Make a difference, not a mark. Karen Riley believes that it is up to all of us to make the world a better place for people, animals and the environment through creative solutions involving art and recycling.

Karen is the Executive Director and a founder of the Student Creative Recycle Art Program (S.C.R.A.P.) Gallery, the environmental arts education program. Since 1997, the S.C.R.A.P. Gallery has been addressing two of today’s most urgent issues – the environment and the education of youth throughout the Coachella Valley and beyond. The essence of what the S.C.R.A.P. Gallery is captured in the Four Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Responsibility. S.C.R.A.P. Gallery is an award-winning program, recognized as an Outstanding Organization by the North American Association of Environmental Education.

Riley supports a variety of art and environmental endeavors throughout Southern California serving on the boards of the Coachella Valley Art Center, East Valley Art Foundation and as a 5 Gyres Ambassador.

Riley received her bachelor’s degree in Journalism from California State University, Long Beach and her master’s degree in Environmental Education from Fairfax University. She is also the author of Landfill Lunch Box, Argollas Plasitcas y Otras Cosas/Plastic Rings and Other Things, Don’t Trash My Planet, The Eco Deck and Recycle Road Trip. She is currently working on a recycling art compendium to be published in 2018.

Check out all the great things Karen is doing at https://www.scrapgallery.org/.