Vermont Attorney General's Office Fifth Annual Earth Day Essay Challenge
The Vermont Attorney General wants to hear from young Vermonters about the environment. The Attorney General’s Office is holding an Earth Day Essay Challenge for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders all around Vermont.
Essay Topics: Students are encouraged to be creative and write about their thoughts on Earth Day and the environment. Feel free to submit other types of writing instead of an essay if you would like—for example, a story, poem, or biography about someone.
Ideas include: What do you love about Vermont’s environment—clean air, wildlife, lakes, rivers, mountains? How do you enjoy Vermont’s environment? What do you care about most? What does Earth Day mean to you? Do you have any concerns about the future of the environment? How does Vermont’s changing environment impact wildlife habitat, our health, recreation, winter sports, farming, communities, or other things? What do you think we should do to help protect the environment? You do not need to cover all these topics—these are just ideas!
How to Submit: The timeline to submit essays runs through April 16, 2025. Essays should be no more than 500 words. At the top of your essay, please include (i) your first name and (ii) your school (or indicate home school).
Essays can be submitted electronically to the Attorney General’s Office by email to natasha.sala@vermont.gov.
- Please attach the essay to the email as a Word or PDF document.
- Please include the name of the school, grade, and teacher in the email.
- We are also happy to accept essays by mail if that would be easier. The mailing address is: Vermont Attorney General's Office, Attn: Environmental Protection Unit, 109 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05609.
What Else? All essays will be posted on the Attorney General Office’s public website unless a participant indicates they do not wish to have their essay posted. Essays will be posted on or around Earth Day. For caregivers, teachers, and students: posted essays will include a participant’s first name and school. If you do not wish to have a student’s essay posted on the website, please indicate this at the top of the essay.
Each student who submits an essay will receive a note about their essay from a member of the Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Unit and the Attorney General. Participants will also be entered into a drawing to have the Attorney General speak with their class after the essay challenge is over.
For Teachers: If your students are participating in the challenge and you would like to have an Environmental Protection Unit attorney speak with your class about the environmental work of the Attorney General’s Office during the challenge, please contact Natasha Sala at natasha.sala@vermont.gov. Depending on location, these visits may be virtual.