Students from Acequia Madre Elementary School's first- and second-grade classes celebrated National Arbor Day by having fun and learning valuable lessons about global warming and protecting the environment.

The April 24 event, held at the Chuck Jones Gallery, included a reading of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and drawing activities that incorporated lessons from the book. The event was sponsored by Audubon New Mexico and the Chuck Jones Gallery.

"The gallery director and I were talking about ways that the conservation community and the art community might collaborate, and this seemed like a natural fit for Audubon," said Staci Stevens, the climate-change outreach coordinator for Audubon New Mexico, an organization whose mission is to conserve New Mexico's natural ecosystems.

Michael Bundy, director of Chuck Jones Gallery, said that it seemed like a "fun idea."

"It was more about doing some kind of event that raised consciousness about the warming of the globe and green issues," Bundy said.

Bundy said his favorite part of the day was seeing the kids so interested in drawing.

"They loved it," Bundy said happily. "Kids dive right in. Of course we did the reading of The Lorax and that was a lot of fun, then we sent them out into the gallery to draw pictures about the ideas they had about the environment."

He said it made him happy to see "the joy of watching a child draw."

Stevens said the students planted a tree in a courtyard outside the gallery with a stone in front of it that reads "Unless," which is a reference to the phrase from the book, "Unless someone like you cares a whole lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not."

"It's important to educate students at a young age so that they can began to realize that the decisions that they make will have an effect on their future," Stevens said. "Our hope with this project is that the message that we were delivering to students would resonate with their parents as well because it's our children's futures that are at stake. The decisions we make every day will effect our children's futures tomorrow."

It's important for children to learn about ways to protect the environment, Bundy said.

"I think the earlier (they learn) the better," Bundy said. "The nice thing, too, is kids at that age, there is a certain innocence that lends itself to them being very receptive to things ... Once we plant the seed in them that not only is there a larger world out there and everything we do is intertwined, they can have an effect on this world. Subconsciously, it empowers them."

Both Stevens and Bundy hope this can become an annual event.

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.