Two weeks ago, we issued a challenge out to the world: post a picture of what you’re doing this Earth Day on our Facebook wall, and you’ll entered to win a Flip Cam!! THANK YOU to everyone who stepped up and out for our planet this year!

We received many awesome entries, from trash cans crafted from recycled newspaper to massive trash cleanups to commitments to carry reusable lunch containers! Check ’em all out on our FB page.

We chose the contest winner out of a hat last week and the winner is….. drumroll please.…………… Joey Ducharme from Lowell High School in Lowell, MA! Congratulations Joey!!

Joey designed earth day tshirts (see pic) and ended up making bracelets to sell for this special day. His goal? Donate the profits to an environmental cause! I interviewed Joey the other day about what compelled him to get off his couch and do something. Here’s what he had to say.

Q: Joey, what inspired you to make tshirts for Earth Day?

Joey: I remember going to a zoo in Rhode Island on Earth Day one year and everywhere you went there was a booth or someone talking and raising awareness about Earth Day and saving the planet. This year I wanted to go again, but couldn’t. So instead I thought I would make and sell t-shirts.

Q: That’s awesome! Great effort. Why does climate change matter to you?

Joey: Climate change means a lot to me. I know that the earth is going on a downward spiral and someone needs to do something to not only stop what’s going on but to also try and reverse it.

Q: Have you seen an ACE Assembly? What inspired you? What was your favorite part?

Yes I have seen one. I saw it this year as part of my school Environmental and Science Clubs. Rouwenna Lamm was the speaker. I was honored to be a part of it too. She just seemed to be really enthused to be a part of it all.

I learned that greenhouse gases can stay in the atmosphere for many decades. That just awed me and I have to say that my favorite part (also most if not all of my schools favorite) was the farting and burping cows [that release methane – another greenhouse gas]. I just have a great sense of humor and laugh easily — that part was fun and I learned.

Q: How do you talk about climate change with your friends?

Joey: I do end up talking about climate change with friends every so often. We always ends up talking about it when the weather is weird for the time of year it is. Like when we had 90 degrees in the beginning of April. Or the floods we had in the middle of April. [read more about weather and climate here.]

Q: What’s a fun fact about you?

Joey: I’ve always loved animals and plants. I love my two, well now three, pets that I have. I have a dog named Bandit and a cat named Snow.
And for my birthday this past Thursday, I got a blue beta fish which I call Ba-Ba. Two or three years ago I also tried having a terrarium, which didn’t go that well. Although I still have 3 of my cacti which are doing very well and blossom beautifully!