DWP-LAUSD PROGRAM WORTHY OF BEING EMULATED.

Byline: RICHARD NEMEC Local View

NO one denies that cleaning up the environment costs money. They don't call it ``green power'' for nothing. But the omnipresent city utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, at least is finding a way to get a return on that investment that transcends cleaner air.

DWP is investing in kids. The $2 billion-plus city-operated electricity and water provider has teamed up with the schools in its latest marketing effort to get residents and businesses to designate that 20 percent of their power comes from nonpolluting, renewable sources such as the wind, sun, water and biomass.

The often-staid department is letting its hair down a little and turning to kids in elementary through high school grades in a promotional effort that hopefully has enough educational value to make its $100,000-plus price tag worth it.

As I have said on other occasions, I think we don't do enough joint programs between the schools and parts of the local government. We need more of these partnerships. Whether it is the Recreation and Parks Department, library, Human Relations Commission or the airport, there are untapped educational resources in each of these sections of city government, or L.A. County, for that matter.

What's often lacking is the initiative to reach out.

DWP, with its hyperactive general manager, S. David Freeman, has renewed energy (pardon the pun) and a willingness these days to step out. Given a

perceived need to begin lessening the city's dependence on more polluting out-of-state coal-fired and nuclear plants for making electricity, DWP began an urban forestry program planting trees and replacing asphalt playgrounds with grass in cooperation with LAUSD schools last year. Then the giant utility began plotting a green-power effort last fall and decided the schools were a natural ally.

In both the tree-planting, which is done through a partnership with the city's four major tree-planting organizations, and in the green-power program, class lesson plans, teacher assistance and, in some cases, textbooks have been made available for classrooms in parts of the L.A. Unified School District to help provide learning, activities and some fun. DWP, in turn, has transformed a lot of the student work into its multimedia promotional campaign.

On May 24, DWP's Freeman gathered several hundred students, teachers, administrators and parents to honor them for their efforts. More than 70 students, ranging from kindergarten through 12th grade, were awarded savings bonds, and numerous teachers and schools were given cash awards.

The real payoff, however, is that 425 students at 60 schools were exposed to some lessons about where their energy comes from and what they can do about using it wisely.

One senior at North Hollywood High School, Sophia W., was given a special award for a song she composed, the music for which was used in a radio advertisement DWP aired on three major stations for two weeks earlier in the spring. ``What if we had another chance?'' the song asks in its title.

And in her essay accompanying the song, she concludes that ``we do have a chance, because it is never too late to start conserving. Most importantly, the song expresses that it is one's own decision to choose the kind of energy they want to use, what they want to conserve and what they are willing to do for the Earth.''

The DWP promotion staff and school consultants rounded up the best of the posters and other artwork created by students as part of the projects that teachers brought to their schools following one-day training sessions with the DWP. The artwork is on display through the first week of June at the DWP headquarters adjacent to the Music Center in Downtown L.A. And for Internet-linked citizens, a full array of the award-winning artwork can be viewed at the Green Power for a Green L.A. Web site (www.greenla.com).

I personally hope DWP is successful in persuading a large segment of our residents and businesses to pay a little extra to foster cleaner sources of electricity. There is no shame in being coaxed along by the likes of Karlon J. of Calvert Elementary School, Emmanuel M. of Pinewood Elementary and Aleks P. of Eagle Rock Elementary.

With the kick-start the DWP provided the schools for socially relevant and up-to-date civic, economic and environmental lessons, I would challenge the LAUSD to try to carry the program throughout all of its schools. We all have a stake in the environment, including other energy companies and local government departments besides DWP.

It is up to the schools to build on this experience and to find other sources like DWP that can help launch increased learning and social awareness at all grade levels.

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Photo: S. David Freeman