AMIR NADAV
Age: 17
Home: Eagan, MN
Project: School Bus Diesel
High school junior Amir Nadav
initiated and led a campaign to reduce Minnesota students'
exposure to dangerous diesel exhaust. His efforts culminated
in the passage of statewide legislation
that bans excessive bus idling in front of schools and directs
schools to relocate air-intake valves
away from bus parking zones. Nadav and his co-leaders circulated
petitions, organized a rally of
students on the capitol steps, appeared on news programs, and
personally lobbied for and won
endorsement of the bill from both Republican and Democratic leaders
in the legislature. "The
presence of student activists revitalizes the sometimes rather
dull, bureaucratic baby-boomer
monopolization over political decisions that impact the environment,"
he noted. "The days of lazy
teens are over."
