Spotlight on Hunter Gross
A Very "Kool" Project.

You know the feeling: You’re sitting in class and your teacher is talking about something you think is really interesting. Your mind starts to wander, and all of a sudden you come up with an exciting thought or great idea. You can’t wait to explore the revelation further.

That’s what happened to 12-year-old Hunter Gross. In science class last year in Long Island, New York, Hunter’s teacher was talking about global warming. She was saying that because the Earth was getting a little warmer each year, different things were happening.

The science teacher mentioned that kids in schools around the country were wasting plastic and paper lunch bags every day. Consider your school’s cafeteria. Are those big garbage cans filled up by the end of lunchtime? At the end of the day, there are lots of plastic and paper lunch bags in there. Can you imagine how many of those garbage cans there are in every school around the country, and how many paper and plastic bags are getting thrown out? Here’s the answer: Millions! Around 20 million plastic and paper bags get thrown away daily. That’s 100 million wasted bags every week.

This waste is bad for the environment. Do you know where all this garbage ends up? Hunter learned that it gets buried in giant landfills throughout the country. Sometimes, the garbage gets dumped in the ocean.

Besides school grounds, you’ve probably seen plastic bags all over the place— in homes, in the streets, on the sides of roads, even flying through the air. Plastic is bad for the Earth because it doesn’t decompose, meaning it doesn’t break down. It just sits there. And marine life like whales and dolphins, along with other animals, often eat plastic bags by mistake and die.

What was Hunter’s idea? This teen sat down with his parents and came up with a 100 percent cotton canvas lunch bag that kids can use over and over. He thought it would be fun if kids could color the bags with washable markers, and then just put their bags in the washing machine when they were ready to clean them and create new designs.

Hunter’s company is called Project Kool. He is in business with his mother, father, aunt and uncle. The company started last year. Since then, thousands and thousands of kids nationwide have been bringing Project Kool Reusable Bags to school to help fight global warming.

“When you think that kids can make a difference, it really is cool,” explains Hunter. “If all of us do something to fight global warming, the Earth will be a better place. If people don’t do anything and they keep wasting, it’s not good for the Earth, and I think we could be in trouble in the future.”

Hunter has written to and heard back from Al Gore, whose staff has ordered products from Project Kool.

“I saw Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.” Everyone should see it. Even if the world gets warmer by one degree, that’s not good. We all need to reuse and recycle whenever we can. We can’t be lazy about it.”

In a short time, Hunter has accomplished a lot. He had a full-page story written about him in Newsday, he was featured on The Channel 11 News and CBS Radio 880 and he has spoken at The Children’s Museum of Manhattan as well as schools throughout the northeast.

“Fighting global warming is pretty easy,” reflects the young CEO. “You kind of need to think about it, but it can become a good habit, like brushing your teeth,” Hunter says. “It’s good for kids to learn about it at a young age so they can start protecting the Earth when they’re little.”

During the last weekend in April, Hunter and Project Kool invite you to visit the Go Green Expo at the Hilton Hotel in midtown, New York City.

Project Kool encourages PTA fundraising. If you or your school would like to get involved in fight against global warming, visit www.projectkool.com.

KidsCreate Series:
Workshop with Hunter Gross
Children’s Museum of Manhattan
Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm

Sign-up program for ages 5 and older. Free with paid museum admission

Hunter Gross will discuss how global warming inspired him to create Project Kool. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to do a fun, hands-on activity with Hunter.