Al Gore may have a powerful new ally in his fight for the environment. That ally comes in the form of 10-year-old Jonathan Lee, the imaginative force behind Go Green Man, a comic book that promotes recycling and conservation.

The home-schooled fourth-grader from Ridgeland, Miss., came up with Go Green Man after watching a program about global warming with his parents. Through the character, Green Man, a superhero who uses only eco-friendly weapons (i.e. sun shield, wind energizer) to defeat his archenemy Dr. Pollution, Jonathan spreads his kid-friendly, pro-environment message. He doesn’t stop there; Jonathan supplements his comic book with practical tips that he shares with anyone who will listen.

“We have to recycle, switch to fluorescent lights and start driving hybrid cars,” said Jonathan. “We can walk or ride bikes, we can turn off TVs and computers when we’re done using them.”

With the help of his father, Jonathan created www.gogreenman.com which already has over 70,000 hits. The popularity of the Web site caught the attention of Capitol Hill where Jonathan and his father, Kyoung-tae, were invited to share the Go Green Man message. There, Jonathan rubbed elbows with former Korean president and Nobel laureate Kim Dae Jung and former presidential candidate John Kerry, who dubbed Lee the “environmental ambassador” to children around the world. 

One day, Jonathan says he hopes to meet George W. Bush.

“I would tell him, ‘Let’s save the world together!’”

—   Chris Paek