a season, with up to 20 kids per trip.

"I've seen participants who have come out a couple of years in a row and then tell me they want to become a volunteer guide. They realize they are a part of something bigger, and they want to give back to others. Kids come to our program as part of a group--Boys and Girls Clubs, churches, schools. The program teaches them group dynamics and teamwork.

"A lot of kids don't know what it's like to be in a place where there's no concrete. They don't even know why they should care when they hear about being green or saving the forests. But a program like ICO shows them: Here's this wonderful place, and we have the opportunity to protect it. You can see them begin to realize why it is important. We're changing kids' lives every trip." --interview by Orli Cotel

NATURAL HIGH A 2005 study initiated by the Sierra Club and administered by the California Department of Education showed that at-risk students who took part in a weeklong outdoor science school reported having increased self-esteem and a greater sense of responsibility, and raised their science test scores by 27 percent.