TV REVIEWS : Camcorder Army Fights for the Earth

There are people doing things to help save the environment and a lot of them are young--and armed with camcorders.

You can meet several of the most committed tonight at 6 when the Nickelodeon cable channel presents “Letters to the Earth,” a collection of videotaped reports about youngsters’ efforts, big and small, to make this a better world.

If this program does anything, it gets around. We meet youngsters from places such as Tasmania, China, Ghana, Scotland, Israel, Ecuador, Kuwait and several from the United States. All of them have been given use of video cameras to report on the concerns they have and the projects they’re involved with.

The viewer is given quick glimpses of young people as, among many worthy endeavors, they:

* Care for an infant wombat that has lost its mother.

* Clean up after an oil spill off the Shetland Isles.

* Treat animals damaged in the fire-befouled air of Kuwait.

* Collect money to buy land to preserve a forest in Oregon.

* Clean up trash along the main road to the Rio de Janeiro airport.

The care and respect these young people show for their “Mother Earth” is indeed involving. With friends like these, the Earth may stand a chance of surviving.