Reduce: Better Wrapping for Presents

December 21, 2011 by Lynn CP

What’s the best way to deal with waste? Not create waste at all! If you can avoid buying things you don’t need, you save money and avoid generating waste. Here’s a suggestion to practice at home and with your students…

This is the time of year when lots of people exchange gifts. Wrapping paper is quite pretty, but expensive and generates a lot of waste at the end of the day.

How does my family react? We have two simple strategies:

1. Unwrap carefully. This one is hard for little kids, but once you’re past the age of 8, everyone in my family unwraps carefully because we know that all leftover paper will go in a box in my grandmother’s attic to be reused for future presents. I don’t think we’ve bought a roll of wrapping paper in more than 15 years. (Full disclosure – I bought tissue paper this year, to put in reused gift bags.) Each year, we cut off any ripped edges and we use the paper again and again until it disintegrates. The ripped and crumbling bits all get recycled. It’s actually a fun game at my family’s holiday gatherings to try to remember who used which paper first!

If you don’t have a stockpile of paper yet, or you have little kids who will rip through it, try strategy #2:

2. Use the funny pages. If you still get the newspaper, the comics page makes for fun wrapping. I always love re-reading the comics before unwrapping my birthday present. The Sunday comics make for great wrapping, because they’re so colorful!

Next step: Practice these strategies with your students. Have student make a winter present for their parents (maybe a fancy snowflake or a cotton ball snowman) and then help them “wrap” it in newsprint.

And don’t get me wrong – I tend to use brand new wrapping paper for wedding gifts and other important presents; but inside my family we know, it’s the thought that counts, not the wrapping paper!

For more sustainable ideas for the holidays and beyond, check out the students blog from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Pale Male

December 9, 2011 by Lynn CP

A few months ago, we did a few posts on birds and mentioned nest cams. Nest cams are video cameras that broadcast live images of birds nests to the web; this spring, you could use those cameras to watch birds in the wild and maybe even watch a baby bird hatch.

Since writing that post, I stumbled onto three books about Pale Male, an avian celebrity here in New York. These books and the related resources could be used to supplement your study of birds, animal families, urban wildlife, and much more!

Some background information, first. Pale Male is a red-tailed hawk who has lived across the street from Central Park at 927 Fifth Avenue since he hatched in 1990 (with some dramatic interruptions). In 2004, the nest he and his then partner, Lola, lived in was taken down by the building owner but ultimately restored. Pale Male had long been a favorite with bird watchers who followed his every move, but the controversy stirred by the nest removal transported Pale Male into the national spotlight.

Soon thereafter, three different children’s book were written about Pale Male. The Tale of Pale Male by Jeanette Winter presents the simple facts about Pale Male and his home. City Hawk: the Story of Pale Male by Meghan McCarthy features whimsical illustrations and a simple story; some proceeds from the sale of this book go to supporting New York City Audubon Society. Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman tells the story through beautiful illustrations and has a more sophisticated and humorous tone, but is still kid-friendly. Which will you like most? Click on each image to find links to a local library, and check each one out for yourself!

In addition to the children’s books, Pale Male has attracted quite a media following over the years (try a search for Pale Male on the internet and look at what springs up!). There are at least two movies: a Nature documentary from PBS entitled Pale Male and a 2009 feature documentary, The Legend of Pale Male. The New York Times writes updates about Pale Male once or twice a year and there are lots of other internet sites devoted entirely to this particular red-tailed hawk.

A word to the wise: Pale Male has been through a few mates since he arrived in NYC, with a certain amount of tragedy attached to each female. At the time the books, his mate was Lola. Lola has disappeared (and is presumed dead). Pale Male has a new mate, Lima.

Final notes, if you are looking for photos of Pale Male, check out his very own dedicated website, www.palemale.com, which is regularly updated and goes all the way back to 2002. And there is also an adult book, Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park by Marie Winn, for your own interest.

Magic School Bus at the Waterworks

December 2, 2011 by Lynn CP

In addition to the physical Watershed Relief Map and the print map produced by the Department of Environmental Protection, here’s a book you can use to teach about the route water takes from rain to your tap and all the steps in between.

I first received a copy of this book in the late 1980s and have been in love with it ever since. Just like every other Ms. Frizzle adventure, the Magic School Bus Goes to the Waterworks by Joanna Cole is a fascinating, in-depth look at the steps from rain to tap. Kids will really appreciate how much work in takes to clean water before we can use it. The book is also available in a Spanish edition, an Italian edition, a Japanese edition, and a Greek edition!

The one caveat is that the story is a generic, every-town story, and New York City’s water system is a little different. A while ago, the Department of Environmental Protection here in New York City commissioned a NYC-specific version of the book. The last time I talked to them, they had run out of a budget for printing more, but you may want to reach out to DEP and see if they have new copies. Alternately, ask around – a colleague, friend, or local library may have a copy!

Water Everyday

November 29, 2011 by Lynn CP

We've talked a lot about water in this blog, but it should be said that before kids can understand water conservation, they have to understand just how much water they use on a daily basis. Here's an activity borrowed from our educator's guide, My Green Community, to help kids keep track of water use.

People often don’t realize how much water they use on a daily basis. Try asking a 4 year-old, "Have you used water today?" Unless he or she has had a drink of water, the answer will be no, until you explicitly ask, "what about brushing your teeth or washing your hands?!"

Ask the class to brainstorm, then draw or list all the ways they have used water today. The following day, have students keep track of these things throughout the day. This is a great opportunity to introduce tallying. How many times a day do they turn on a faucet or drink from a fountain? Have students carry around a sheet and tally these activities throughout the day.

After students are in the habit of keeping track of daily water use, extend the activity to include products that need water to grow or function properly. For example, rain water helped grow the banana you are eating and irrigation helped grow the cotton used to make your t-shirt. Water cools the engine of the bus or car you rode to school. Once students realize how omnipresent water is in their daily lives, they will be more mentally prepared for talk about water conservation.

A Culture Garden Mural

November 22, 2011 by Lynn CP

Are you interested in incorporating art into your garden study? Great!

Yesterday, we talked about the culture gardens made by Greta. She took plants from each of 14 countries around the world and made mini-gardens to help kids learn about the culture of each country. But she wasn’t done there!

Greta also decided to make a mural showing off her research. She picked plants common in certain parts of the world and placed them on top of a world map:

Then, Greta got to painting, with help of kids in our after-school program and one of our teen interns. In April, it looked like this:

And here it is in August:

Right now, there are too many leaves on the trees to get you an image of the whole mural, but after the leaves fall off, we promise more photographs! Check out Greta’s blog for updates.

And Happy (almost) Thanksgiving to you all – we hope your festive meals this week are as fantastically delicious as the cornucopia Greta drew in the world map above!

Combined Sewage Overflows!

November 16, 2011 by Lynn CP

In some parts of the country, sewers are single – home and business waste is piped to sewage treatment centers and storm water (from rain or snow) is separately sent to the nearest body of water (POTW stands for Publicly Owned Treatment Works, where waste water is treated):

But not in New York City! New York has a combined sewer system, which works more like this:

As you can see, when it rains, the storm water overflows and the mixed storm water and sewage flow untreated into local rivers. EWWW!!!!!! This is called a Combined Sewage Outflow or CSO and it is major contributor to the pollution of local water.

Where does this happen in NYC? Red Tier 1 dots are where the worst CSOs happen.

Click on the map for much more information

And this is not confined to New York City. Large parts of the country have combined sewer systems, leading to the risk of CSOs:

Now that we see the problem – what is the solution? One answer is better infrastructure, including things like green roofs. The idea is that the right blend of soil and plants absorbs rainwater and then gradually releases it into the storm drains, preventing the overflow. Again, the EPA has lots of information on green infrastructure if you want to learn more.

Why are we talking about this now? Well, first of all it’s information that most New Yorkers (children and adults) do not know, and learning new things is cool. But also, we will be talking more on this blog about green infrastructure in the future and we wanted to explain the problem before considering possible solutions.

… and don’t forget to check out Icky Fest at Brooklyn Children’s Museum this Saturday for more icky information about NYC’s sewers.

(Thanks to the EPA for diagrams 1, 2, and 4. For more information about sewer problems across the United States, check out the EPA’s webpage on CSO’s.)

The High Line

November 12, 2011 by Lynn CP

Today, a post related to gardens focused on a very interesting park.

The High Line is located on the west side of Manhattan, above 10th Avenue between Gansevoort Street and W 30th Street. This elevated track used to be a used to shuttle freight trains from Penn Station to the factories in the Meatpacking District. As the factories moved, the train line was abandoned and was almost torn down in the mid-1990s. Instead, neighbors of the tracks who looked down on it and saw an abandoned wilderness imagined a new park and Friends of the High Line was born. The first section of the park opened in 2009 and the second in 2011 (a third section is in the works).

So why am I telling you about the High Line? In addition to being awesome, it displays a number of examples of sustainability.

The High Line is an example of creative reuse. Rather than tearing down an existing structure (which would have cost money), money was invested into turning this abandoned space into a public park, which benefits everyone. The High Line provides green space in an industrial neighborhood and provides stunning views that cannot be accessed from anywhere else in the neighborhood. In addition, many of the original train tracks were incorporated into the design, both showcasing the High Line’s history and preventing waste.

The High Line is home to native plants and provides a habitat for local animals. According to their FAQ, 161 out of the 210 plant species in the design of Section 1 of the High Line are native to New York. Because local plants are adapted to their environment, it takes less artificial work from the gardeners to maintain the plants. Or, as the High Line’s section on sustainability explains it, “By basing the planting design on naturally-created plant communities, we create a well-adapted, site-specific landscape, cutting down on water and other resources needed to maintain it. ” All of these carefully maintained plants lead to homes for pollinators and other local animals.

A section that you can't walk on; it serves as a green roof

The High Line is a green roof. In fact, it’s the largest green roof in the world. New York City has an overtaxed water system. This leads to “combined sewage overflows,” which is as gross as it sounds – when it rains, the rainwater causes our sewer systems to overflow, releasing sewage into local bodies of water. Eww! One solution is to carefully choose plants to act as sponges, absorbing water as it falls and releasing it gradually into the sewers. The High Line uses a specific mix of plants and soils to do just that. This is one very sustainable type of garden that provides a solution to NYC’s water problems (more about that next week).

The High Line is committed to sustainable practices in running the park. They do not use fertilizers or pesticides, reduce chemical treatment for snow in favor of hand shovels and power brooms, monitor and reduce the amount of watering, and are in the process of starting on-site composting. For more details, read their sustainability page.

The High Line is committed to educating the public about their sustainable practices. For adults and families, they periodically host events like composting workshops and guided tours of the park. For students and teachers, the High Line has a field trip option for grades 2-7 that explores biodiversity, native species, and New York City’s ecosystem at the High Line.

In addition to all that, the High Line is a beautiful place for a picnic, stroll, to watch the sunset, or just to sit and read. If you’ve never been to the High Line, stop reading this entry and go. Seriously.

The Lorax

October 17, 2011 by Lynn CP

A great starting point for preparing students to be conservationists is The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.

This book tells the story of the Once-ler, who chops down all the Truffula Trees, and the Lorax, who tries to prevent their destruction. “I am the Lorax,” he says, “I speak for the trees.”

I have read the book many times since I was a child, and it really does speak to every age. The Lorax will get students to think about resource depletion and conservation, taking the perspective of the Lorax who protects the trees even when no one else will.

After reading the book, ask students what resources they need to live and to try to imagine a world without those things. Perhaps they have lived in or visited places where there was not enough clean water; what was that like? Explain to them that a conservationist, like the Lorax, is someone who protects natural resources and that if enough of the people in the world become conservationists, they can work together to take care of plants, animals, and other natural resources.

Also, if movies help get your kids excited, The Lorax will soon be an animated film (with a promising cast of voice actors).

For more ideas on conservation, check out Brooklyn Children’s Museum’s educator’s guide, My Green Community.

Wave Hill

October 14, 2011 by Lynn CP

Have you been to Wave Hill? This wonderful garden and cultural center in the Bronx overlooks the Hudson River. It’s a great place to take a class; their programs go from grades PK-6 and feature topics such as seeds, birds, and trees.

On top of that, the site offers professional development, many sessions for free. The Outdoor Classroom, for example, trains teachers to incorporate Wave Hill into their curriculum. This session is being offered Tuesday, November 8th from 10am-noon. It will be offered again on April 12, 2012.

For a full list of school programs as well as inexpensive professional development options (some for credit), check out their website. It really is a wonderful site and a great one for young learners!

PS: Don’t forget. We have our own professional development at Brooklyn Children’s Museum next week on green communities!

Science Websites Again: How to Smile

October 13, 2011 by Lynn CP

Looking for other great sources of science activities? Check out HowToSmile.org, a database of science and math activities (they list more than 2,000). Activities range from PK to high school and you can filter search results by grade, cost, time involved, and more.

Searching for early childhood (PK-K) and environmental topics, here are some of the great ideas I found:

Habitat Observation: this lesson provides discussion points for observing an animal and figuring out how it survives in its habitat (can be done indoors or outside)
Potato Battery: this one is a great demonstration for your study of energy. Make a clock run using a potato and use that experience to talk about other sources of energy!
Fruit Fly Trap: use an empty bottle to tap fruit flies and observe their life cycle (works best in warmer weather)
Ladybug Spots: this activity brings in art, science, and math to learn about symmetry in the wild
Bird Binoculars: if you’re taking a bird walk, make pretend binoculars with toilet paper rolls to help kids feel like serious bird watchers (you might allow one child to use a set of binoculars you purchased and the others can use their pretend binoculars while they wait). Don’t forget a field guide!

Check out HowToSmile – what other lesson ideas do you love?

Green Threads