Florida Students Are Finalists in Volvo Adventure Environmental Award Competition; Win Trip to Sweden to Compete against Students from 14 Countries

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.--April 27, 2004--A group of Palm Beach county students, ages 12-14, will represent the United States in Sweden on May 3, 2004, at the Volvo Adventure Environmental Award Competition -- a global environmental competition for youth.

The group of Palm Beach students, known as Earth Force Youth Advisory Board (YAB), was chosen as one of 15 teams from over 170 entries representing 34 countries. All 15 finalist teams will be in Sweden to make presentations to a panel of environmental judges and contribute to the Volvo Adventure Statement to World Leaders to be presented to the United Nations Environment Program.

Earth Force YAB, submitted the project "South Florida's Water Quality: A Life, Leisure, Legacy," which focuses on non-point source pollution in Lake Worth Lagoon. After researching the different sources of contamination and the impacts of water pollution, the students took action by installing placards on storm drain inlets that read "No dumping; Drains to Lake Worth Lagoon." The students began by posting 83 placards along bordering streets of Lake Worth Lagoon, and have now expanded the project to include the City of West Palm Beach. To date, Earth Force YAB has posted over 500 storm drain placards.

"We have prepared a survey to measure public knowledge of run-off pollution and we will monitor and compare results of water quality tests to determine the on-going improvement of water quality," said Luke Hamlin, Earth Force YAB project coordinator.

Earth Force YAB will make a presentation at the Volvo Adventure conference in Sweden to the panel of environmental judges, including representatives from the United Nations Environmental Program and World Wide Foundation. The judges will award the top three teams with grants of $10,000, $6,000 and $4,000 respectively.

The American students representing Earth Force YAB in Sweden are Christopher Brown, 14, Michael Brown, 12, (both of Boynton Beach) and Daniel Perez, 14, (of West Palm Beach).

Earth Force is a national non-profit organization sponsored locally by Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, a division of Florida Atlantic University's College of Education.

Volvo Adventure is an Internet-based global environmental competition for young people, aged 10 to 16. The purpose of Volvo Adventure is to increase environmental awareness amongst young people worldwide, as well as encourage young people to take on practical projects that will demonstrate they can make a difference to the environment in which they live.

Volvo Adventure is a joint project between AB Volvo and Volvo Cars. More information about Volvo Adventure is available at www.volvoadventure.org.