CUSTER - Kendall Ashmore doesn't cringe when someone calls her a tree hugger.

As a matter of fact, she embraces the moniker.

The Custer Elementary School fifth-grader has been bitten by the ecology bug, and she has taken it upon herself to share the fever with others. Especially today on Earth Day.

Kendall's introduction to environmentalism came after Christmas while reading about Al Gore in her Weekly Reader.

"They talked about greenhouse gases and how it was making the ozone layer get thinner," Kendall said recently while sporting a "This World Rocks" T-shirt. "It scares me to think about the ice melting and the water rising around us."

Kendall wanted to find a way to make a difference in her community.

"While shopping, we saw a woman who had a reusable bag," she said. "I wanted to encourage people to use them instead of plastic bags."

She started with a donation and 70 bags. She decorated them with environmental messages such as "Reusable," "Be eco friendly" and "The World says thanks."

"We made a list of friends and family we wanted to give them to," she said. "Once they started using them, they said, 'we're going to need six more of these.'"

Kendall learned two stark facts about plastic bags and their impact on the environment, and has written them on a note she places in each bag. They include:

N The petroleum used to make 18 plastic bags could drive a car for 1 mile.

N The EPA estimates it takes a plastic bag more than 500 years to decay in a landfill.

"It feels weird touching plastic bags now," she said. "I know what I am doing is just a little bit, but if we all do it together, we can make a difference."

Custer Elementary School principal Hank Fridell applauds Kendall's effort. He told her so in a letter.

"Our approach is the right one in that we don't change the world one continent, one nation, one state, one city, one home or one person at a time. We change the world each moment we make a decision to act responsible, lessen our footprint on the environment, care for each other and do what is needed - one moment at a time," he wrote.

Kendall's aunt, Renee Starr, is a recipient of one of the reusable bags.

Like others, it has been challenging for Starr to get in the habit of bringing her bag with her to the grocery store.

"I get in the store and think, 'Oh! I forgot my bag,'" she said.

Kendall admits that once, when she and her mom, Amy, forgot their bags, they walked out of the store with the receipt and the groceries in their hands and pockets. She said she still wonders whether people thought they were shoplifting.

Kendall isn't limiting her environmental awareness to plastic bags. She's got her family using cloth napkins, reusable water bottles and thinking about reasons for driving when they may not need to make the trip.

"I'm trying to take it slower and ease into new things, but I just want to help the world," she said.