Update on Resoultion to Get Kids Outdoors!

USEE is happy to announce that this Resolution has passed through Committee and the House and is now waiting on a decision in the Senate! This would be a great time to let your voice be heard - - talk to your Senator today!

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION SUPPORTING PUBLIC POLICIES THAT PROMOTE OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

2011 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH

Chief Sponsor: Jack R. Draxler
Senate Sponsor: Patricia W. Jones

LONG TITLE
General Description:
This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor supports increased participation by children in outdoor activities and supports policies that promote outdoor activities for children.
Highlighted Provisions:
This resolution expresses support for increased participation by children in outdoor activities and supports policies that promote outdoor activities for Utah's children.
Special Clauses:
None

Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:

WHEREAS, Utah is home to a wealth of high quality and beautiful natural resources that offer a wide range of incomparable lands for recreational opportunities for all Utah residents;

WHEREAS, Utah's national and state parks, national forests, range lands, rivers, lakes, and deserts provide areas to walk, hunt, fish, kayak, raft, climb, ski, bike, run, and snowmobile;

WHEREAS, over the past decade participation in outdoor pursuits and activities has been on the decline;

WHEREAS, participation in these activities is a major contributor to Utah's economy;

WHEREAS, there are also concerns that many of our younger generation are becoming disconnected from nature;

WHEREAS, youth are shunning the great outdoors in favor of sedentary activities such as video games, television, the Internet, and movies;

WHEREAS, numerous studies have shown that there are many health, physical, emotional, and educational benefits to playing in and experiencing Utah's outdoors;

WHEREAS, outdoor experiences are critical components to the development of the next generation of Utah's conservation stewards and recreationists;

WHEREAS, childhood obesity rates in Utah and the nation are epidemic and outdoor activities can be an effective means to combating this major health concern;

WHEREAS, Utahns should work together to help create a healthy environment that
will not threaten outdoor activities through effective policy and public awareness;

WHEREAS, every child in Utah should have the opportunity to visit a national park, sit beneath a tree that is at least 100 years old, boat a river, climb a mountain, cook dinner over a campfire, go fishing, hike a trail, plant a native flower, shrub, or tree, listen to a spring bird song or chorus of frogs, gaze at the stars, and follow animal tracks in the snow; and

WHEREAS, it is through these and many other activities that Utahns can feel and pass on to the next generation a connection with nature that refreshes the body, mind, and soul for facing life's challenges and opportunities:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein, express support for increased participation by children in outdoor activities and support policies that promote outdoor activities for Utah's children.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Utah Department of Natural Resources, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, the Utah State Office of Education, the Utah Department of Health, the Utah League of Cities and Towns, and the Utah Association of Counties.

As pollinator numbers are in decline, PLT and USFS support youth-planted gardens

Photo by Flickr's Growingwildfarm

A decline in the numbers and health of pollinators such as bees, birds, and butterflies poses a threat to biodiversity, global food webs and human health.

To help stem the decline, Project Learning Tree® (PLT) and the U.S. Forest Service have engaged students across the country with 28 grants for projects in 20 states.

As part of the PollinatorLIVE program, supported by the U.S. Forest Service and the Prince William Network, PLT’s GreenWorks! PollinatorLIVE garden grants enable students to develop gardens where pollinators can thrive.

This spring, as students take the lead in growing these gardens, they learn about the value and importance of pollinators, help beautify their communities and get to spend more time outdoors.

Announced today, the grants were awarded through a competitive process the involved students from the very beginning. Read the national press release here.

The awardees include the following projects:

• In Reno, Nevada, students are creating a pollinator garden with native plants at Urban Roots Farm, a nonprofit that fosters a sense of place in Reno’s young people. The students will use the garden to study Nevada’s ecology and the challenges that climate change poses to plant and animal life. Teachers will use PLT curriculum materials to support and enhance “citizen-scientist” projects back at their own schools.

• In Nacogdoches, Texas, the Friends of the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas, Latino Legacy, and other partners sponsor Niños del Jardin (Children of the Garden). Fourth and fifth grade English-language learners and their families will create two gardens. In addition to the educational and environmental benefits, “the gardens will bring the community together, create connections, get children outside, and create more avenues for face-to-face interaction,” said project coordinator Lyndi Long.

• In Manassas, Virginia, middle-school students at New Dominion Alternative Education Center will create a pollinator garden in the shape of a butterfly, as well as two raised beds to grow vegetables. The school serves a diverse population of at-risk students from throughout the region. According to project organizers Joy Greene and Cynthia Zorn-Pettigrew, the garden will serve as a focal area for the school and allow the students to investigate the positive changes they can make in the environment.

• In Madison, Wisconsin, high school students at Goodman Community Center will plant and maintain a garden, butterfly house, and beehive. In addition to these students, who are in a grounds and maintenance job-training program, the garden will be used by preschool, elementary, and middle school youth involved in other Goodman Center programs. A beekeeper has agreed to bring in a new queen for the hive, and the honey collected will be served in the center’s student-run café!

GreenWorks! is PLT’s service-learning program that engages PLT educators, students, and their communities in “learning-by-doing” neighborhood improvement projects. In this round of grants, funded by the U.S. Forest Service, PLT has partnered with PollinatorLIVE, a distance learning initiative that focuses on pollinators, gardening, and conservation.

Since 1992, Project Learning Tree has distributed nearly $1 million to fund almost 1,000 grant projects in communities across the country.

Learn more about past GreenWorks! grantees on the Project Learning Tree website.

By Jackie Stallard (February 23rd, 2011) from the American Forest Foundation

Obama's Great Outdoors Initiatve

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

February 16, 2011

President Obama Announces Plan for Community-Based Conservation through the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama today announced the Administration’s action plan, under the America’s Great Outdoors initiative, to achieve lasting conservation of the outdoor spaces that power our nation’s economy, shape our culture, and build our outdoor traditions. This initiative seeks to reinvigorate our approach to conservation and reconnect Americans, especially young people, with the lands and waters that are used for farming and ranching, hunting and fishing, and for families to spend quality time together. Recognizing that many of these places and resources are under intense pressure, the President established the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative last April to work with the American people in developing a conservation and recreation agenda that makes sense for the 21^st century.

The report released today outlines ways in which the Federal Government will help empower local communities to accomplish their conservation and recreation priorities by recognizing that the best ideas come from outside of Washington. Last summer, senior Administration officials held 51 listening sessions across the country to gather input from Americans about the outdoor places and activities that they value most. These sessions drew more than 10,000 participants and more than 105,000 written comments, shaping an action plan that, based on local initiatives and support, which when implemented will result in:

· Accessible parks or green spaces for our children.

· A new generation of great urban parks and community green spaces.

· Newly-restored river restorations and recreational “blueways” that power economic revitalization in communities.

· Stronger support for farmers, ranchers, and private landowners that help protect rural landscapes and provide access for recreation.

· The reinvestment of revenues from oil and gas extraction into the permanent protection of parks, open spaces, wildlife habitat, and access for recreational activities.

· A 21^st century conservation ethic that builds on local ideas and solutions for environmental stewardship and connecting to our historic, cultural, and natural heritage.

“With children spending half as much time outside as their parents did, and with many Americans living in urban areas without safe access to green space, connecting to the outdoors is more important than ever for the economic and physical health of our communities,” said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “Through the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, this Administration will work together with communities to ensure clean and accessible lands and waters, thriving outdoor cultures and economies, and healthy and active youth.”

“The America’s Great Outdoors Initiative is born out of a conversation with the American people about what matters most to them about the places where they live, work, and play,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said. “It’s about practical, common-sense ideas from the American people on how our natural, cultural, and historic resources can help us be a more competitive, stronger, and healthier nation. Together, we are adapting our conservation strategies to meet the challenges of today and empowering communities to protect and preserve our working lands and natural landscapes for generations to come.”

“America’s farmlands and woodlands help fuel our economy and create jobs across the rural areas of our country,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This plan seeks to work in partnership with landowners, conservation groups, states and others to conserve our working lands and our public lands and to reconnect Americans – especially our nation’s youth – with opportunities to stay active. This blueprint was developed with input from the over 100,000 Americans in all corners of our country who joined our national listening sessions and who contributed their ideas online.”

“This initiative is an effort to reconnect Americans with the valuable resources all around them and shape a 21st century plan for protecting our great outdoors,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “It is important that our waters, lands and greenspaces are brought back into our daily lives. President Obama’s initiative will help make these critical resources a national focus once again, and involve people of every background in conservation of the places that we hold dear.”

Specifically, the report calls for fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund; establishing a 21^st century Conservation Service Corps to engage young Americans in public lands and water restoration; and extending the deduction for conservation easement donations on private lands beyond 2011, among other measures.

The full report and additional information is available at: www.americasgreatoutdoors.gov.

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You can find more info here.

Sustainable Systems at USEE

USEE is hosting a Community Discussion Course on Sustainable Systems at Work. We had our first meeting last week, and some great discussion ensued.

Here are some interesting thoughts and ideas that came from the meeting:

• Get everyone on-board. If you are working toward sustainability in your workplace, it is important that everyone be on the same page. Purchasers, accountants, CEOs, facility managers, and sustainability coordinators alike.

• Use the magic words. Know your audience, and know how to gear your message to them. Maybe they won't respond to end-of-the-world rhetoric, but will respond to energy savings=money savings.
• Write it down. If you don't have hard plans for change, change probably won't happen.
• If the people lead, the leaders will follow.
• If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.
• If we demand change, change will happen.

To learn more about the Community Discussion courses, check us out at www.usee.org.

Green Church

This upcoming Wednesday, Andree' and Marta from USEE will be going on a tour of the first "Green Church" in Utah, a LEED Silver LDS church in Farmington. The LDS church wrote an article about some of the features of this building when it opened last year. Check it out:


Solar stake center harnesses power of the sun
Prototype to evaluate feasibility of energy-saving meetinghouses
By Greg Hill

Photo Credit

FARMINGTON, UTAH Though a new stake center in this northern Utah community is brimming with environmentally friendly technology, the most visually evident are the 158 solar panels covering a portion of the south side of the roof.

The building is a prototype designed to evaluate the feasibility of solar power in Church meetinghouses. Other such prototypes are being built in Eagle Mountain, Utah; Apache Junction, Ariz.; and Logandale and Pahrump, Nev.

Presiding Bishop H. David Burton said at a media conference April 27 in the cultural hall of the meetinghouse, "If it works in the northern clime like Farmington, Utah, we have great optimism it will be successful in other parts of the world."

The building, situated on flat land near the Great Salt Lake about 13 miles north of Salt Lake City, has full exposure to the sun as it rises over the eastern mountains and arcs over the southern sky. The stake center is expected to open sometime during the next few weeks.

Bishop Richard C. Edgley, first counselor to Bishop Burton, reviewed methods the Church has instituted over several decades to be environmentally sound while being mindful of needs of members. Diving so fully into solar power is the latest.

Bishop Burton told the Church News, "There is something very doctrinally sound when we talk about conservation of resources, when we talk about being responsible. Not only responsible in the environment, but responsible for our own lives and how we live them and the direction our lives take. Those kinds of things are very important in terms of our individual members.

"Like parents, we have teaching moments. We can say this is a teaching moment. Not only are we trying to do it institutionally, we hope that our members will use responsible, conservative kinds of activities as they conduct their own personal lives."

From simple bike racks to encourage members to ride their bikes to meetings when they can, to thermostats that can self-diagnose heating and cooling systems and e-mail reports of problems to a local facility manager before anyone calls in a complaint of "too cold" or "too hot," the stake center is an example of environmental responsibility.

Lights will automatically shut off in empty rooms because of motion sensors. Eighteen residential furnaces make it possible to heat the building's 10 zones individually. Instantaneous tankless water heaters provide hot water for rest rooms and the baptismal font, replacing 100-gallon tanks that consumed energy keeping the water hot 24-hours-a-day whether needed or not.

According to Jared Doxey, director of architecture, engineering and construction for the Church's Physical Facilities Department, "A lot of little things might not seem on their own to make a big difference. But when you start adding up the little things … the cumulative effect is that it reduces the total cost of ownership for this building as we operate it for the next 50-75 years."

During the morning, Brother Doxey conducted a tour of the building, pointing out many of the "little things" that will save money and conserve the environment.

Bishop Burton said environment responsibility is important to the Church as it improves the surrounding community in reducing energy use, water use and pollution.

The stake center is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified at the silver level by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council. Points toward certification are awarded based on several environmental criteria such as energy savings, water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions and improved indoor environmental quality.

The solar energy is a big part of the building's certification. An inverter on the grounds, about the size of a kitchen range, regulates the solar energy, Brother Doxey said. When the solar panels are not producing enough electricity, the inverter draws in power from an outside grid. When the panels are producing more electricity than the building is using, the inverter sends it out to the power grid and it is purchased by the electric company. That means, he said, that between buying and selling electricity, it is expected that the building's electricity cost for a year will be net zero.

An interesting feature in the building is a computer readout of energy use. It shows the amount of electricity being produced by the solar panels and the resulting cost savings. As icons are clicked, it also displays how much coal would be consumed producing the same amount of electricity, the time a blow dryer would run on that amount of electricity and the reduction in CO-2 emissions by using solar power.

The readout can be viewed on a screen in the materials center or wirelessly on a computer.

Bishop Burton said the readouts can be used to help members learn about the value of energy conservation in the Church and in their personal lives.

From the Mailbox: Happy Valentine's Day

Here is another fabulous picture from Rockcliff Nature Center, just in time for Valentine's Day.

From the Mailbox: Scenes from Rock Cliff

Every once in awhile, some spectacular things show up in the USEE (e)mailbox. Today, eight beautiful photos taken by Kathy Donnell at Rock Cliff. Enjoy!

Deer on the Ridgeline

Sunrise

American Dipper in the river

Another American Dipper in the river

Welcome Crystal! USEE's Newest Intern

Crystal and her cute family!

My name is Crystal Fletcher. I am a native of Tucson, Arizona but got married and moved to Utah 8 years ago. I am currently finishing my Bachelor's in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Sustainability after a small 6 year break to have kids. I will finish my Bachelor's in December 2011 and will hopefully continue on to Graduate School at Utah State, to attend the College of Natural Resources in 2012. I wear many hats; I am a wife, a mother, a stay-at-home mom, a college student and now an intern at USEE. I have a 6 year old boy and a 4 year old girl and 2 wild dogs. I enjoy reading, gardening, camping and playing with my kiddos. I would love to start hiking more, now that my kids are old enough to go and hike on their own feet. I love the heat (it’s the Arizona in me!) and in the summer you will find us out and about, camping, hiking, rafting, biking and taking in the sun! I have had a blast finding my favorite places in Utah and the surrounding areas, my top three would have to be Bear Lake, Lava Hot Springs and the Fiery Furnace in Moab. A family that plays together stays together!

I am very excited for the opportunity to intern at USEE and I am looking forward to all the opportunities that interning has to offer. It was my 6 year old that inspired me to shift my educational goals from Civil Engineering to Environmental Studies after he came home from preschool more than 2 years ago with the intent to recycle everything. I really think that our youth can change, implement and encourage a greener way of life, I know my little boy did it in our house!

Tree Rings Reveal History of History-Changing Mexican Droughts

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"Super droughts" may have helped bring down the Toltec and Aztec civilizations.

The water-stressed Central American region of today experienced super-droughts centuries ago that helped bring down two civilizations, says a study.

Using dendrochronology -- the study of tree rings -- a team from the University of Arkansas created a model using thousand-year-old Montezuma baldcypress (Taxodium mucronatum) from Barranca de Amealco in Querétaro state.

The drought observed through tree rings was "more severe and prolonged than anything we've seen in the modern era," said David Stahle, lead researcher of the study, to be published in the American Geophysical Union's Geophysical Research Letters.

The study's home base in Mexico is critical, as the climate models used by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to measure climatic change have predicted a "drying out" of the country leading up to 2050, said Richard Seager, a research professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, another lab that works with tree rings to decode past climate patterns.

"The fact that they occurred in the past means they could occur again," said Seager, but the events would be "much greater and more extreme."

Connie Woodhouse, a professor at the University of Arizona specializing in the climatology of western North America, said the records indicate that a similar event could happen in the future, with the added exacerbation of human-induced global warming.

"It's not a forecast or a predictive tool," she said. "It's sort of a heads-up."

Climatic conquests
Through studying bald cypress rings, the team was able to reconstruct the soil moisture balance during the rise and fall of the Toltecs and Aztecs, two of Mexico's great indigenous civilizations. The Toltecs flourished from 800 to 1000. Prime time for the Aztecs ran from 1500 to 1700.

The data identified droughts as long as 19 years, and are linked with destabilizing events that eventually brought down the Toltec state. Droughts during Aztec rule coincided with devastating famines.

The shift to a severe climate had secondary effects, as well. "Prolonged drought over Mesoamerica during the early Colonial era may have interacted with epidemic disease to contribute to the catastrophic depopulation of Aztec Mexico in the aftermath of the [Spanish] conquest," states the study.

So will modern civilizations finish off like the Toltecs? Stahle is careful not to draw a direct parallel.

"We don't know for sure if it caused a decline," he said. "We don't know for sure if it caused the collapse of the ancient city of Tula [the Toltec capital]." But the drought's role is apparent.

Dendrochronology is an effective method for constructing climate models back to 2,000 years because it directly calibrates with ancient weather patterns, said Stahle. The bald cypress is a rare variety in the region to survive more than 1,000 years. One tree in southern Mexico is ranked one of the oldest in the world.

SOURCE

By Tiffany Stecker and ClimateWire | Tuesday, February 8, 2011 |

Resource Reveiw: Assessing the quality of your programs.

If you are considering new programs or curriculum, how do you know if they are of high quality? What about your existing programs and curriculum?

Image Source.

The NAAEE's online Environmental Education Resource Review can help you in determining the quality of your programs. Anyone can go online and compare their programs to the Guidelines for Excellence to better assess their quality and effectiveness.

The online resource review takes you through a series of 28 recommendations or guidelines broken down into six key characteristics of high quality environmental education materials.

Any of the following can be reviewed :

• Activity guide / collection of lesson plans
• Teacher's guide
• Interactive, instructional DVD
• Interpretive program
• Field trip or guided tour
• Any other educational materials that include a lesson plan format

For an example of a resource review, go here. To start your own resource review, go here.

Leading the Way to Environmental Literacy and Quality:

USEE was recently featured in an article written by EETAP (Environmental Education & Training Partnership). Read the feature below, or find the full article here.



The Utah Society for Environmental Education (USEE), a professional association for environmental educators in Utah, is also making extensive use of the guidelines.

Training for newcomers to the field such as Americorps volunteers or seasonal naturalists follows the guidelines. USEE staff feels that the guidelines contain the core of what everyone in the field
should know when they begin to teach. But it doesn’t stop there. USEE uses the Materials Guidelines to review environmental education materials. The purpose behind conducting these
reviews is to evaluate the quality of environmental education publications and activities. However, USEE’s Executive Director, Andree’ Walker, feels that the review experience itself is very important. By participating in the review process, all of the reviewers gain a better feeling for the attributes that high quality environmental education materials have in common.

Following this thread of improved competency for environmental educators, USEE, like the Kentucky Environmental Education Council has developed a certification program for environmental educators based on the guidelines. The program works at two
levels – provisional certification for those who have just entered the field and lack extensive experience and full certification for those with more experience to back up the academic background they may have acquired in college.

USEE staff feel that their certification program may have reached the “tipping point.” It appears that the majority of environmental educators in Utah are realizing the benefits of becoming certified. In addition, employers in the field are beginning to look for certified environmental educators in their job searches.

Walker pointed out that in addition to the obvious benefits to the individual being certified, the program also has benefits for USEE as the certifying agency. The
national guidelines give USEE greater visibility and credibility as it administers a certification program. In addition, USEE is being seen by many younger environmental educators as relevant to their needs and interests. There is some evidence that certification is pushing membership increases for USEE. The nominal fees assessed as part of the certification program approximately cover the cost of administering the program. So, USEE can provide a service to the state’s environmental educators that also benefits the society with little to no drain on the organization’s resources.

USEE also is using the guidelines to help its state education agency complete an environmental literacy plan for Utah. When first considering how to provide input on the Environmental Literacy Plan development, USEE members felt they were faced with an insurmountable task. Upon reflection, they realized that the Guidelines for Excellence could immensely reduce the amount of work needed. By reviewing the state’s core curriculum and comparing it to the guidelines, USEE could concentrate on those areas where there appeared to be gaps. As a result, USEE’s contribution to the environmental literacy planning process has been focused and to the point. Their comments don’t reinvent the wheel but instead target needed new components or components that should be updated.

The national Guidelines for Excellence in Environmental Education are very much a part of the Utah Society for Environmental Education. Programs such as Certification, Resource Review, the USEE Conference, Professional Development and our current Environmental Literacy Plan efforts are rooted in the guidelines. They not only help shape our programs, but lend further validity and strength to our programs and organization, as well as the entire field of environmental education.

Andree’ Walker, Executive Director, USEE

Smog-eating Tiles

KB Homes has succeeded in acquiring the rights to distribute concrete roofing tiles that have been tested and shown to reduce some air pollution. These tiles, having been sold successfully in Europe for the past five years, are now showing up in Southern California where residents are expected to be willing to purchase the new tiles, or upgrade their old tiles, due to the high use of concrete tiling and large amounts of air pollution in that area. Of course, the tiles do not solve the issue of air pollution - they only work with nitrogen oxides - but many places in Europe where the tiles have been bought and installed have taken measurements that show the air is actually cleaner.

KB Homes Model Home, Lancaster, CA. Image Source

Though I am not a chemist, to help explain, the tiles in question contain titanium dioxide which - when lighted by UV rays from the sun - degrades the nitrogen oxides, releasing oxygen into the atmosphere and leaving a veneer of nitrates on the tile. When the next rainstorm hits, the left over residue (a passivating layer) gets washed off and the oxidation process begins with renewed vigor. Of course, the lifetime use of the tile is yet to be determined, but the beauty of this process is that the former pollutant gets broken down into two seemingly harmless byproducts: oxygen which gets released back into the atmosphere and nitrates that go into the rain gutter to ground. The nitrogen-infused runoff is even marketed as a fertilizer for any garden or lawn found underneath. Pretty good, but there is little comment (or study) about the possible effects of over-fertilization or water contamination when an entire housing community sports such roofing.

Oxidation Process. Image Source.

The companies estimate that 10,800 miles of released nitrogen oxides can be cleared up by 2,000 square feet of tile, an average American roof. Yet, as you and I both know, car exhaust is not entirely made up of nitrogen oxides. In fact, it is only one part of what currently spills out the tailpipe. The bulk of emissions is carbon dioxide, responsible for most of the current debate about climate change and causation for Americans everywhere to renege any seemingly illicit relationships with the molecule. Other emissions include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, benzene, formaldehyde, polycyclic hydrocarbons, and particulate matter, better known as soot. Each is, needless to say, pretty bad for both humans and environment.

Utah often tops the charts in particulate matter pollution, and so to curb or offset any pollutant in this state is a step towards responsible environmental stewardship. For anyone interested in purchasing these tiles, KB Homes estimates that an average roof will cost around $800 more than the normal concrete tile roofing. Though tiled roofs in Utah seem few and far between (except for maybe southern Utah), a bevy of new home materials that are more environmentally sound - such as Bionictile by Ceracasa, tile siding which effectively does the same thing by removing nitrogen oxides from the air - are creeping into the market.

From the Mailbox - Groundhog Day!

Post credits to Ker Than for National Geographic News (Updated February 2, 2011)

"The sky is clear. Prepare for warmth!" With those rousing words Wednesday morning, the world's most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, offered a ray of hope to millions of Americans being buffeted by a monster winter storm. (See Groundhog Day pictures.)

By seeing no shadow as he emerged from his ceremonial burrow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on Groundhog Day 2011, Phil, according to tradition, is said to have predicted an early spring.

"Groundhog Day is a lot like a rock concert, but the people are better behaved and there's a groundhog involved," Tom Chapin, editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper, told National Geographic News last Groundhog Day eve.

"There's music and entertainment, spoofs of game shows, and people shooting t-shirts and Beanie Babies" into the crowd, he said.

Legend has it that if Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his temporary burrow—a simulated tree stump at the rural site of Gobbler's Knob—on February 2 and sees his shadow, winter weather will continue for six more weeks across the United States. But if Phil doesn't see his shadow, then spring temperatures are just around the corner.

Regardless of the weather prediction, on Groundhog Day, Phil "speaks" to his human caretakers, known as the Inner Circle, in Groundhogese and tells them his forecast. The Inner Circle then translates Phil's words for the world to hear—or so they say. (Related: "Groundhog Sees More Winter Ahead" [2006].)

On Groundhog Day 2011, "immortal" Punxsutawney Phil—supposedly born no later than the 19th century—got his message out in some decidedly 21st-century ways, by texting his forecast (to sign up, text "groundhog" to 247365) and, of course, updating his Facebook status and the Pennsylvania-tourism Twitter feed.

(Related: "No Winter by 2105? Study Offers Grim Forecast for U.S.")

Video: Wild Groundhog in "Action"

Groundhog Day Origins

According to the official Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Day Web site, Groundhog Day is the result of a blend of ancient Christian and Roman customs that came together in Germany.

In the early days of Christianity in Europe, clergy would distribute blessed candles to the faithful on February 2 in honor of Candlemas, a holiday celebrating the Virgin Mary's presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after his birth.

Along the way, February 2 also became associated with weather prediction, perhaps due to its proximity to the pagan Celtic festival of Imbolc—also a time of meteorological superstition—which falls on February 1.

Tradition held that the weather on Candlemas was important: Clear skies meant an extended winter.

Legend has it that the Romans also believed that conditions during the first days of February were good predictors of future weather, but the empire looked to hedgehogs for their forecasts.

These two traditions melded in Germany and were brought over to the United States by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania. Lacking hedgehogs, the German settlers substituted native groundhogs in the ritual, and Groundhog Day was born.

The West Side: The Real Story

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Many of you may have seen the front-page article published recently in the Salt Lake Tribune, “The west side: Where an ill wind blows,” about the environmental health injustice that exists on the west of Salt Lake City. If you made it through the three-page spread, you may have been left feeling distressed and dissatisfied, as we were here at USEE, with the way the article stereotypes an entire community and neglects to highlight any efforts to bring about environmental justice.

The article addresses everything from hazardous waste sites, to air pollution, to eating habits, to household sanitation, and everything in between. It discusses crime and the homeless population, industrial plants and freeways, trains and truck traffic, obesity and asthma, levels of diversity and education. Overall, it makes the west side sound like an undesirable place to live with no hope of improvement.

The article doesn’t talk about the benefits of a culturally diverse community. It does not mention the numerous school and community gardens that are bringing fresh produce and education to the west side. It does not disclose the many organizations that are striving to improve the quality of life, education, and health of the community on the west side, such as Neighborworks, the Wasatch Community Gardens, the Peoples Market, University Neighborhood Partners, The Day Riverside Library, Envision Utah, Tree Utah, and many more.

Noticeably absent from the article is mention of the West/Central Salt Lake City Children’s Environmental Health & Environmental Justice (CHE/EJ) Initiative. This project includes numerous partner organizations, such as the Department of Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, Salt Lake Valley Health Department, Salt Lake County, and the Salt Lake City Office of Sustainability. Community partners who have been participating include the Utah Society for Environmental Education, Envision Utah, University Neighborhood Partners, Breathe Utah, Neighborworks, and the Rose Park and Fairpark Neighborhood Councils and the Utah Multicultural Health Network. In addition to the CHE/EJ, the Utah Society for Environmental Education is currently facilitating a West Side Salt Lake City Environmental Justice project gathering the environmental concerns of Rose Park Residents through a grant from the US EPA Environmental Justice Department.

These partners have been collaboratively working together, focusing on reducing environmental risks to children's health in the Glendale, Jordan Meadows, Poplar Grove, Rose Park, State Fairpark, Westpointe, Downtown, Capitol Hill, and Ballpark communities. For more information about the CHE project, visit http://www.deq.utah.gov/Issues/childrenshealth/index.htm.

While the article in the Tribune did present valuable information about the many environmental hazards and injustices on the west side, it failed to present both sides of the story, leaving us as readers feeling hopeless and helpless. But hope is not lost, there are many people working hard to bring justice to the west side, and improve environmental health for those who live there.

From the Mail Box - Below 0 Science

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The temperature isn't below zero right now, but it sure feels like it! Check out the neat activities below that you might want to try out if it gets colder. Disclaimer: We haven't tried this, so if you do, let us know how well it works!

1. Boil water and throw it into the air. It instantly crystalizes into snow!

2. If you have kids' bubbles, blow them up into the air. If cold enough, they crystalize and will shatter when popped or land like frozen statues.

Have fun!

Here's an explanation for the boiling water from Joe Larsen, Ph.D. Chemistry, Rockwell Science Center, Los Angeles, CA.

All things being equal, cold water freezes faster.

It takes time for the energy contained in a hot object to be transferred to a cold object. However, the rate of heat transfer is proportional to the temperature difference between the two objects, so hot water will lose heat faster than cold water. In other words, if you have water at 90 degrees C and water at 10 degrees C and the freezer is at -10 degrees C, the hot water will lose heat five times faster than the cold water; however, the cold water will still win the race. As the hot water cools it's rate of heat transfer will decrease, so it will never catch up to the cold water.

Some people claim that hot water freezes faster because a pot of boiling water can be thrown into the air on a cold winter day, and it freezes in mid air creating a shower of ice crystals. Whereas a pot of cold water thrown into the air comes down as large blobs of water. This happens because the hot water is so close to being steam, that the act of throwing it into the air causes it to break up into tiny droplets. (hot water is less viscous than cold water, listen to the sound it makes when you pour it in the sink) The small water droplets have a large surface area which allows for a great deal of evaporation, this removes heat quickly. And finally, the cooled droplets are so small, that they can be easily frozen by the winter air. All of this happens before the water hits the ground. Cold water is thicker and stickier, it doesn't break up into such small pieces when thrown into the air, so it comes down in large blobs.