We tried something new this year to award two $2,500 grants to Action Teams taking on climate projects — we let you decide. Our hope was that students, teachers, family, friends would jump at the opportunity to vote up the best climate projects online.

From November 18-24, people across the country cast thousands of votes and two clear winners emerged late last week. Thank you everyone for voting for your favorites – check out our lucky winners and their projects:

Riverwood International Charter School – RICS Enviro Action Team
Atlanta, GA
2894 total votes

Riverwood International Charter School’s Environmental Action Team will use the ACE Action Grant, in addition to matching funds from the school PTA and ongoing fundraisers, to install a solar water heater on campus.

Their project will provide the school with an alternative energy source on campus. It will also be used as a teaching tool for classes like Environmental Science and Engineering Concepts.

This will not be the first amazing project for RICS Environmental Action Team. They teamed up with ACE last year and completed an e-scrap recycling drive that diverted 700 pounds of e-waste from landfills. They also installed timers on all school televisions and vending machines, saving the school a lot of money.

Health Professions & Human Services High School – HPHS ECHO Action Team
New York, NY
2716 total votes

In one of the countries biggest fashion capitals, HPHS ECHO Action Team is committed to to showing the world that green is the new black. HPHS will use their ACE Action Grant to host a school-wide fashion show that showcases creativity and flare with recycled clothing and materials. They believe that if we can start greening up our clothes, we will be one step closer to greening up our planet.

HPHS ECHO Action Team has also placed recycling bins in every classroom on campus, carried out a cellphone recycling drive, organized a locker clean out day and planned a successful Green Week that included themed days like Litter Free Monday and Power Down Friday.

Stay tuned for more – photos and videos of the winning teams.