CARY, N.C. - Hundreds of teenagers from all over North Carolina spent Friday working on being a little more "green."

The Area Four Envirothon at Fred G. Bond Park pitted teams from eleven different counties in an environmental competition.

Working their way through five different subject matters, more than 400 high school and middle school teams were racing against the clock.

And while there was a pen and paper involved, this was a little different.

"The kids love this type of competition, because it's hands-on," said Teresa Hice, the Envirothon Committee Chair.

From identifying trees we come across every day, to figuring out the properties of different types of soil, the competition ran the gamut.

"We learn about how to measure trees," said Green Hope High School senior Katy Sparrow. "We learn about different wildlife that inhabits NC."

Organizers and competitors alike say this type of education is becoming more important all the time.

"They're going to be the ones determining, when I'm old and gray, how the environment's protected," said Hice. "And they're going to be making the laws and the policies that we're going to be living under."

"We need to take care of what we have, or we won't have it for very long," said Fuquay Varina High School sophomore Megan Caro.

The top teams from this regional competition advance to the state round, and if they do well there, can go up against teams from all over the country.

A lot of the teenagers have been here before, and plan on coming back next year.

"It was so much fun the first year, that I decided if I come back the second year I'll learn even more and have a better time," said Dillon Robinson, a sophomore from Warren County High School.

Next year's national competition will be coming to North Carolina; Asheville will be playing host.