PARK RIVER (AP) - Park River Junior High School students filed into the school's music room for a presentation about North Dakota's wind energy potential, climate change and snowkiting.

Sam Salwei and Jason Schaefer of Grand Forks have traveled to more than 30 schools and communities in the central and eastern parts of the state during the first two weeks of January to spread the word.

Snowkiting is similar to snowboarding and skiing, but in snowkiting, the athlete is strapped into a harness and pulled by a kite in the wind, eliminating the need for a slope. Salwei and Schaefer said the sport is an excellent tool for the promotion of North Dakota's wind energy potential.

Salwei will leave Feb. 11 from Crosby, along with Jason Magness and Paul Cassady, for the second and final "To Cross the Moon" snowkiting expedition. The adventure takes them 390 miles, from the Canadian border to the western South Dakota border.

The North Dakota wind makes it an ideal environment for snowkiting, Schaefer told the Park River students.

"We could be the Aspen of snowkiting," Salwei told the students Wednesday. "We don't have mountains, but we have wind, and a lot of it."

Schaefer also spoke to the students on climate change, what causes it and its effects, even locally. "To Cross the Moon" was cut short last winter because it was the second-warmest winter in the past 100 years, Salwei said.

"Climate change is one of the main things that affects my playground," he said.

The two outdoor enthusiasts showed students slides illustrating how the planet has changed in the past 30 years and projections for its future if changes are not made.

Conserving energy and using North Dakota's enormous wind energy potential can help reduce global warming, they said.

"Our little state can be the hero because we have wind," Schaefer said, showing the students a photo of Superman.

Schaefer told the students that 32 percent of the nation could be powered by wind energy in North Dakota, but that number would be much closer to 100 percent if everyone were to conserve energy together. Turn off lights and be a conscious consumer, Schaefer and Salwei told the students.

"It was a real eye-opener," 13-year-old Brady Gudgel said of the presentation. "It really makes me think."

A wind farm being built near Langdon will be the 13th wind energy project in the state and the largest.

After the presentation, many students stood along the edge of the football field in the cold for a snowkiting demonstration, but the wind did not cooperate.

"It's only blowing at 1.8 miles per hour," a disappointed Schaefer told the students. "We need at least 8 miles per hour."

But the presentation may have been enough to get the students thinking about snowkiting, wind energy and climate change. Some said they would start turning off lights when they leave a room and will use more environment-friendly products.

"It was actually really cool," Zachary Poitra, 13, said of the slide show.

"When I get older, I'm going to buy one," said Johnny Caulder as he watched Salwei attempt his snowkiting demonstration.

This year is expected to be the last for the "To Cross the Moon" adventure, but it will be filmed and turned into a documentary about snowkiting, the athletes who do it and North Dakota wind, Schaefer said.

"Go for your passions," Schaefer told the youngsters. "Do what you like, but attach it to something bigger in the world and make a difference."