Speaking of America Recycles Day...

Check out this event in Wake County on Saturday, November 17th:



Box used to cover up a methane well at the Durham County landfill, which extracts methane from the decomposing rubbish. South Wake Landfill has future plans for this process.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/21/1871558/
south-wake-landfill-waste-to-be.html

We still have room available for our Wake County Solid Waste Landfill Tours this Saturday, November 17. Come get a behind-the-scenes look at where your household trash goes and see the recycling collection areas the county offers to its citizens. Tours are free and last 1-hour. County transportation is provided and all are welcome! (Children age 5 and up only please).  
The tours will be held at the South Wake Landfill at 6300 Old Smithfield Rd in Apex near Hwy-55 and US-1. Kids will play a landfill BINGO game and get prizes. (Adults will get some goodies too!)

Tour times available:
11:30am - 12:30pm
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Please email or call ahead of time to reserve your seat (vans have a 14-passenger maximum).
Contact Becky Dunstan at the number below or sign up online at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LFToursFY12

Becky Dunstan
Feed the Bin Program Coordinator
N.C. Certified Environmental Educator
Wake County Environmental Services
Office: (919)856-2602
Fax:     (919)856-7407
http://www.wakegov.com/recycling/schools

Gather up the kids and your recyclables and check out America Recycles Day!

 

Thursday, November 15th

 

Recycled computer motherboards and monitors make up this

installation by Susan Stockwell

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/16/world/environmental-green-art/index.html

 

Recycling not only reduces waste going to the landfill, but also reduces the pressure on our natural resources.  November 15th has been deemed America Recycles Day to raise awareness and encourage events in the name of recycling.  This is a very organized movement with multiple events happening all across the state and country.  Not only are these events educational, but many of them are practical and helpful and involve recycling your less than common household items.

 

On the main page, you can enter in your zip code and find all the events near you.  A search near Raleigh, showed a dozen events from paper shredding to electronics disposal.  Some people are holding creative events such as swap shops.  Reuse is even more environmentally friendly than recycling!  Visit the site and find an event near you: http://americarecyclesday.org/ 

 

For many, we already have the knack for recycling glass, plastic, and everyday household items.  But what do we do with old paint, electronics, and other hazardous waste?  There are regulations against throwing these things in the landfill.  The website for America Recycles Day has an excellent search tool in which you can enter your zip code and choose your household item that you need to dispose of, and it will send you links to places where you can take these items near your home!  Visit that site here: http://americarecyclesday.org/find-recycling

 

 



"Declare your Interdependence"

It's Geography Awareness Week!!

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."

-John Muir, 1911

 

Photo: Yann-Arthus Bertrand, "The Earth from Above"

 

 

Hosted by National Geographic, Geography Awareness Week takes place every third week in November.  This years theme, Declare your Interdependence, is to raise awareness about our interconnectedness to the rest of the world through everyday decisions that we make such as what to buy and what to eat.

 

Among the activities that you can do with your family is the Global Closet Calculator.  It is a virtual interactive game in which you look at some of the items in your closet and learn how you are interconnected to other areas of the world through these items.  The program generates your own personal global footprint map. 

 

In the second part of the game, geared more towards middle school age and up, you learn about how simple objects affect a lot of people in many different ways and are asked to use critical thinking skills to make decisions about the products.

 

This year's poster breaks down the manufacturing of a pencil.  It shows a map of the globe with a key showing the areas of the world where all the different parts of a pencil come from.  It also includes a list of ideas for further engaging kids and students.  Here are just some of the ideas plus some of our own:

 

1. Put up a map of the world in your kitchen and have your kids mark the location of where all the ingredients came from to cook tonight's dinner.

Extension/Challenge: Do this over the week and try and bring the points closer to home with each meal.  For your last meal, try and only use ingredients from a 200 mile radius, or 100, or 50 if you're really good!  It's harder than you think, i.e. salt.  This website has some helpful tips and foods in season for each state: http://www.simplesteps.org/eat-local

Source: http://www.thesecondlunch.com/2009/08/eating-seasonally-and-locally/

 

2. Who depends on you? Make a poster of all the plants, animals, and people that depend on you to be fed, watered, or just loved!

Extension: Make a poster of all the plants, animals, and people that you depend on!  Do this at the beginning of the week and then again at the end of the week after you have explored the Global Closet Calculator and have expanded your perception of who you depend on.  Compare the two posters.

 

3. "Explore your own backyard! Take pictures of different interactions between organisms.  For example: a predator-prey relationship, a producer-consumer relationship, a mutualistic relationship, a decomposer, and a commensal relationship. If you don't know what these are, read about them at   

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/ecological-relationships"

 

4. Explore your river basin.  All life depends on water. Discover where your water comes from and where it goes, and how our daily choices impact water quality. 

http://www.eenorthcarolina.org/riverbasins.html

 

 

 

 

Engaging your Kids through Citizen Science

Source: http://chickencoopstakeout.wordpress.com/

Citizen science projects offer a fun way to engage your family in real live science! Some research projects are just too large in scope to be completed by a few field researchers.  So scientists have capitalized on communication and other technologies to involve citizens in their collection of data. The benefits are two-fold, the researchers have a much larger body of data to draw from that will help further validate their results, and citizens develop a stronger understanding and appreciation for science.  An understanding of the methodology and science skills used in actual research is lacking in the science education our kids receive in school.  A misconception often carried by students is that science takes place in a lab and is only valid in a very controlled setting.  Citizen science offers a different perspective on how science is conducted in the real world, with Earth as the laboratory.  Children are more likely to learn from an experience in which they are personally invested and engaged.  Most citizen science projects publicly post their data and analysis so people can see the direct impact of their participation. 

 

The Nature Research Center (NRC), the new wing of the Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh, hosts ongoing citizen science projects from time to time.  In a recent study called The Great Chicken Coop Stakeout, NRC scientists partnered with the Wildlife Program of North Carolina State University and sought to survey the carnivores of urban areas and determine which ones were most attracted to backyard chicken coops.  Citizens installed motion sensing cameras near their chicken coops, called camera traps, and researchers reviewed this data to map out rarer species findings and to determine what predators were attracted to the coops.  A collection of photos and videos and more about the project can be found on their blog, here.  

 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipmunk

How you can participate:

The chicken coop study turned over an interesting finding that has led to another request for citizen data.  Chipmunks are generally very common in urban areas, however, the cameras captured very few of these creatures in the Raleigh area.  Scientists at the museum are interested in knowing exactly where chipmunks are spotted in the Triangle area in hopes of gaining a better hold on their distribution.  If you live in the triangle area and spot a chipmunk, please visit the blog and report your finding.  The full address is http://chickencoopstakeout.wordpress.com/.

To view other citizen science projects taking place through the museum, visit http://naturalsciences.org/research-collections/citizen-science

 

 

Source: http://www.rodale.com/bird-friendly-yard

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is hosting an ongoing study called Project Feeder Watch.  Citizens all across North America are asked to survey birds on their backyard feeders through the winter months of November through early April and turn their results in to the project.  Participants can join at any time before February.  To learn more about the project and begin collecting data with your children, visit http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/Overview/over_index.html.

 

 

 

 

Balsam woolly adelgid damage on Mount Mitchell
Photo by Robert F. Billings, courtesy of forestryimages.org.

Scientists at NCSU are conducting the Tiny Terrors Project, collecting citizen data on the woolly adelgid's impact on hemlocks and Fraser firs.  The adelgid pest has been terrorizing these trees in North Carolina and other states, causing massive die offs that have scientists concerned over the ability of the hemlock and fir species to survive.  Most trees that become infected are weakened and become susceptible to other diseases that ultimately lead to their demise.  Miraculously, some trees are completely infested by the adelgid but remain healthier than ever.  These trees have become the target for research, leading to the question of how these particular trees have managed to defend themselves.  Researchers are asking citizens to report healthy trees of these species that are also heavily infected by the adelgid.  For information on how to participate, visit http://www.threatenedforests.com/tinyterrors/  

DIY: Family Nature Clubs

 

Source: http://childrenandnature.ning.com/group/appalachianmountainclub

 

While North Carolina has numerous nature centers, zoos, and museums with family programming and events that will get children outside, exploring nature, some families may want to take it a step further and start their own nature club.  Likened to book clubs or community watch programs, nature clubs can be a way to build community and nurture relationships with others and the environment.  Nature clubs can be uniquely tailored to fit the needs of the group.  They can meet weekly or monthly.  They can involve extensive outdoor field trips to wilderness areas, or a weekly meeting at a nearby park.  But they all serve the same goal, to connect children, friends, and members of the community through outdoor experiences.  Club members can divide up responsibilities such as logistics, planning an education component, outreach to the members, etc.  Or each family or member can take turns planning a meet up.  Family Nature Clubs can offer several benefits such as providing a motivating factor to follow through with plans and ideas as well as multiple sources of new ideas on how to engage children outdoors.  How does the quote go, "It takes a village..."

 

Children & Nature Network (C&NN) is an initiative to connect children, families, and community to nature and has assembled a toolkit for starting your own Nature Club for Families.  The toolkit includes templates for coming up with a plan, checking out site locations, reaching out to your neighborhood or community, checklists for outings, and recording information about your participants and events.  The toolkit also includes a lot of helpful links for getting more ideas for your club. 

You can see the toolkit here.

Agape Hike-A-Thon This Weekend!

Please join us for our 9th annual Hike-a-Thon & Basket Raffle on Saturday, November 10th.  Hikers of all ages are invited to join us for a day of hiking and exploring in Agapé's beautiful natural setting.  The fall foliage in November is spectacular!  So gather your group, family, and friends and join us for a day of fellowship and fun.   

The Hike-a-Thon & Basket Raffle will help fund the Agapé environmental education program, ACE Education, as well as expand a vision for more programs that meet the needs of our guests.  Annually we serve over 5,000 area children in ACE Education field trips. 

All hikers with a minimum of $25 in pledges will receive a FREE T-shirt.  To make certain we have enough T-shirts available, we need your registration and pledge information by October 27th.  We will still take registrations up to the day of the Hike-a-Thon, but we can't be certain there will be enough T-shirts after this date.

For further questions about the event contact:  Camp Agapé (919) 552-9421, ACEed@agapekurebeach.org.

Complete details and registration forms

Explore the Outdoors and Marine Mammal Day

Weekend events in North Carolina and a bonus on whale intelligence!

 

Source: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/beluga-whales-pass-our-dangerous-chemicals-on-to-their-babies

Explore the Outdoors at the EnergyExplorium

Source: Photolibrary.com via National Wildlife Federation

This Saturday, Nov 3, from 10-2, organizations such as the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve, Lincoln County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the NC Wildlife Federation will be at the EnergyExplorium introducing children to the wonders of exploring the outdoors.  Hands-on activities will include fishing, rock climbing, wildlife encounters as well as interactive educational exhibits focusing on outdoor safety, the environment, conservation, and more.  This event is free!

 

For more information, click here.

 

The EnergyExplorium

13339 Hagers Ferry Road
Huntersville, NC 28078

 

Marine Mammal Day

Source: Google Images

Also this Saturday, Nov 3, from 9-5, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science is having Marine Mammal Day!  Spend the day learning about marine mammals, the ocean, and climate change.  There will be talks all day at the Daily Planet in the Nature Research Center and exhibits throughout the museum on topics such as, Antarctic Wildlife Adventure: Studying Marine Mammals along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, Beaufort’s Dolphins- Getting to Know Them, The Life of Plastic, Whale Diversity, Polar Bears: Arctic Icons, Fun with Oysters — The Ecological Importance of Oyster Reefs and much more.  This event is also free!

 

For more information, click here.

 

 

Bill of Rights for whales?

 

Years of research showing a high level of intelligence in cetaceans has led some marine scientists to argue that whales and dolphins deserve to be protected under an international bill of rights.  The move to support a Declaration of Rights for Dolphins was made at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's biggest science conference. Sparking a philosophical debate on what constitutes an individual, years worth of research shows the complexity of dolphin and whale brains and that the organisms show a human-like level of self-awareness.  An article in the BBC News cites several examples of dolphin intelligence such as this: "A number of captive dolphins were rewarded with fish in return for tidying up their tank. One of them ripped up a large paper bag, hid away the pieces, and presented them one at a time to get multiple rewards.Antarctic Wildlife Adventure: Studying Marine Mammals along the Western Antarctic Peninsula."

 

Such a Declaration of Rights would make it illegal to kill or hold captive dolphins and whales.  You can read the entire BBC article here.