At NETL, maintaining responsible stewardship of the environment is crucial to the Lab’s mission of driving innovation and delivering solutions for an environmentally sustainable energy future. Earth Day, celebrated since 1970, aligns closely with NETL’s vision while emphasizing the importance of recycling, conserving energy and improving air and water quality.

Every year, NETL hosts an annual poster contest encouraging elementary students enrolled at schools near NETL’s sites in Albany, Oregon; Morgantown, West Virginia; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to showcase their favorite ways to protect the environment. This year, students were asked to design their posters around the theme, “Restore Our Earth,” in recognition of this planet-centric day.

We have shared the first-, second-, third- and fourth-place winning entries at each grade level here.

Involving children in activities that center around the environment embodies the message of Earth Day while encouraging creative expression and the development of an early interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). NETL’s STEM Education & Outreach team capitalizes on these principles when bringing STEM into the classroom, which helps cultivate children’s thinking skills and inspires the next generation of innovators to care for our planet.