Inspired by Al Gore’s call to action, a high school senior in Palo Alto, California has launched The Inconvenient Youth, a non-profit designed to educate and inspire young environmental activists.  Using on-line registration and text messaging to “maximize the collective power of youth to generate change”, the group has received enthusiastic responses from youth around the country.  They even have a band to help them inspire young people to become leaders in their communities.

takepart to join the movement or to share it with a young person in your life.

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Inconvenient Truth of the Day

As a blogger I can’t help but support reading online,  it pays the bills but it also gives me access to content I may never have found before the internet got to be so popular. I do however enjoy sitting down in a comfy chair with a non-electronic book at least once a day and indulging in reading the old fashioned way. Thus, it was with great intrigue that I sat down this morning (at my computer) to read a New York Times article entitled “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?”

The article gives some personal examples of young folks who have made the internet their preferred reading material before getting into the heart of the arguement:

As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading — diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books.

But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount. The Web inspires a teenager like Nadia, who might otherwise spend most of her leisure time watching television, to read and write. [NYTimes]

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Singer Kelly Rowland took an AIDS test in Africa to raise awareness of the disease. Rowland took the test while in Nairobi on Thursday to help reduce the stigma of the disease in the country, where people fear discrimination if they are tested.

“Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to HIV infection, and it is important for everyone to know their HIV status,” she said. “The quicker you know your status, the sooner you can receive treatment if you’re HIV+, and reduce the risk of inadvertently infecting future partners.” Rowland is in Africa as the first ever Ambassador for MTV’s Staying Alive Foundation, and hopes to help the people of Kenya get the disease under control. HIV/AIDS is at pandemic levels through much of Africa, with UNAIDS-the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS – estimating that more than 22 million adults and children are living with the disease on the continent. The singer also took the time to visit the 2008 recipients of the Staying Alive Foundation’s grants, who have been chosen for their efforts to encourage, educate and empower their peers in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

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A meditation on youth, counter-culture and the system, Michelangelo Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point (1969) is something to be seen. I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen last night - which is the only way to really experience the film (I think). That being said, the trailer is pretty awesome, even YouTube sized:

It has an ending that may not sit well with some, and a scene of mad desert love making that might be off putting as well, but with the times of today mirroring the times of the film, it couldn’t be more relevant.

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If you haven’t come across the Youth Media Blog-a-thon sponsored by Wiretap and YO! yet, it’s some pretty moving stuff that is worth the read. This month’s subject is violence, and young bloggers are engaging with their readers on how violence impacts their lives and their communities.  WireTap contributing editor Jamilah King kicked off the blog with a saddening story about the murder of her 15-year-old sister:

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The “Breakfast Club” has come to life in Nanette Burstein’s new film “American Teen,” which documents the senior year of four stereotypical high schoolers ““ the jock, the loner, the artsy girl and the homecoming queen. The doc premiered last month at the Sundance Film Festival, and will be released theatrically by Paramount Vantage.

The film’s charm comes from the small town kids’ “lack of guile” and their deviation from the self-conscious and vapid reality television stars we’re used to seeing on shows like “The Hills.” Said Burstein about the film:

“It’s about being 17…I thought going into it that it was all going to be about the pressure of your peers. I realized that was an element of that, but you also had this identity crisis because of the pressure of your parents, and the future decisions you had to make, that you know nothing about.”

and get to know the cast here. You can also by visiting teenactivist.org to see how America’s youth are advocating, volunteering and mobilizing for social action.

Bike & Build had been pedaling to end poverty housing for over five years, and has raised over $1.1 million to date through fund-raising bike trips for the construction of affordable housing in various areas throughout the country. Long-distance cycling trips are interspersed with volunteer work on construction sites, and town-hall presentations about their mission in cities along the tour route. Check out their “Bodies in Motion” video below.

Whether you’re a seasoned cyclist, or haven’t taken the bike out of the basement all year, you can still get involved. Bike & Build is accepting applications for 2008, so and get more info on how to get involved with their next tour.

Looking for inspiration to make good on those New Years resolutions and get yourself back to the gym?  A new study published by King’s College in London should do it. Researchers found that not only does inactivity make people more vulnerable to things like cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes and cancer, but it can actually speed up the aging process.

The study was conducted by observing 2401 twins ““ those individuals who were active during their leisure time appeared physically younger than their other halves. Researchers also looked at telomeres, which are repeat sequences of DNA on the ends of chromosomes that protect them from damage. More active twins also had longer telomeres than those who were mostly inactive. In fact, the most active twins had telomere length comparable to that of a person who was 10 years younger and inactive.

MarathonKids.org is a free fitness program offered to K-5th graders and their families who are most vulnerable to sendentary lives, childhood obesity, and Type II diabetes. by visiting their website to see how you can volunteer or help bring their program to cities and schools in your area.

By Giulia Rozzi

The number of American teens with HIV has increased in recent years.

According to the report there are a number of factors may be at play, including the fact that many HIV-infected patients are now being kept healthy with powerful drugs — making AIDS seem like less of a threat to young people than it did in the past.

Also “the ’scare factor’ isn’t there anymore,” said Rowena Johnston, vice president of research at the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) in New York City.

For more on AIDS education and how to get involved in the fight against AIDS visit avert.org or aids.org

The former Fugees singer is giving back to his native Haiti. From the AP:

Wyclef Jean has announced the creation of several youth-based programs funded by his Yele Haiti charity.”If you want to change a country, unfortunately, you’re not going to be able to help 8 million people at one time,” the 35-year-old singer told reporters. But if you can get one or two or three and start to make that change, that will make the difference.”