Household Plants are Helpful!

photo credit

Last September when I moved to Utah, I was pretty bummed I could not bring my houseplants. It just wasn’t feasible for the two day drive I made. I kept about 5 potted plants, including Bamboo, Gerbera Daisies, Geraniums, and a few leafy green plants, all of which I gave away to neighbors and friends.Personally, I feel they lighten up the room and keep my overall mood happy.

And that’s want most studies say too. Houseplants are more than just pretty and do more than just give off oxygen, they actually clean the air.

According to Mother Nature Network “they can help improve indoor air quality by removing pollutants known as volatile organic compounds.”

Their article goes on to explain a study NASA conducted inthe late 1980’s. They examined 15 different houseplants for their ability toremove common indoor air pollutants.

The plants listed below proved most effective at removing pollutants.

• Peace lily
• Goldenpothos
• English ivy
• Chrysanthemum
• Gerberadaisy
• Mother-in-law's tongue
• Bamboo palm
• Azalea
• Red-edged racaena
• Spider plant

The NASA study recommends using one potted plant per 100 square feet of home or office space.

There are lots of articles out there about how putting plants in your home, office and in classrooms not only makes the rooms look nicer, but also help boost mood, reduce stress and make you feel healthier. It’s easy to understand that these effects are from the air actually being cleaner.

Check out the Mother Nature Network article “Houseplants that clean the air” for more information about the NASA study and descriptions on how the different house plants listed above help clean your air.

Also check out the Plants4life website to learn how plants in the classroom help create a better learning environment. By clicking the Background tab, you can also download their report on the benefits of keeping plants in offices and schools.

Remember, it’s never one big thing that makes a big change in our life, but all the little, easy, day to day things that actually make us and our environment healthier.

-Holly

Activities to use with The Lorax

It is my personal opinion that whenever I teach students about environmental awareness, there is no other book or movie that better explains the message of taking care of the environment then Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.

I’ve used the 1972 TV movie in a first grade classroom as part of an environmental awareness unit, and the children easily got the overall concepts of our dependency on the environment to make goods, and that also it is a finite resource if not taking care of properly.

Why am I boasting about the Lorax? Well the new 2012 version is coming to theaters this weekend!

I don’t know about you, but I am very excited to go see it.

If you are a teacher, troop leader, child care director, home school parent, or in any other educational position, then you should take advantage of this opportunity to let a relevant, pop culture recent event be the reason to explore a new topic in your lessons and activities!

As one of my former college professors always said “You gotta reach ‘em to teach ‘em”

And I don’t know about you, but I feel the media just handed us the topic of Environmental Education on a silver platter known as a blockbuster movie. When you can relate your lesson to something recent or pop culture, you've got the students attention.

If that’s not reason enough, Project Learning Tree has putout a list of their activities for grades preK-8 that tie in the book/movie and learning about trees. And if you don’t have the PLT handbook you can download them at their site!

If you already have the PLT activity guide, you may also find this list I made of activities related to Arbor Day helpful too.

You can easily find the Lorax book and 1972 movie at local libraries. I found a free version of the movie online for use in my classroom through Google.

If I were in a classroom right now, I would definitely be planning on starting my environmental science unit in the next couple of weeks while the children, and society, are still excited about the topic.

-Holly

Interested in taking a Project Learning Tree workshop and getting the activity guide?

Click here for more information and to sign up!

Tracy Aviary's Transformation

Tracy Aviary, a member organization of USEE, was praised in the Tribune for its transformation over the past few years.  A new building was completed in January, and as a result of the aviary's new look, funded by a $19.6M bond passed by Salt Lake City's voters, visitation is up 20%.

The aviary has effectively "[renewed] its position as one of Salt Lake City's most prized assets."

Spring is only 20 days away, and Tracy Aviary is an excellent attraction with many upcoming events, summer camps, daily activities, and membership options.

To view the Salt Lake Tribune article: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/outdoors/53568770-117/aviary-tracy-lake-salt.html.csp?page=1

For a list of Tracy Aviary's renovation projects: http://www.tracyaviary.org/history/

-Aaron

Easy Green Cleaning Tips

Photo Credit

I always have my staples when it comes to cleaning supplies.I must have Soft Scrub for the bathroom, I use Wetjet for the floor and I love my Swiffer dust cloths. However, this weekend while visiting my parents I didn’t have that.

I wanted to dust off the scanner to scan some old pictures,and after looking in every cupboard and closet I could finally asked “Don’t you have any Swiffer cloths??!”

My Dad answered “No, but here’s a dryer sheet.”

In response to my confused “What??” he handed me a torn pagefrom this February’s edition of the Reader’s Digest. On it was a list of 13 “Cleaning Tips You Haven’t Heard Before” and the first tip was: dusting with an old dryersheet.

I read the rest of the tips on there and I thought, these tips are not just easy, but actually pretty environmentally friendly. Most of them ask you to use common household items, either eliminating the need to use chemicals, or reusing something you would have otherwise thrown away.

My favorite tips are:

• To clean blinds: close them and wipe them up and down with an old dryer sheet
• After a shower, spray it down with vinegar and water to get rid of musty odors
• Use a wet pumice stone to clean your oven instead of any spray-on product
• Clean the microwave oven by microwaving a cup of baking soda and water until it boils, then wipe clean
• Use an old tube sock on a yard stick to clean under refrigerators,ovens and overhead cobwebs
• To remove stains in your toilet, drop in a bubbling denture tablet and leave it for at least 30 minutes or overnight, then swish with a brush.

To see a complete list go the Reader's Digest article: "Cleaning Tips You Haven't Heard Before"

Sometimes it’s just the simple small things in our day today living that can help us make a big change in the long run.

If you'd like to learn more Green Living Tips, check out the upcoming Green Bag at the Jordan River Water Conservancy District Gardens. March 7th at 6pm.

-Holly

Arbor Day Poster Contest

Teachers! Looking for a great way to motivate your students to learn about the environment? Need an exciting culminating activity? Want to spice up your spring lessons??

Well you are in luck!

Every year the Utah division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands holds a state wide K-6 grade Arbor Day poster contest, and there is still time to enter! Deadline this year is Feb. 29th.

After teaching your students about Arbor Day and this year’s theme: “Trees are Terrific. . . useful in so many ways!” your student will then create posters and compete in school wide, regional, and state competitions and win prizes for themselves and your school!

Prizes include $500 for your school, $50 towards planting a tree at your school, nursery gift certificates and signed awards by the governor for the students, and more!

What’s even better is that USEE has partnered with Utah’s Forestry Division to make special professional development workshops for teachers. These workshops will highlight activities in our Project Learning Tree manual that you can use as part of your lesson planning for Arbor Day. Remember all of USEE’s PLT activities are correlated to Utah’s Core Curriculum standards.“We All Need Trees” on page 65 of the PLT preK–8 activity guide, is just one of the many activities you could use to get started on exploring why trees are so useful. This activity has students sort pictures, or actual products that may or may not come from trees. First they must guess what products do come from trees and then sort them into three categories: wood, food and paper. Some of the products include carpeting, chewing gum, soap and cellophane! After seeing the abundance of different products, you lead your class into a discussion about conservation practices.

My favorite part of this activity is the extensions, especially the “Treasure Tree” idea. What you do is take an old Christmas tree or large tree limb with lots of branches and make ornaments to hang on it that represents all the different kinds of tree products. Older students could include information about what part of the tree is used to make that product. What an awesome way to display the objective of the lesson, and I think it would look great in the hallway or lobby of a school, for everyone to learn from.

Another idea I had after doing this activity is surveying the classroom or school and gathering data about how many things are used in school that are or aren’t made from trees, and then display the data using a bar graph. You could compare and contrast tree products vs. not trees products, the three categories listed in the lesson, or which classrooms use more or less tree products.

For those who have already gone to a PLT workshop and own the activity guide here is a complete list of Arbor Day activities from the PLT activity guide word doc.

I greatly encourage going to one of our PLT Arbor Day workshops and/or registering for the Arbor Day poster contest, your students will have so much fun!

-Holly

The date for the upcoming Arbor Day PLT workshop is:

Feb 25th at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (2155 W Forest St, Brigham City, UT)

Workshops are eligible for .5 USOE Credits. Cost: $25

Click here to register

Click here for more information about Project Learning Tree

Bioregional Consciousness

A bioregion is an area that is defined by naturally occurring physical environmental features, as opposed to politically mapped boundaries, for example, a watershed, pictured below.



The watershed that the nearly 1 million residents of the Salt Lake Valley live in is called the Jordan River Watershed. It is bounded from the east by the Wasatch Mountains, from the south by the Traverse Range, from the West by the Oquirrh Mountains, and the north-flowing Jordan River drains into its northern boundary, the Great Salt Lake.



According to Peter Berg, who is credited with coining the term in the 1970s, "Bioregionalism is a significant step beyond either conservationist or environmentalist thinking." The importance of bioregionalism's environmental strategy is that its focus is immediately local. "There is no way to ensure the survival of the biosphere without saving each bioregion, and it is especially important for anyone living within industrial society to begin cultivating bioregional consciousness."

Understanding your bioregion, as described by the watershed information above, is a good starting point. Continue by asking yourself simple bioregional questions, such as:

Where does my water come from?
Where does my wastewater go?
Where does my garbage go?
What are the native edible plants in my bioregion?
How long is the growing season here?
Are there any endangered species in my bioregion?
Does the food I eat come from my bioregion?
How can I help?

The Jordan River Watershed is currently threatened. According to the Jordan River Watershed Council, this watershed suffers from "impaired fish populations," "metals and toxic chemicals," "failing septic systems," "industrial discharges," and "illegal dumping."

After developing a bioregional consciousness one may begin purposeful work in the local community for a sustainable future for the beautiful Jordan River Watershed.