When Susanna Kearney’s son Malcolm, 11, started worrying about the state of the environment last year, she decided it was time to take action. So Susanna, an entrepreneur and mom also to Zachary, 13, launched a group called the Green Parents Alliance (greenparentsalliance.org) to engage families in the eco-movement. “Being a mother has informed a lot of what I do,” she says. The goal of the alliance, which she introduces to schools, is to help foster environ-mental responsibility in parents and children. Members of the alliance receive information on easy ways to get greener at home, such as packing school lunch in waste-free containers. Susanna (pictured with Malcolm) promoted this idea by initiating a Waste-Free Lunch Week at Malcolm’s school, the Churchill School and Center in New York City.

Now Susanna’s working with a public school in Brooklyn and hopes her efforts will launch a pilot program that other public schools across the country can use. Encouraged by his mom’s eco-friendly efforts, Malcolm is becoming something of an activist himself. Last year, in lieu of Christmas presents, he requested that money be donated to a cause dear to his heart: the shortage of water around the world. Asserts the young environmentalist: “People need water.”