To display this page you need a browser with JavaScript support. SCIENCE RESEARCH TEAM "DEAD WEIGHT" INVITED TO THE UNITED NATIONS TO PRESENT LEAD WHEEL WEIGHT RESEARCH TO WORLD SCIENTISTS
LEAD WHEEL WEIGHT FACTS
"If the public becomes more aware of the environmental dangers of
lead wheel weights and is given alternative wheel balancing choices then
there will be a decrease in lead entering the environment. It is
important that we make sure that the water we drink and the air we
breathe is free of lead." TEAM DEAD WEIGHT


Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge Kicks Off at United Nations International Youth Day

Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge Kicks Off at United Nations International Youth Day

by Emma Grady, New York, NY on 08.15.09

UN-Youth-Day-Winners-Outside image
Jathan Kron, Brennan Nelson and Justin Roth (left to right) of Team Dead Weight. Credit Discovery Communications

The United Nations Headquarters in New York City was host to a couple-hundred youth on August 12. All were gathered for this year's International Youth Day and to kick off the second year of The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, a nationwide educational-sustainability challenge for grades K-8, along with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), and Discovery Education.



Team Dead Weight presents their winning project along with Tom McCausland, Siemens Foundation; Jean-Pierre Gonnot, United Nations Programme on Youth; Jonathan Hiles, United Nations Environment Programme, and Bill Goodwyn, Discovery Education (left to right). Credit Discovery Communications


Video: Student Team from Iowa to Present Winning Sustainability
Project to UN Representatives, Peers and Media.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE "DEAD WEIGHT" LEAD WW VIDEO
PRESENTATION AT THE UN.
(17 MINUTES UNTIL 45 MINUTES IN TO THE 2009 UN YOUTH CONFERENCE VIDEO)

This year's International Youth Day theme; "Sustainability: Our Challenge. Our Future." calls for action from young people to address environmental issues and sustainability. The day provided local youth the opportunity to hear from the challenge's inaugural year winners; Team Dead Weight (pictured above), whose project exposed the environmental hazards of lead wheel weights in tires. The team travelled from West Branch, Iowa to attend and to present in front of peers, UN representatives and media.


Siemens We Can Be the Change Video. Via PR Newswire

The day's theme fit nicely with the challenge, which urges students to act as "Agents of Change" within their communities, and "aims to inspire the next generation stewards of our planet," according to Thomas McCausland, Chairman of the Siemens Foundation. The foundation provides over $7 million in annual funds for educational inititatives in science, technology, engineering, and math.

 

United Nations Radio

United Nations Radio

Three students win prize for project to replace lead wheel weights

14/08/2009

We often hear that everyone can to their part to protect the environment. Well, three young students from Iowa took this to heart and did a school science project together that has had a real impact. For their efforts they have been awarded first prize in a contest sponsored by Discovery Education, the Siemens Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association. The three boys were here for International Youth Day and told UN Radio about their award-winning project.

Jathan: My name is Jathan Kron. I am a 12-year-old 8th grader at West Branch Middle School.

Our project was about lead wheel weights used to keep tires from vibrating - small pieces of lead clipped to all tires in use in America, or all over the world and they fall off and are exposed to environmental conditions, which form lead compounds like lead nitrate and lead acetate, which can leak into the water and contaminate our water, so it harms us and it can also harm the environment.

My dad is an automotive dealer and we were sweeping up his shop one day and sweeped up some lead wheel weights and he said he was going to throw them away and I said "You can't do that, because lead is a hazardous metal and it is harmful to the environment." And I realized something had to be done about that.

Brennan: My name is Brennan Nelson, and I'm 13, going into Southeast Junior High. My science teacher Hector Ibarra contacted me and wondered if I would like to do another school project about the environment, and of course, Jathan also contacted me. Well, I've always cared about the environment and I have a deep feeling for it and when I had a chance to actually do something about the way our Earth is going, I decided that that would be great.

Justin: I'm Justin Roth, and I'm 13 years old. I'm going to 8th grade at West Branch Middle School. Jathan, Brennan and I have been friends for a very long time and we do projects together from time to time, especially last year, Brennan and I did one. And this year Jathan, Brennan and I got together to do this project.

Jathan: Hopefully, we can get the phase-out of lead wheel weights in our state or hopefully all of America. And get people educated about the hazards of lead, so that they request steel wheel weights to help the environment. When we started our project there were no laws concerning lead wheel weights. After we started - Maine, Washington and Vermont got laws passed about lead wheel weights and then also California has pending legislation. We also got our city fleet vehicles switched to steel wheel weights.

Justin: We also got two local tire service centers to start offering steel wheel weights and they have said there has been an increase in business. They have even gotten a steel wheel weight distributor to start distributing the steel wheel weights in Iowa. Next time you go and get your tires rebalanced request an alternative to lead.

Jathan: It's your world,
Brennan: your mind,
Justin: and you can make a difference!

That was Team "Dead Weight": Jathan Kron, Brennan Nelson and Justin Roth, middle school students from Iowa.



Producer: Bissera Kostova

Interviews: Erica Ohene-Bekoe

Duration: 2'26"

http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/print/79944.html

PLEASE CLICK HERE AND CHOOSE OPEN
TO HEAR UNITED NATIONS RADIO INTERVIEW WITH
SCIENCE RESEARCH TEAM"DEAD WEIGHT" AT
THE 2009 UN INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY CONFERENCE
IN NEW YORK CITY AFTER THEIR UN PRESENTATION
ON THE HAZARDS OF LEAD WHEEL WEIGHTS.
UN letter to Jathan Kron
UN letter to Justin Roth
UN letter to Brennan Nelson
UN letter to Hector Ibarra
UN letter to Kirsten Nelson

          Science research team "Dead Weight" recognizes the 
need to protect the public from exposure to lead hazards. 
There are no federal regulatory controls governing use of lead 
wheel weights. Environmental health hazards associated with lead 
wheel weights are a preventable problem. People are exposed to 
lead fragments and dust when lead wheel weights fall from motor 
vehicles onto the nation's roadways and are then abraded and 
pulverized by traffic. Lead wheel weights on and alongside roadways 
can contribute to soil, surface and groundwater contamination and 
pose hazards to downstream aquatic life.
       Lead negatively affects every bodily system. While it is 
injurious to people of all ages, lead is especially harmful to 
fetuses,children, and adults of childbearing age. Effects of lead 
on a child's cognitive, behavioral, and developmental abilities may 
necessitate large expenditures of public funds for health care and 
special education. Irreversible damage to children and subsequent 
expenditures could be avoided if exposure to lead is reduced.
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