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Avalon Jade Theisen, age 16, has been doing yoga for as long as she can remember. She had yoga books and videos growing up that she would practice and learn from. Recently Theisen has also become a yoga instructor so she help and teach others.

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How to become an environmental activists

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How to become an environmental activists

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If indicted, the former president must appear in person at a lower Manhattan criminal court, where standard protocol says he'd be fingerprinted and have his mug shot taken. Security ramped up in New York City "

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Inconvenient Youth: Teens Taking On Global Warming

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Inconvenient Youth: Teens Taking On Global Warming

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Clay McMullen, teen passionate about saving the environment

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Clay McMullen, teen passionate about saving the environment

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Like a lot of boys, Clay McMullen always enjoyed fishing and rock-climbing around his home in Geauga County's Chester Township.

But starting about a half-dozen years ago, at age 11, Clay began worrying about the environment so much that he started a crusade to make a difference.

Since then, Clay, now 17, has won nearly 50 grants totaling $180,000 from organizations ranging from Walt Disney Co. to the Environmental Protection Agency to Sea World.

Along the way, the West Geauga High School senior also helped get a state law passed last year that essentially guarantees that Ohio elementary students will be taught about wetlands when they learn about the state symbols.

More heroes

Every year The Plain Dealer highlights people in Greater Cleveland who saw a need and stepped up to answer it -- sometimes risking injury to save lives, sometimes risking time and effort to make a change in the community. Here are the heroes of the past three years and a link to all of this year's stories.

Clay'sprojects include building nesting landings for osprey (an endangered bird), starting nature clubs for students in the West Geauga district's two elementary schools, planting vegetable gardens and courtyards at his middle school and high school, and getting emission-control devices installed on nearly two dozen buses in the school district.

He estimates that he has spent 2,000 hours on environmental causes since the seventh grade.

"It's worth it. I want these natural resources to be preserved," he said. "I want my kids to have the same natural resources that I had. I want my grandkids to have them, too.

"Whatever amount of work I have to do, it's completely worth it," he said.

Clay's mom, Irene, recalls that hebegged to go on a bird-watching excursion when he was in the fifth grade.

"It was so funny. Everyone else was retired," she said, "but Clay was fascinated." Among the topics: The endangered osprey -- a fish-eating bird with a 6-foot wingspan.

The grant mania set in a year later in 2005, after he learned that 90 percent of Ohio's wetlands have been destroyed in the last 100 years. Ospreys rely on wetlands.

Clay got the idea to build osprey nesting platforms, which sit on 50-foot-high poles in wetland areas, and his mom took him to Home Depot. Clay asked the manager if he could help out with the materials, which would have cost about $150. The manager told Clay that if he wrote a letter explaining the project, Home Depot would donate the materials. The rest is history.

Mike Sustin, an environmental-science teacher at West Geauga High School, recalled that Clay next started researching online where he could get grants to build more nesting platforms, and found an application from Disney.

Clay was awarded $1,000 from Disney to build the platforms.

"The projects just got bigger after that," Irene McMullen said. "People began to call him. So it just kind of snowballed."

Clay's biggest grant was a $64,000 prize from the EPA to get diesel multistage filters installed on the schooldistrict's buses. "The amount of particulate from those buses is pretty alarming," he said.

He also got the school board to adopt a "West G is Idle Free" policy that prohibits idling in the parking lot for more than 30 seconds.

What about parents waiting to pick up their kids on cold days? Clay helped secure a grant last year to buy green micro-fleece blankets to distribute to people waiting in cold cars.

Sustin considers Clay's slickest achievement to be the five-year quest he undertook with a few of his environmentally minded friends to ensure that students statewide would learn about and appreciate wetlands.

They persuaded the Ohio legislatureto name the spotted salamander, which lives in wetlands, as the state's official amphibian -- guaranteeing that wetlands are part of every fourth-grade science class.

"That was a great strategy," Sustin said. "As a 20-year educator, I don't know that I could have come up with that idea."

While a kid who's extremely science-minded and has a grade point average above 4.0 could be considered a little nerdy, Clay is one of the most popular students, said Principal David Toth.

As he prepares to leave for college next year, Clay is training younger students to continue his environmental work.

"I think we can provide an example to show that you can be active and try to contribute and make a difference," he said.

Plain Dealer news researcher Jo Ellen Corrigan contributed to this story. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: tmurray@plaind.com, 216-999-6315

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Clay McMullen, teen passionate about saving the environment: Community Heroes 2011 (video)

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Like a lot of boys, Clay McMullen always enjoyed fishing and rock-climbing around his home in Geauga County's Chester Township. But starting about a half-dozen years ago, at age 11, Clay began worrying about the environment so much that he started a crusade to make a difference.

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Young Activist Erica Fernandez speaks out for the environment

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Young Activist Erica Fernandez speaks out for the environment

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Find the best eco-friendly advice for parenting infants to teens, plus tips on pregnancy, activities, family dynamics, and environmental education.

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Santa Monica Teens Saving the Environment

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Santa Monica Teens Saving the Environment