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Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Examples of trash found in waterways litter the floor as students listen to a lecture during the Clean Valley Council's summit Thursday at the Higher Education Center.

If changes aren't made to protect the environment by 2015, all damage done will be irreversible.

Assertions like this one from Karl Miller of Trout Unlimited, interactive demonstrations, panel discussions and other activities promoting environmental awareness were featured at the Clean Valley Council's 9th Earth Summit on Thursday.

The summit, held at the Roanoke Higher Education Center, was a half-day event in which 100 local students were chosen by faculty at their schools to participate.

"I wanted to learn new ways to help our school be more environmentally friendly," said Lauryn Dutton, a senior at Salem High School.

Students heard lectures and panel discussions on topics such as green solutions, energy conservation and economic development before splitting off into sessions with experts on such subjects.

Ann Masters, executive director of Clean Valley Council, said the summit can benefit anyone but is intended specifically for their age group.

"The high schools are hard to get into," Masters said.

She said because of varying schedules, lack of assemblies and less focus on homeroom classes, the summit invites high school students to participate instead of going to them. Masters said her aim is to empower the students by inviting them to an environmental "congress," not patronize them, so she is careful in her approach.

"I don't want to talk down to them," she said.

During Miller's workshop, he also made a point to empower the students.

"Everyone in this room can be a conservationist -- I am, and it doesn't take a degree," he said.

Miller said conservationists are needed more than ever, especially locally. "I have never seen an environment that's more littered than the Roanoke Valley," he said.

Blacksburg Town Councilwoman Cecile Newcomb of Energy Check presented diagrams of residences, and discussed steps people could take to minimize their energy bills in the winter.

"There's money you're basically throwing out the window," she said.

Some workshops were less thought provoking, such as one in which students made percussion instruments from trash and later performed with them.

Masters said teenagers and young adults are the biggest consumers because newer, faster technology is constantly being produced. She said they are also vocal in speaking out against wasteful practices, as evidenced by manufacturers switching to smaller plastic packages after complaints from consumers.

While Masters is aware of the possibility of 2015 marking the beginning of an era of irreversible damage, as asserted by Miller and other environmentalists, she is confident it won't come to pass.

"This generation is just so much more aware of things," Masters said.