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NEWS RELEASE
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921
Phone: 608/267-7404 TDD: 608/267-6897

FOR RELEASE: April 25, 2001
CONTACT: Mittsy Voiles, (608) 264-9258

SUBJECT: Easy Breathers Travels to California May 7

Madison, Wis. -- For the first time May 7, two International Baccalaureate schools from opposite parts of the nation will join forces to start work on a project to reduce air pollution.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' project, called Easy Breathers, calls on the talents of video production and performing arts students from their own state's John Marshall High School, in Milwaukee, and California's San Jose High Academy, to produce an educational video on transportation and how it affects air quality.

"Since air pollution knows no state boundaries, neither should our educational efforts," Mittsy Voiles, project coordinator, said. The project will take the Milwaukee students to San Jose, then to Houston, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois.

The video and accompanying website will be produced, edited, acted, and publicized by the students with the DNR, teachers, and the multimedia firm Media Makers serving as their mentors. The video-making process will give the students valuable experience as they pursue a career in film, a chance to learn about air quality issues in different regions, and a taste of what other regions are doing to reduce air pollution.

While taping at San Jose High Academy in California on Monday, May 7, students from both schools will participate in a demonstration of electric vehicles given by the San Jose Branch of the Electric Auto Association. On Tuesday they will be given a free tour of Corbin Motors, Hollister, CA, home of the Sparrow. Many of the Wisconsin students will see and ride on a Light Rail Vehicle for the first time as well. Footage from these events will be included in the video, which will be distributed across the nation and perhaps around the world. Students all over will learn what California is doing to reduce air pollution from transportation sources.

The final product, due this fall, will be an attention-grabbing video and web site, designed for viewing in the classroom. Teens will talk to teens about air quality and transportation issues like ground-level ozone. They will suggest actions individuals can take to reduce these problems such as driving electric cars.

Grants from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Transportation fund the project. Midwest Express donated funds to the Milwaukee School District to fly the students and teachers to California and Texas.

The project is being developed to comply with National Academic Standards.


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