Poster and essay contests are widely-used avenues to engage students in environmental activism, but are often solitary activities that involve individual students.

For those teachers looking for something more hands-on, opportunities beyond the traditional poster contests challenge teachers and students to design creative solutions to environmental problems. Students benefit by having a structured setting to think critically and creatively, problem solve, and work cooperatively (not to mention the possibility of extrinsic reward for winning!) Sponsoring groups benefit by finding young talent and creative solutions that may be marketable and beneficial to both businesses, non-profits, and communities.

The Lifecycle Building Challenge, sponsored by multiple groups, including the EPA, Green Building Blocks, and the American Institute of Architects, challenges professionals and students to create buildings, building services, and/or building components that promote materials reuse throughout the entire lifecycle of a building, from design to deconstruction.

By creating buildings that are able to be reused or whose components are built with minimal material waste, contestants will design solutions that reduce the large environmental impact that comes from building and design. Students can enter in three categories: building, component, and service, and the top designs from each category can win multiple prizes, including $2500.

Canon's Envirothon is an annual competition in which students compete for scholarships by demonstrating their knowledge of environmental science and natural resource management. Student team are tested in multiple subjects and present orally in order to determine winners. One of the most extensive contests, there are numerous local and state Envirothons in which student groups can participate, with winners advancing to the national competition.

Finally, hip-hop band The Roots and non-profit Global Inheritance are teaming up to sponsor Feed Your Roots, a student contest to promote composting in schools. Student groups create a program that involves composting and design a poster with information for schools about composting. Winning schools will receive specially-designed compost bins autographed by The Roots themselves.

Contests such as these are interesting and atypical ways to move students from thinking into doing, and hands-on problem-solving allows them to create authentic solutions and make real change in the schools and communities.

I was at a Guster concert a few weeks ago, when the lead singer/guitarist, Adam Gardner, encouraged concertgoers to offset their travel to the show by buying carbon offsets, in the form of wind tags at the merch booth. It turns out that in 2004 Gardner, and his wife, Lauren Sullivan, founded Reverb, a non-profit that seeks to educate music fans about environmentalism by greening up touring and concerts.

Because of the high environmental costs of touring, artists like The Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, O.A.R, Alanis Morissette, Bonnie Raitt, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are now fueling tour busses with biodiesel, setting up recycling at shows, and powering concerts with renewable energy, in conjunction with Green Highway. Reverb also connects bands with environmental organizations to create interactive eco-villages at venues. Reverb sponsors the Campus Consciousness Tour, bringing expanded eco-villages to college campuses along with shows, to encourage environmental consciousness among college students and college communities.

Guster and friends aren't the only musicians trying to lighten their eco-footprint. Willie Nelson's tour bus runs on biodiesel, and many popular summer festivals, including Bonnaroo and Wakarusa, have booths where concertgoers can offset their travel. At Wakarusa, all cups, utensils, and other food packaging is either compostable, biodegradable, or recyclable, and they provide on-site facilities to do all three. In fact, when you arrive at Wakarusa to camp, you are given bags to encourage you to recycle aluminum, cardboard, glass, plastic, and steel.

If you are planning on attending a summer tour, stop by and purchase a carbon offset in the vendors area. Think of it this way: drink one less overpriced beer, buy an offset, and feel even better about your concert choices.