Trash, junk…or is it???

What we may typically toss into the garbage could possibly have another life in store! As part of our recycling lifestyle (which many of us environmentalists have adopted in an effort to keep stuff OUT of the landfill!) we may start thinking twice about what we are throwing away…both into the trash and even into our recycling bins!

trash   n.

1.

a. Worthless or discarded material or objects; refuse or rubbish.

b. Something broken off or removed to be discarded, especially plant trimmings.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” ~American Proverb

Everyday, as humans, we are presented with opportunities to make conscious choices about what we use and consume. At times, the sustainable choice is not the attractive, shiny, new item that we are conditioned to want to buy…because the reality is, we live in a world with limited resources. The more we can practice the R’s: Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent, Restore… we can work with nature and what we already have, free of additional expenditure, and re-use it. By reusing what is already in existence, as artists, we not only foster sustainability for the planet, but our creativity and artistic expression can have a rippling effect on our surrounding communities. By creating beautiful art pieces, or transforming trash into new usable objects, we create harmony and balance in our finite world while changing the way we look at things, and perhaps even what we value.

School teachers were perhaps the first avid Recycled Art initiators. Driven by limited funds, teachers throughout time have often requested for students to bring in everyday items: toilet paper rolls, magazines, newspapers, empty egg cartons, shoe boxes, and any other items that may typically end up in a “junk drawer” or the trash or recycling bin. Paper Mache’, collages, dioramas…all start with: RECYCLING & creative imagining!

In Region 10, our annual Environmental Art Contest and Exhibition inspires some outstanding student work! One of our Art Categories is Recycled Art. Each year, students come up with brilliant ways to recycle stuff into extraordinary art pieces. This year, 2011, we had a tie for the winner of best group collaboration category, and both these submissions also happened to be Recycled Art. The Mario Brothers (Mario and Luigi) were created by a group of students in the ASES program at Westside School in Thermal. What a great, creative way to keep plastic bottle caps out of the landfill! The I LOVE EARTH TOWER, is a mixed media recycled sculpture by Skyla McKinney and Marshall Sharp from Raymond Cree Middle School in Palm Springs. These projects are excellent examples of teamwork!!! A couple other submissions that did not win prizes, but still touched our hearts, were inspired by plant-based waste including tree bark, leaves and flower petals, and orange peels: Nature’s Gift by Martha Nunez & Slice of Life by Catherine Ferraro.

Assemblage

Assemblage is an interesting artistic style created by putting found objects together into a three-dimensional artistic composition. Quite a few local desert artists walk out in the open desert, enjoying nature, AND scavenging for art supplies. These artists find interesting objects that have been abandoned, sometimes long ago. Many of these found objects have changed from their original form by the weathering and aging process of being exposed to the elements. Sometimes just seeing an abandoned object is enough to spark creative artistry, and voila! An unlikely masterpiece has started being formed in the field, even before getting it home, or to the art studio! 

Marie Long is an artist and desert naturalist who currently resides in Tucson, Arizona. The objects she works with are organic and recycled materials discarded in the desert. Marie is deeply connected to the desert landscape and has been influenced by her world travels. Often her work resembles ancient images from past cultures. Marie shared that "there is an aspect about collecting and arranging materials that is like meditation and the process of gathering material, creating sheets of paper and the design process are just as important to me as the completed piece.  I weave together a combination of natural elements and man-made materials into an assemblage.” Creating assemblage is an expression of self and emotion. The role of color, texture and layers are an important component and she hopes viewers are drawn into her work and will identify with the materials, colors and textures of each piece. To learn more about Marie and view her portfolio, go to: http://www.marielongart.com . 

[“Rodeo” 36” X 36” (Glass, Rope & Found Objects)]

   

Michelle O. Hedgecock is a Coachella Valley recycled artist inspired by junking in the desert, nature, people, oddities, and perhaps some other, questionable things. She uses humor and whimsy in her work to creatively express her love of the natural world, our environment, and people and culture—transforming pieces of scrap metal and junked materials into unique assemblage and sculpture.  She loves leaving her art (anonymously) in public places and on trails for others to find as a participant in artist Rosa Murillo’s Found Art Tuesday project. 

 [ “Cricket” 4” long (faucet handle, scrap metal ring, wire, glass beads, metal beads)

“Tortoise Medicine” 12” diameter (found bike wheel, tortoises made of found auto parts & baked clay, found toaster oven knob, scrap wire, can lids, stone beads, quartz crystal)]

As an artist, Michelle often pulls from her experiences in her natural science career, including her education background in anthropology and botany. Currently she is a full time artist who loves to help fellow creatives in their personal journey toward expanding all boundaries of their creativity through her guidance as a creativity coach.  You can find Michelle exploring out in the desert or online at http://www.mousehouseart.blogspot.com where you can see some of her work; or why not participate in her nature inspired creativity group, Let Nature Be Your Muse, at http://www.meetup.com/let-nature-be-your-muse/  

( [“Kachina” 7’ X 15” (Hub cap, saw blade, metal & glass beads, scrap wire, metal trivets, 2 five-loaf baking pans from junk store, found metal) ]  

And fun, creative, large-scale recycled art projects…teaching sustainability?  

LA-based eco-activists Christine Spehar and Robin Banks work together as pioneers in their own local, artist community in which they live and work, and also across the nation. As part of the modern day recycling movement, and aligned with the principles of Permaculture, Christine and Robin are making huge strides in community education. Through Ruckus Roots, originally founded by Christine, and its program TRASHformation, this innovative duo provides the inspiration, tools, and materials to successfully teach students how to turn waste into art and other useful items. “TRASHformation aims to raise awareness about excessive resource use, consumption, and waste production.” Using e-waste and other items found in abundance, much of the form of the junk’s “newly given life” is inspired by what waste they find in abundance in a chosen community. Often, waste from a particular industry will literally provide up to a ton of material to be recycled. With keen vision, and intuitive earth wisdom, these modern day inventor artisans are creating useful and beautiful pieces. This team also leads bicycle workshops, educating students how to fix old bikes, and create cycle-powered cell phone chargers, amongst other creations. Talk about empowering our youth to take charge and become self-sufficient! Super inspiring work!  

 

“RuckusRoots is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that unites art and activism to form ARTivism, giving young adults a creative voice in the eco-activism community through interactive art and music installations. 

TRASHformation is an interactive, improvisational art experience that turns campus-generated waste, recycling and/or surplus items into a sustainably built, aesthetically stunning and functional sculpture, soon to be implemented at college and University campuses nationwide.” Check out their website! http://www.ruckusroots.org/ and contact Robin directly at artcustoms.com

So, if you ever find yourself wondering what you or your kids can do to unleash the creative artist inside, before you go to the art supply store and spend money on new items, look around your house, your yard, or even the junk yard, or any other open space in nature that other folks may have dumped their junk… and see if you can turn some otherwise trash into a newly created treasure!

Happy Scavenging! You just may find, and create, some priceless surprises…

Submitted by Jen Futterman

Coachella Valley/Morongo Basin Coordinator

CREEC Region 10 RIMS

EEI Curriculum Modules Take on Local Meaning in Sierra Foothills

Imagine students from five Sierra Foothill counties teaming with experts in the field to learn about natural resources within their local watersheds: snowshoeing into Bear Valley to measure Sierra snowpack with PG&E personnel; surveying invasive weeds in lower elevations with the American River Conservancy; comparing water quality upstream and downstream from a Slab Creek reservoir alongside a SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) representative. The Bridging Schools and Communities watershed grant projects supported such experiences to make learning relevant – combining the new Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) curriculum units with meaningful field studies.

The “Bridge” Projects began as a collaboration between regional school districts, CREEC Region 3 coordinators, state and local water and resource agencies, and non-governmental organizations seeking to create learning opportunities for 5th- 12^th grade students in the region. Grants offered by the California Department of Water Resources provided funding for teacher training, community meeting time, field trips, and field study equipment. The projects greatly benefitted from the timely release of draft and final versions of EEI curriculum units as classroom teachers were able to use the lessons to introduce concepts about California’s water resources and supply and management challenges related to population. Reading about the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and using the activities demonstrating stream sedimentation in The Dynamic Nature of Rivers, a 6^th Grade module, students gained an appreciation for the scale and importance of the Delta.  First-hand experiences in local watersheds connected back to the classroom curriculum, which further enhanced student learning as they began to understand how all Foothill river systems enter and influence the Delta. The 5^th grade Earth’s Water module introduced students to the connection between the Delta and Southern California water needs and how supply issues influence people living here in northern California.

Bridging Schools and Communities demonstrated a few of the many possibilities for pairing EEI curriculum units used in the classroom with local resource providers and field activities to make the standards come alive and engage students in their local environment. The connections made during the project between resource managers, educators and students led to great understanding for all involved. The potential for this dynamic collaboration can be realized throughout the state as resource providers and educators become familiar with the new EEI curriculum as a valuable tool to engage students in their learning and their environment. The Region 3 CREEC Network will soon add a new page to the regional website, highlighting examples of educators linking EEI curriculum units and outdoor learning experiences, such as the “Bridge” projects. 

CREEC and Santa Cruz County Office of Education Showcase the Region's Resources

The room is packed with displays of petrified wood, watershed maps, garden seeds, gorgeous books—even a live bat! Welcome to the Environmental Education Resource Fair, hosted by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and organized by the CREEC Network. By bringing together the region’s environmental education organizations, the Resource Fair enables teachers to gather information from multiple agencies, all in the space of an afternoon. Representatives of thirty different organizations were there, eager to talk with each teacher in order to better understand what we can do to help teachers include environmental education in every student’s school day.

Where does Environmental Education fit into a packed school schedule? The answer should be—everywhere. Environmental education is simply using the environment as a context for teaching any subject. “Teachers have so much to teach in a year,” says high school teacher Monica Ward “The great thing is that it (environmental education) is not teaching additional information, it is teaching the same material through a new perspective, an environmental lens.”

This is the concept at the heart of the programs represented at the Resource Fair. For example, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was spreading the word about its Voices of the Bay Program, in which teachers learn about an interdisciplinary and standards-based curriculum that teaches students about the dynamics of sustaining and managing natural resources, the socio-economic considerations and commerce of seafood, and the skills required to interview local members of the fishing community to capture their unique stories and knowledge.

Connecting education with the environment is not just more interesting and relevant for students, it is vital for all citizens. Increasing the environmental literacy of students will ensure that they are informed decision makers for the future. California is at the forefront of this effort with its Environment and Education Initiative (EEI). The State Board of Education has approved the EEI Curriculum—85 units for grades K-12 which teach existing History-Social Science and Science standards to mastery. As one sixth grade teacher described it, “I’m excited about this curriculum and method of instruction as I see it leading students toward being better informed decision makers in the future, with the skills necessary to look at the ‘big picture’ and see long-term related consequences of short-term decisions.”

The environmental education programs at the Resource Fair certainly displayed the ‘big picture,’ representing the diversity of the field and the amazing array of resources in the region—including garden-based programs, animal conservation groups, outdoor science schools, natural resource management programs, children’s book publishers, and natural history museums. CREEC maintains its online searchable database of these and other resources to help teachers easily tie social studies, language arts, math, and other subjects to a context that is exciting and relevant to students’ daily lives.

The Fair was also an important opportunity to acknowledge the dedication of teachers. While the teachers were busy gathering new curriculum and field trip ideas, high school students from the County’s Regional Occupational Program were hard at work as well—treating the teachers to mini cream puffs, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, a sumptuous cheese platter, and other creative hors d’oeuvres they had prepared as part of a class providing training in event catering. Teachers were surprised and delighted not only by the delicious food but also by the generous raffle prizes donated by the community.

As the staff at Well Within Spa handed over a generous gift certificate for the raffle, they explained, “We all have teachers in our families. We love teachers! We know how important they are.” How true. And we all know how important the environment is. The dedication and the resources are there—we just need to find more ways to bring them together. Together we can build environmental literacy for every child.

STEM Education and the Environment

"STEM" seems to be the education buzzword of choice these days. STEM--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics--is an approach to education that encourages a curriculum driven by problem-solving, discovery, exploratory learning, and requiring students to actively engage a situation in order to find its solution[1]. When most people think of STEM education and STEM careers the focus is on biotechnology, high tech, and engineering. I think it is imperative to show how environmental education can be a perfect fit in a STEM education program.

STEM Education and the Environment: An example

In San Diego, the San Diego Science Alliance has helped to bring the SeaPerch Program to more than twenty (20) teachers in the 2010-2011 school year. SeaPerch is a project based program that has students build (including wiring and soldering) an underwater remotely operated vehicle (U-ROV) in tandem with a curriculum covering concepts including buoyancy, force and motion, electricity, and engineering concepts.

After building their U-ROV's the students can make design modifications to use them to explore the environment. Students can design containers to collect water or sediment samples from waterways that are potentially polluted and unsafe for students to enter, mount a camera to the U-ROV to look at macro-organisms, add various water quality sensors to collect real-time data for different depths and locations in a body of water. While students are using U-ROV's to gather information about water, they also have a chance to explore and understand the environment surrounding the water.

The first San Diego SeaPerch Invitational was held in April at Kimball Elementary School in National City, CA. This urban elementary school is situated along Paradise Creek, a tributary of San Diego Bay that suffers from many problems common to urban waterways--litter, pollution, and invasive species. SeaPerch teams explored the water at different locations using a camera. As the program develops, there will be more opportunity to explore local waterways, collect more environmental data, share data online, and hopefully adopt some action plans to make positive changes for the environment.

Conclusion

The environment offers myriad opportunities for integration into STEM education programs, and has the unique feature of being tangible and available to students to ground their understanding of STEM topics in their own local reality.

---

[1] http://drpfconsults.com/understanding-the-basics-of-stem-education/

Earth Week (April 10 - 16) and Earth Day (April 22)

National EE Week 2011 theme: Ocean Connections – April 10-16, 2011

Join us April 10-16, 2011 to explore our vital connection to the ocean with teachers and students nationwide.

The ocean covers nearly three quarters of our planet's surface, provides 70 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere and houses about 20 percent of the known species on Earth. It regulates climate and weather and provides food and energy resources for humans worldwide. No matter how far from the coast, water in every stream or river eventually ends up in the ocean, and all life on Earth is dependent upon its health. More than half of all Americans live within 50 miles of the coast, but whether near or far our lives are inextricably linked to the ocean.

Recognizing the importance of protecting the health of our ocean and understanding our dependence upon it regardless of its proximity, EE Week's 2011 theme is Ocean Connections. Learn more at http://eeweek.org/ocean_connections

Register today at http://eeweek.org/register to join thousands of educators and students across the country in exploring our vital connection to the ocean during National Environmental Education Week, April 10-16, 2011.

Daily Activity Planning Toolkit http://eeweek.org/ocean_connections/toolkit

Each year, EE Week provides hundreds of free resources and lesson plans on this website to help educators plan activities around an annual theme. But busy teachers don't always have the time to sift through all of these materials to identify the best activities for their classes. This year, together with our partners at the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE), EE Week brings you this planning toolkit with a suggested grade-appropriate activity on a daily sub-topic for each school day of EE Week. We are all connected to the oceans in many ways, whether we live near or far from it. These sub-topics were selected to help students better understand their many connections to the coast.



Earth Day is April 22 annually

Earth Day Network has chosen A Billion Acts of Green® as the theme for Earth Day 2011. A Billion Acts of Green®–the largest environmental service campaign in the world–inspires and rewards simple individual acts and larger organizational initiatives that further the goal of measurably reducing carbon emissions and supporting sustainability. The goal is to register one billion actions in advance of the global Earth Summit in Rio in 2012.

The first Earth Day, on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network (EDN) works with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. But Earth Day Network (EDN) does not stop there. 

All of EDN’s activities, whether greening schools or promoting green economic policies at home and abroad, inform and energize populations so they will act to secure a healthy future for themselves and their children. With its partner organizations, EDN provides civic engagement opportunities at the local, state, national and global levels. At every turn, EDN works to broaden the definition of "environment" to include all issues that affect our health, our communities and our environment, such as greening deteriorated schools, creating green jobs and investment, and promoting activism to stop air and water pollution.

Over the last 40 years, EDN has executed successful environmental campaigns on issues ranging climate change and drinking water to voter registration and saving the whale. EDN is a recognized leader in creating civically–oriented innovative programs with partners outside of the environmental movement to tackle new challenges


Check your regional CREEC Network newsletter to find Earth Day activities taking place in your area. http://www.creec.org

CREEC featured by Keen for Green

This past week, CREEC got together with Keen for Green, a community of green bloggers and activists. Check out the article on the Keen for Green blog! http://www.keenforgreen.com

Statement from CalEPA in response to Sac. Bee article

Yesterday an article was published in the Sacramento Bee that addresses the EEI. While the salacious title “BP Aids State’s Schools Content” points to the Bee’s eagerness to find any negative, we’re proud that the facts of the article, the people quoted and even the online reader comments all point to positives of the EEI and its potential for California public schools.

During the development of the Environmental Principles and Concepts that formed the framework for the EEI Curriculum, BP responded to a mass invite to diverse perspectives for input. A BP representative attended one Technical Advisory Council meeting to discuss the EP&Cs, but did not contribute to the actual writing or editing of the EEI Curriculum.

The EEI Curriculum is designed to be without bias, and we believe that the perspectives of industries that impact our California environment and economy are critical to engage and involve. The more important message is that the EEI is ready to deliver a tested and proven curriculum to public schools and everyone can provide support for effective implementation – a win for our students, businesses, communities, and our state.

We see this article as an opportunity for people to learn more about the EEI and we have plans for marketing to broader audiences soon. If you find this article generates a contact who would like to learn about EEI implementation, please let us know.

“Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez” - Let the Good Times Roll!

The Louisiana people know how to open their hearts and have fun! I have had the distinct pleasure of living in Louisiana; and what a time I had! The people, the food, the landscape is unique to themselves. In my travels across the United States experiencing different cultures and people, I have never encountered such a warm and inviting place. As you walk the New Orleans French Quarter, every sense comes alive! The smell and taste of excellent Cajun cuisine, the sight of art and architecture surrounds you, the feel of the items at the farmers market, and the sounds of rich jazz floating through the streets fill you up!

Louisiana people also know what it feels like to struggle and encounter hardships. Hurricane Katrina tore through the gulf-states in 2005 leaving coastal damage in its wake. Again, on April 20, 2010, 50 miles off the Southeast coast, an oilrig exploded and sank two days later, and continues to spill 5,000 barrels of oil per day damaging miles of coastal land and precious wildlife.

As a Californian, you might be asking yourself what does an oilrig spill over in the Gulf of Mexico have to do with the West Coast? In February, I spent a glorious weekend in Santa Barbara. As we were driving up Highway 1, my friends thought they saw 4 big ships out off the coast. I informed them that they were oilrigs. They were shocked at how close the rigs are to the beach. They didn’t look real, these huge hunks of metal just sitting off the beautiful coast!

Well, three Santa Barbara environmental groups have negotiated a deal with Plains Exploration & Production, a Houston based driller, to dismantle four federal jurisdiction offshore rigs so they can drill in the Santa Barbara Channel temporarily. With the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Santa Barbara deal is no longer being supported by Gov. Schwarzenegger and has become a hot topic in California. Currently, there are 20 platforms actively working in the Santa Barbara Channel.

As with everything in life, there are positives and negatives. The decision is with you to decide what side of the rig you sit, but getting involved and educating yourself is the first step in making that choice.

This is also a wonderful opportunity to dive into environmental issues, such as this one, with your students. When you have a real 'case study' unfolding, the students can better understand the various consequences, decisions, stakeholders, and environmental impacts.

Enjoy Life!

Rae Ann Jimenez

The Great Garbage Patch

Most of our waste today consists of plastic, a petroleum based material that we use for many products: plastic bag, bottles, wrappers, containers, forks, straws...etc. These items don't biodegrade or disappear once out of sight. They end up in landfills and a heap of the plastic has been collecting in what is considered the largest landfill. Though not on land the Pacific Gyre, or The Great Garbage Patch is a massive swirling wasteland twice the size of Texas off the coast of California.



As educators, we get the word out and initiate response.
Check these resources out to educate yourself and your students.

Gorilla in the Greenhouse, is a fun multimedia website that offers animated videos as a way of communicating real world environmental issues. http://www.greengorilla.com/

The California Coastal Commission has great resources for educators
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/directory/educate.html as well as information on the upcoming California Coastal Cleanup Day http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd.html scheduled for September 25, 2010.

NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
http://www.education.noaa.gov/teacher1.html has educational resources to advance environmental literacy.


Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

HOW DO AMERICANS VIEW WILDERNESS?

The Children & Nature Network (CNN) is an excellent source of information and research that supports the goals of the CREEC Network. A recent article cited by CNN, in IRIS, “How do Americans View Wilderness?” caught my eye. The Internet Research Information Series (IRIS) is an internet accessible science report series covering outdoor recreation statistics, wilderness research and other human dimensions and demographics research related to natural resources. This research is a collaborative effort between the USDA Forest Service’s Southern Research Station and its Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Athens, Georgia; the University of Georgia in Athens; and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. IRIS has been doing surveys about natural resources for decades. Surveys use a cross-sectional sample of non-institutionalized residents of the US, 16 years of age and older.

Basically this survey asked respondents to assess their Wilderness Values. The results were compared in the 1999-2000 and the 2006-2007 surveys.
First, respondents were asked to rate the importance of 13 Wilderness benefits:
Protecting water quality
Knowing that future generations will have Wilderness areas
Providing recreation opportunities
Protecting wildlife habitat
Providing spiritual inspiration
Preserving natural areas for scientific study
Preserving unique wild plants and animals
Knowing that in the future I will have the option to visit a Wilderness area or primitive area of my choice
Protecting air quality
Providing income for the tourist industry
Protecting rare and endangered species
Providing scenic beauty
Just knowing that Wilderness and primitive areas exist
Secondly, respondents were asked how they felt about the amount of federal land in the Wilderness System.

Very good news came out of this latest survey.
1. Since 1999-2000 Wilderness values have stayed high (in the 70th, 80th and 90th percentiles) with residents age 16 and older. Protecting air quality continues to be top on the list of concerns, 91% in 1999 and 93% in 2007. Having options to visit wilderness areas in the future rose three percentile points from 73.2 to 76.2. Providing recreation opportunities and preserving natural areas for science had significant percentile rises.
Overall, Americans ascribed high importance to Wilderness benefits. The only category that did not show importance was providing income for the tourist industry.
2. A comparison of the urban and rural communities values “unequivocally” showed no significant difference in wilderness values.
3. Comparisons of the four primary regions of the Country were made asking the question “Do the people living in these different regions have different opinions about Wilderness values? Significant differences were found in a few categories.
a. Protecting water quality was significantly higher in the Northeast and Southern region than in the other two regions of the Midwest and West.
b. Providing scenic beauty was highest in the Southern region.
c. Having the option to visit wilderness areas in the future was higher in the Western region.
d. Providing spiritual inspiration was significantly high in the Southern region.
4. Do citizens want more Wilderness? The responses to this question showed that more than two-thirds people somewhat strongly favor more Wilderness in the home state.

In summary, indications are that over the past decade citizens continue to support Wilderness allocation, view air and water quality as the most important aspects of Wilderness, there is virtually little difference in where people live that affects Wilderness values, and in many respects the value of Wilderness has become more important or stayed the same throughout the country.

These findings bode well with environmental groups and organizations such as CREEC. Environmental Education will continue to show increasing responses from the public. Thereby continuing the cycle of education, environmental concern, and individual commitment to saving Wilderness in the United States.


Internet resources:
http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm
http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/nrrt/nsre/IrisReports.html

Written by: Kathy Havert
CREEC/Region 10 RIMS

Green School Initiative

Green School Initiative

Okay, so your school is doing great things on campus to help the environment and integrates EE into the curricula!

Well, now you can get your school certified as a Green School through the Green School Initiative! This is a partnership between the Green Schools Initiative here in California (www.greenschools.net ) the Eco-Schools program sponsored in the United States by the National Wildlife Federation (www.ecoschoolsusa.org).

This means your school has taken the pledge to "go green" has formed an action team that is actively pursuing the plan. Here are the seven (7) steps to green your school:

1. Establish a green team or eco-committee
2. Adopt an environmental vision statement, green code or planet pledge
3. Conduct a school environment survey or audit
4. Create a Green School Action Plan
5. Monitor and Evaluate Progress
6. Integrate Greening into the Curriculum
7. Inform, Involve and Celebrate

The premise for greening any school is on what is called the Four Pillars. The four pillars cover everything from new construction to maintenance, food service to gardens, office supplies to classroom curricula. The Four Pillars are:

1. Strive to be Toxic Free
2. Use Resources Sustainably
3. Create a Green, Healthy Space
4. Teach, Learn, Engage

There is an online Green School Report Card Quiz and once you fill that out you will receive a score and depending on your score you will be led to links for more action ideas, tools to support your efforts and opportunities to share the story of your green school. There are Green School Profiles on the website too called the Green School Honor Roll. The website can also help your school find green products with its' Green School Buying Guide.

The Eco-Schools model identifies eight areas of primary focus a school can go green called "pathways." These are Energy, Water, Climate Change, Global Dimensions, Transportation, Schools Grounds, Consumption & Waste, Green Hour. Each pathway has curriculum resources and audits to perform.

There is also a new website put together called Cool California for the purpose of providing all Californians the the tools they need to take actions to protect the climate.. There is a Schools Toolkit that includes a campus carbon calculator, cost savings actions and climate change curriculum resources. The website is (www.coolcalifornia.org/schools)

Any and all three of these resources will get your school started in going green. They are intended for existing schools and are not rigorous certification procedures like LEED for Schools (www.buildgreenschools.org) or CHPS (www.chps.net). These two programs are primarily designed for new construction or for modernization construction projects.

GO GREEN SCHOOLS!!!

Environmental Service Learning

Wondering how your students can have access to Environmental Education in their curriculum, work on CA State Standards, learn life skills and help the community?

Environmental Service Learning projects are one way you can achieve all of this! They are a fantastic way to engage your students in hands-on Environmental Education, while making your school or community a better place.

Environmental Service Learning can give students a higher sense of self-esteem and belonging in the community as they become valued participants in educational projects that provide them with the experience of conscientious environmental stewardship. Service Learning of all different kinds has been proven to lower the drop-out rates in high school. The kind of life experience Service Learning projects afford students will no doubt look great on any job application or an admissions application to a University or other school.

Students of all ages can participate in Environmental Service Learning projects that will impact the way they think about the Earth, their bioregion, their local community, and their peers. Students reflections on their actions and impact can be an interesting and powerful motivational tool to instigate many positive changes in the world. Preschool and Elementary aged students can easily do projects with the guidance of a teacher. Secondary students can share more of their leadership skills and spearhead their own projects with a bit of mentoring from a teacher or other community partners. As long as a measurable learning outcome is achieved, any good community service can be turned into a great Service Learning project.

In Region 10, we offer a couple great opportunities for Students grades 6-12 called the Desert Environmental Youth Experience (EYE) for Leaders program and the Environmental Youth Leadership Conference (EYLC). For both programs, student teams identify a problem either on campus or in their community that they would like to address. Then through teamwork, creative problem solving and community partnerships, students create an Environmental Service Learning project of their choice that together they work on and implement throughout the year.

The themes for the Desert EYE are Water Conservation, Energy Conservation and Environmental Stewardship. In years past students have done waste audits on campuses, established recycling programs and educated other students on the ins and outs of recycling and waste management as they transformed their campuses into conservation centers, reducing their carbon footprint. One team raised enough money in two years through recycling to put in electricity and a clean water system into a school in Uganda, provide school supplies for 50 orphans and medical supplies for a nearby remote village. More locally, students can participate in restoration projects in wild places, eradicating non-native plants competing for resources. School gardens are an excellent way to beautify the school while creating an outdoor living laboratory in which to approach all the educational disciplines. Students can experience life science first hand composting and cultivating plants, both edible and ornamental. Gardens create a habitat for native wildlife and an environment in which to work on language arts skills in journaling and do math calculations either in establishing the garden or charting growth of plants.

Ultimately, students can take what they have learned through the process of doing their project and their reflections on the experience, and then share that information with others in creative ways. A team may create a skit or rap to take on tour and share with other local students. Or perhaps a team might create a short film or PSA (Public Service Announcement) or use other multimedia arts to display their message, raising consciousness in the community as they foster environmental awareness through their words and actions.

“America’s young people – from kindergartners to college students – have the desire, energy and ability to make a real difference in their communities. Service-learning offers a unique opportunity for them to get involved in a tangible way by integrating community service projects with classroom learning. Service-learning engages students in the educational process, using what they learn in the classroom to solve real-life problems. Students not only learn about democracy and citizenship, they become actively contributing citizens and community members through the service they perform.”
-Learn and Serve America

Planet Earth is one thing we all share in common. Some say it takes a village to raise a child. Perhaps it will be our children who stand up as young leaders and teach our villages to take better care of our environment, so we may all continue to enjoy good health and the great diversity and beauty of nature.

CA Dept. of Ed. Service-Learning page: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/sl/
Disney Planet Challenge for 4-6th grades: http://disney.go.com/PlanetChallenge/
Learn & Serve America: http://www.learnandserve.gov/
Region 10’s Program for 6-12th grades: http://www.deserteye.org
Youth Service California: http://yscal.org/cm/Home.html

~Jen Futterman
Region 10 RIMS Desert Communities Coordinator

California's Environmental Legacy

From coastal erosion to invasive plants to disappearing species, it’s easy for me to conjure up images of environmental change in California. But it’s not often that I think about that change in the context of deep time, or geologic time. While human history is but a hair on the geologic time clock, our species has been remarkably successful at rapidly transforming our environment.

An exciting new project explores environmental change in California over the past two billion years, as well as the fundamental nature of our relationship to that change – both presently and into the future. The California Environmental Legacy Project is a multi-institutional, multi-platform endeavor bringing together a wide range of scientists, educators, and media professionals to promote public understanding about environmental change in California and our place in this changing world.

Humboldt State University and Sacramento State are founding partners of the Legacy Project, which recently received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to produce several key pieces intended to engage Californians in an exploration of environmental change. The centerpiece is a four-episode PBS documentary (for national broadcast in 2012) which will take viewers on a two billion year journey through our state and into a possible future landscape.

A second component, the Changing Places Initiative, will bring this exploration to five regions in the state. Short films, podcasts, and other media are in production for distribution in our parks, museums, and science centers. These regions include:
- Point Reyes Peninsula
- Los Angeles Basin/Baldwin Hills
- Anza Borrego Desert
- Redwood Forests
- Lassen Volcano

And attention teachers… there’s a piece of this project intended just for you and your students’ use. The online Education Portal will engage users with opportunities for streaming media and accessing materials and resources. This will be a place to share ideas and continue the discussion with students and teachers from across the state. Lastly, the K-12 school programs will provide teachers with professional options to enhance learning experiences for their students.

The Legacy Project will help make understanding California’s changing environment accessible, digestible, and maybe most importantly, meaningful for a wide range of audiences, including television viewers, students, park visitors, and online users. Keep an eye out as phases of this exciting project are released over the next two years.

Learn more about the Legacy Project at www.humboldt.edu/~rsp/celp/

Learning About Redwoods

Redwood trees are one of the most iconic symbols of California. Towering Coast Redwoods grow to be the tallest trees in the world, and Giant Sequoias of the Sierra Nevada are the most massive. They live longer than almost any other organisms on earth. Redwoods grow in forest communities that instill feelings of awe and inspiration to people who make their pilgrimage from all across the globe to see them. Yet during the late 1800s and early 1900s these forests were being heavily logged and in great danger of being destroyed forever. Today only a very small percentage of the original “first growth” coast redwood forest remains. Although many concerned people and organizations have worked to save these world treasures, the Save-the-Redwoods League was — and still is — a leader in efforts to protect and restore these forests.

The Save-the-Redwoods League was formed in 1918 in response to the uncontrolled logging of the coastal redwoods. Since that time the League has worked to purchase 181,000 acres of redwood forest to be preserved in 59 parks and preserves. They have been a key player in the restoration of damaged redwood forests, and provide grants to fund redwood research.
In addition to this, the Save-the-Redwoods League works to develop high quality educational resources for teachers and environmental education providers. All of the resources are free and fully accessible from their website: http://www.savetheredwoods.org Among these resources are:
• Redwood Education grants, available in April, due in June. 230 grants have been given since 2000.
• The Redwood Teacher Tool Kit – includes downloadable fact sheets, reading lists, and information pages.
• Redwood Ed – a guide to Coast Redwoods, with downloadable chapters of background information, field trip ideas, activities, and more.
• The Redwood Transect Activity – an online interactive game for children.
• More resources are coming soon that will feature the Giant Sequoias.

I hope you take a few minutes to visit the website and enjoy all these available resources. Better yet, I hope you can visit a redwood tree or forest in the near future and experience their beauty and serenity for yourself!

-Wendy Harrison, CREEC Coordinator Region 6

Nearby Nature- Environmental Education can be Easy

I was recently asked to create a succinct description of what Environmental Education is for my fiscal agent’s website. I looked to the “classic” UNEP 7 principles of EE and ended up with this:

“EE focuses on interactions within and among natural, built, and social environments. EE aims to develop an individual's understanding, skills and the feelings of empowerment that are necessary for both positive behavior towards the biophysical and social environment in everyday living, and for active participation in group efforts to find the optimal solutions for environmental problems.EE is interdisciplinary, and is particularly effective when direct experiential learning is utilized.”

In looking at my description, I realized that it makes EE seem complicated, cumbersome, and overwhelming—all things that are extremely unattractive to most educators. To assuage my conscience for having published something that may actually turn some people off to EE, I wanted to focus on a few ideas and programs that let you utilize “nearby nature” for simple EE experiences.

· The Children and Nature Network was created to encourage and support the people and organizations working worldwide to reconnect children with nature. C&NN provides access to the latest news and research in the field and a peer-to-peer network of researchers and individuals, educators and organizations dedicated to children's health and well-being. Find information on forming family nature clubs, getting involved in your local community, and a new program called “natural teacher.”

The following two examples are specific to the San Diego region, but no matter where you live you can find nearby nature.

· San Diego Canyonlands has a mission to promote, protect and restore the natural habitats in San Diego County canyons and creeks by fostering education and ongoing community involvement in stewardship and advocacy. They are a clearinghouse of canyon “friends” groups, so if your family wants to do a service activity while learning about the local environment, they can help you to connect to a nearby canyon. They can also help school sites get started on projects in nearby canyons and offer service learning credit for participation in some events.


· Visit your local parks and recreation website. The City of San Diego’s site can help you find a nearby natural area to visit.

So take the first small step toward environmental education experiences for your students, your family, and your community today. Just get outside!

--Adrienne Marriott, Coordinator

CREEC Region9a (San Diego and Imperial Counties)

We’re WILD about new early childhood environmental education curriculum, by Deb Bruns

We’re WILD about new early childhood environmental education curriculum

Last month I had the pleasure of joining with 25 environmental educators and early childhood educators from across California to learn firsthand about Growing Up WILD – the latest addition to the Project WILD family of high quality environmental education programs. This one is geared to the 3 -7 year old crowd, building on that natural sense of wonder to connect kids to the world around them while developing important social and academic skills.

The colorful, 11 x 17, eye-catching guide includes 27 nature based activities with kid-friendly themes like “Bird Beak Buffet,” “Spider Web Wonders,” and “Lunch for a Bear.” In the December workshop we tried out “Wiggling Worms.” We each had our own worm to watch and even got down on the floor and tried to move like the worms we had just observed. Thankfully, the superintendent didn’t wander by the workshop at that particular moment! Later, we went outside to look for signs of “Who Lives in a Tree” and collect materials for an art project.

Like all of the materials from the Council on Environmental Education, the guide defines “user-friendly.” A Quick Facts box on each page includes the basic background information on the topic for the teacher. Educators can choose from a myriad of activities to fill a pre-schooler’s day: songs set to familiar tunes, art and craft projects, movement, math, indoor and outdoor games, science explorations and even a related (and mostly healthy) snack. In “Fishing Fun,” students use pretzel stick rods with cream cheese bait to “catch” fish crackers.

Need more? Each activity page also includes a list of related fiction and non-fiction books. Home Connections – easily copied pages provided in English and Spanish – encourage families to explore the natural world together with simple activities such as finding an ant colony, looking for birds in the neighborhood or visiting a local pet store to observe the fish. Journal prompts and discussion starter questions are provided for parents which will mostly likely result in a little adult education as well.

I can’t wait to share Growing Up WILD with our Head Start teachers and the local child care planning council. I’m also going to work with the community colleges in the area and our own high school ROP Careers with Children teacher to get the guide to as many early childhood educators as possible. They will be happy to know that each activity page notes correlations to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Standards and the Head Start Domains

Growing Up WILD is available free to any early childhood educator who attends a workshop. Now that there are trained workshop facilitators throughout California there is sure to be a workshop near you. Contact your CREEC Coordinator or California’s Project WILD Coordinator, Betsy Magladry, bmagladry@dfg.ca.gov to find out about a workshop or facilitator in your area. For more information on the guide (including a look at a sample activity page), visit http://www.projectwild.org/GrowingUpWILD.htm

No Time for Science? We'll Help You Find It

In my discussions with elementary teachers in California throughout the past few years, one of the most frequent comments I hear when we're discussing science is, "I don't have time to teach Science."

As someone who is passionate about science, and has a graduate degree and a teaching credential in the field, I'm always shocked and saddened by this statement. However, I understand the difficulty elementary teachers have in teaching all of the California Content Standards in English/Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, Physical Education, Visual/Performing Arts . . . etc.

Since the Spring of 2004, California has required all 5th grade students to take the California Standards Test in Science. At other grade levels, however, the pressure of testing doesn't exist, and due to time and budget constraints, the subject of Science is often squeezed out of the daily curriculum.

Here are some ideas to teach Science while still meeting all the other national and statewide requirements:

• Integrate Science into English/Language Arts
• read science nonfiction books
• have students write persuasive, informational, etc. essays/paragraphs/sentences about science topics
• provide students with science-related reading books in your classroom library
• encourage written and oral reports on science books
• teach students research skills using science topics

• Integrate Science into Mathematics
• have students learn measurements (English and metric) by measuring the plants around the school property
• have students learn measurements by measuring their height, circumference, arm bones, muscle length, etc.
• engage students in surveys about scientific topics (e.g., How are age and height related? How are gender and height related? What color are your eyes and what color are your biological parents' eyes?)
• check out the National Science Teachers Association' web site at: http://science.nsta.org/enewsletter/2004-01/member_elementary.htm for great resources

• Integrate Science into Physical Education
• play games with students that integrate scientific concepts (see resources below)
  

• Integrate Science into Art
• draw animals
• draw human systems
• draw plants
  

Other Resources:
- Contact your local CREEC Coordinator (http://www.creec.org) for ideas on available curricula and local field trips/science programs
- Integrating Science With Mathematics & Literacy by Elizabeth Hammerman and Diann Musial. Corwin Press, Inc. 2008. ISBN: 9781412955645
- Project WET (http://www.projectwet.org)
- Project WILD (http://www.projectwild.org)
- Project Learning Tree (http://www.plt.org)
- Population Connection Education (http://www.populationeducation.org/)
- Green Teacher (http://www.greentecher.com)

Please email me with techniques you use in your classroom to integrate Science regularly. I'll post new ideas in future blogs.