Some of the cast and crew with assistant director, Dannie Colon (seated), executive producer, Azin Mehrnoosh (standing, left), and Scholastic Kid Reporter Jy Prishkulnik (center), who played the protegee in the film. (Photo courtesy Jy Prishkulnik)
Saving the Earth With a Laugh
48-hour film competition is fast, green, and funny
You gotta be fast and you gotta think GREEN to enter the 48-hour Go Green Film Festival. Teams from around the country are given a "green theme" at 7 p.m. on the Friday evening of the contest weekend. Additionally, the teams are given a line, a prop, and a specific character to use. The completed films are due 48 hours later.
The top three finalists win monetary prizes. Their films are viewed at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas in early April. The top five films are viewed at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
A creative team in Albuquerque, New Mexico, worked with the theme "Save Energy." The team decided to go for laughs.
"What better way to get a message across than through comedy?" said director Adrien Colon of the film Energy Tap Out.
Energy Tap Out is a story about a man named Rex Sharpe who tracks and attacks anyone not saving energy. His methods are extreme—his mother had to take out a restraining order against him—but he gets his point across. Eventually, he trains a young apprentice to inherit his mission.
The cast and crew did more than deliver an energy conservation message. They worked to save energy during filming, says executive producer Azin Mehrnoosh. A main goal was to leave the smallest carbon footprint possible.
"We used email versus printing," said Mehrnoosh. "We used a lot of local and organic food services, and free energy from the sun by shooting outside."
Colon and his team also bought reusable water bottles and tableware and composted and recycled their trash.
"Look at the food you're eating. Where does it come from?" Mehrnoosh asked. He explained that energy can be saved by buying locally produced food instead of food transported from out-of-state.
"We also gave some donations to a local environmental organization," he said. "We used the rest of our budget that was left over on this."
Thinking about the world at large was an important part of developing and making the film, said producer Lucero.
"If you don't think about others and think about the world at the same time, then all your dreams really don't matter because there won't be a world to accomplish these dreams," he said. "Always keep the world in mind!"
EARTH DAY 2011
Celebrate Earth Day and the fight to keep our planet clean on April 22. Scholastic Kid Reporters explore ways to make every day Earth Day in the Earth Day 2011 Special Report.
NEWS FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
Get the latest on national and international events, movies, television, music, sports, and more from the Scholastic Kids Press Corps.
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Earth Day
The Teacher Store 
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by Trudi Strain TrueitSET FEATURES:
- Ways to Celebrate: a new feature detailing ideas of how to mark the holiday
- How the holiday is celebrated in other parts of the world, or how it is celebrated by a variety of families in the US
- Updated photographs and updated calendar
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Library Binding | Grades 1-2
Grades 1-2 $20.50
- Teacher Store
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Earth Day
The Teacher Store 
Earth Day
by Trudi Strain TrueitFollowing the well-known and much-loved Rookie format, each Rookie Read-About Holidays book explains the development of the holiday and how it is celebrated today.
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