Students at Whitman Middle School are quite concerned about the environment thanks to their classroom studies on global warming.

The students sent 120 letters to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels inviting him to visit them.

Their letters discussed serious topics like habitat loss, nuclear weapons, poaching, alternative fuels, bio terrorism, endangered animals and other topics of concern.

The Ballard school teamed up with the Denver based engineering firm MWH which brought in guest speakers to discuss curriculum focused on climate change.

Teacher Mary Decoy had been teaching her students about the environment all year. Her five science classes with 150 children took part in the MWH program.

Two of the speakers were Whitman parents. Civil engineer Tom Finnegan has a daughter in 6th grade. Scott Radford, a landscape architect has a son in the 7th grade.

Finnegan told the students the average American uses 50 gallons of water a day.

"People in France used half that. In England one-sixth and in Sub Saharan, Africa, one-thirty-sixth," said Finnegan.

A big emphasis is what the kids can do about climate change.

Driving a car contributes the most carbon in the air. Finnegan says he rides a bike to work.

Radford said students can take what they learn about global warming and go home to tell their parents what they are learning.

The program uses games, discussion points and visual aids to reinforce learning.

Kristina McLean, another civil engineer, showed pictures of a building that the kids recognized as the Ballard Library with plants on the roof.

McLean said the plants reduce storm water runoff and insulate the roof to use less energy to heat and cool the building.

"The solar panels reduce electrical use," said McLean.

The children seemed familiar with the concepts they learned from their regular science teacher, Decoy.

"It's relevant to the students. It reinforces what we have been learning," Decoy said.

MWH is an engineering firm based in Denver. It has branches across the U.S., including Bellevue where Radford works.

"We saw a need to participate with schools and provide this type of education," said Will Stanley, a spokesperson for MWH.

Whitman is the first Seattle school to host the program. Schools in Colorado, California, Atlanta and New Zealand have had the curriculum taught there.

"We will roll out to more schools," said Stanley.

"Schools are receptive to broadening their curriculum on this. It's so much in the news. They are familiar with it. It gives them a deeper understanding of it," said Stanley.

Reaching kids at the middle school level is important.

"Get to them when they are young and change their habits as adults," said McLean.

"It's good to educate people. I learn a lot in class, but not as much as here," said 7th grader Michael Santos.

The students put together a power point presentation, notebooks, an annotated collage and a poem on climate change.

Decoy also teaches in the Biotech Academy at Ballard High School. Some of the students will attend school down the street from them.

"My students can take what this middle school project and expand and add onto it in high school," said Decoy.

Dean Wong may be reached at 783.1244 or deanw@robinsonnews.com