WORDS AND IMAGES : Friends of the Earth : A program at the Wright Library focuses on helping children come to the aid of the planet.

Students and teachers didn’t just study environmental problems at the Laurel Springs School in Ojai--they chose to become part of the solution. Then the money saved from after-school jobs and fund-raising projects made it possible for high schoolers Fiona Spring and Matthew Moir to spend two weeks at the Earth Summit in Brazil with their principal, Marilyn Mosley. They met heads of state and environmentalists from every corner of the world and showed award-winning videos created by students.

They will share their experiences Friday at 3 p.m. in a special program designed for children 5 and over at the Wright Library, 57 Day Road, Ventura. The videos “One Small Wish for This Earth” and “We Can Make a Difference,” which won the Global 500 Award at the United Nations, will be shown. Then children in the audience will be offered a chance to write a personal letter to the Earth containing a promise or special message.

“We put thousands of letters called Earth Treaties written by children from all over the world into a humongous basket,” said Fiona, “and presented it to the Native Women’s Council in Rio.” Fiona, 16, said she saw very beautiful and very sad things in Brazil. She mingled with people from the Amazon Basin, who were dressed in native costume, and talked with abandoned street children. She addressed a youth seminar, sat next to actor Edward James Olmos and met the director of UNICEF.

“Here at home we’re trying to help the environment in small ways,” said Fiona. “We think about a place we love, imagine it not being there and make a commitment to preserve our Mother Earth.” The presentation is part of the Wright Library’s summer reading program. Call 652-0336 for details.

Tomorrow at 7 p.m., Aram Saroyan, novelist, biographer, book reviewer and recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts poetry awards, will read and autograph his new book, “Friends in the World: The Education of a Writer,” at Ventura Bookstore, 522 E. Main St. Published by Coffee House Press, the book is a memoir about Saroyan’s start as a writer, the literary world of the 1960s and life as the son of famed playwright William Saroyan.

“Raise the Red Lantern,” a film by Zhang Yimou, will be shown at the Mayfair Theatre in downtown Ventura beginning tomorrow and will run through July 2. Movie critic Roger Ebert describes the film as “breathtakingly beautiful and exquisite as classic Chinese art.”