Calling All Teachers!

USEE is currently conducting the Utah Project for Excellence in Environmental Education, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, which is aimed at strengthening the quality, effectiveness, and scope of environmental education in the state of Utah through partnerships with non-formal environmental educators and teachers.

If you currently are a K-12 teacher in the state of Utah, we would love to have your input by filling out this quick questionnaire (about 8-10 minutes long) regarding environmental and science education in Utah. Your feedback is essential in ensuring we have the necessary information to provide appropriate support for your classrooms!

If you would like to take the survey now, please click here. If you have trouble with this link, please visit USEE's homepage and you can find the link and more information there. If you have questions about this project, please email me at nicole@usee.org.

Thanks for your support and cooperation!

Donut Falls

This weekend I wanted to get out and enjoy the fall colors. Being fairly new to Salt Lake, I don't know many of the trails and secret hiking spots (I know Cache Valley like the back of my hand!). I wanted a fairly short hike for a Sunday afternoon, and also wanted to start familiarizing myself with hikes I can take my step kids on.

Donut Falls seemed like the perfect option. The hike starts out about 9 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon across from the Mill D Trailhead. It is about 3/4 miles each way. A bit steep in some places, but not too bad. I saw people of all ages and sizes on the trail. The trail ends at a beautiful waterfall cascading through a hole in the rock, hence Donut Falls.

This would be a great hike to take kids or older folks. Get out an enjoy Utah!

Do you have any kid friendly hikes to recommend?

Congratulations to the 2008 USEE Award Winners!

Since 1993, USEE has been recognizing outstanding community members who have made significantly contributions to environmental education (EE) efforts in Utah. Public nominations were held in August of 2008 and the USEE awards committee chose recipients from the following award categories: Environmental Educator, Environmental Education Program, and Environmental Education Volunteer of the Year. This is also the first year that USEE is proud to present the Environmental Education Business of the year award. Award winners were announced at the 19th Annual Utah Environmental Education Conference on September 13, 2008, and will also be honored at USEE's Annual Bash on November 14, 2008.

Award Winners:

Vern A. Fridley Environmental Educator of the Year
Dr. Nikki Hanegan - Brigham Young University

For the past three summers, Dr. Hanegan has overseen the UBEST program (Utah Bio-diversity Experience for Students and Teachers). This program is designed to get teachers out into the field in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to do data collections of plants, insects, and aquatic invertebrates. After a week in the field, the teachers are brought to BYU laboratories to categorize, record, and present their findings. Because of Dr. Hanegan's outstanding work, teachers are able to take their experiences and teach the same real world, in-the-field experiences and science methods to their students.



Environmental Education Program of the Year
The AVES Project - Tracy Aviary

The goal of the AVES (Avian Ecology in Schools) Project is to integrate the allure of birds with the best practices in interdisciplinary science education to inspire youth and adults to better understand, appreciate, and sustain our environment. It is a place-based program drawing on natural intrigue and widespread familiarity of birds to teach, model, and practice science in both the indoor and outdoor classroom. It is a unified and spiraled curriculum combined with professional development, experts in the classroom, field trip assistance, detailed lesson plans, and portfolio assessment. The AVES Project employs the best practices in instructional design, instructional materials, and interactive learning all in the context of where we live. The multiple lesson, depth-over-breadth approach to this program increases the likelihood of real change occuring in student understanding and behavior.

Environmental Education Business of the Year
The Green Building Center

For the first time, USEE is proud to present the award for EE business of the year. The Green Building Center (TGBC) has an extensive product gallery that provides home owners building materials which provide a safe, healthy, and environmentally sound home. TGBC's expert passionate staff takes the time to educate themselves and the public on the benefits of green products, the installation of these products, and how these products will impact the health of your home and the environment. TGBC also hosts informational workshops that educate the general public on the installation and use of the green products they carry. TGBC works with the general public, contractors, architects, and engineers to move forward their agenda of creating sustainable communities along the Wasatch Front.

Environmental Education Volunteer of the Year
Margie Nash - FRIENDS of the Great Salt Lake

Margie Nash has been a dedicated volunteer for FRIENDS of the Great Salt Lake (GSL) for over a year now and has assisted with their Lakeside Learning field trips. Margie has demonstrated an outstanding ability to connect with kids by explaining environmental concepts in a clear and exciting way and by showing an incredible enthusiasm and engagement with her students. During the annual assessment of the program, her input was extremely valuable and her observations were spot-on. At the conclusion of the assessment, Margie assisted in re-developing certain aspects of curriculum to make the introductory activity more dynamic, more outcome-oriented, and ultimately more effective. FRIENDS of the GSL has a much better program because of her service and dedication to the future sustainability of the greater GSL ecosystem.

Congratulations to all of the 2008 USEE Award Winners!

More Conference Happenings!

Here are some more excellent pictures from all of the fun that we had at the conference this year. All of these pictures were submitted by conference attendees. If you have photos that you would like to contribute email me at nicole@usee.org!

Canoeing on the Bear River.
Photo submitted by Tony Layne

John Malloy presenting in the outdoor amphitheater.
Photo submitted by Tracie Kirkham

Eric Spreng and Tara Poelzing making rope from plant fibers.
Photo submitted by Tracie Kirkham

Camping during the conference.
Photo submitted by Tony Layne

Bryan Dixon during the canoeing field trip.
Photo submitted by Tony Layne.

Rope making during the Wetlands for Life field trip.
Photo submitted by Tracie Kirkham.

Plant Anatomy 101: Potatoes

Potatoes. Potatoes are one of those things that tended to come up during my field trips that I used to teach when I worked at Red Butte Garden. The first grade field trip curriculum is based on teaching and discussing with kids the different parts of plants and which of those parts we eat. We talked about the roots (carrots, beets, turnips) the stems (celery, broccoli - "Right, most of the broccoli plant is the stem while the dark green parts on the top are what? Flowers, that's right" - asparagus, sugarcane) the leaves
(lettuce and salad - "Right, salad. What else? Have you ever herd of kale or Swiss chard? Those are different kinds of lettuces that people eat. What about spinach? Raise your hand if you like spinach! Yeah, I love spinach, too") and the fruits of the plant (tomatoes, watermelon, peaches, raspberries, strawberries - "Now where are the seeds on a strawberry? Right, the outside!" - bananas, pineapples, carrots - "Are carrots a fruit? Remember when we talked about those during the root section? That's okay if you forgot, that was a little while ago. What about peppers? Are they fruits? Well, they have seeds inside them, right? So if something has seeds inside of it, what does that make it? Exactly, a fruit" - apples and oranges.)

But what about potatoes? They're a root right? Well, not exactly. Which brings me to the point of this post. Today at work a co-worker, Andree', and I had a tabling event at Bend in the River, where we were doing an outreach event geared towards teachers. A teacher, who had just been to Red Butte Gardens with her first grade class last week, wanted to know if we knew what potatoes were. Are they fruits? Because you can plant a new potato plant from the actual potatoes. But they're not seeds, so technically, not fruits. And the potato plant, just like every other plant in the Solanaceae family which includes tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants as well as potatoes, flowers when conditions are right and gets pollinated by honey bees. But when the flowers are pollinated, what kind of fruit ripens in their place? Can we eat these fruits, or would they be poisonous like Deadly Night Shade (which is also in the potato family)?

Are they a root? Well, no because actually they are tubers. But what is a tuber? It stores energy for the plant for use at a later date, maybe during the winter for energy in the spring. That is why potatoes are so starchy and full of energy in the form of carbohydrates. And is a tuber a root, or what is it? No, a tuber is something different. A potato tuber is a type of subterranean stem. This differs from a regular stem as plants use stems for the transport of water from the roots to the leaves of the plant and for the downward transport of vital sugars (chlorophyll) from the leaves to the roots that provide energy for the plant. Besides potatoes, bulbs such as onions and leeks are also subterranean stems. You can tell this from the way the bulb is in between the stem that is above ground and the actual, smaller roots.

photo credit

Potatoes. Potatoes are a subterranean stem. I think with a little patience and some really fun pictures of potatoes, (or even better, use an actual potato plant that you can dig out of the ground to explain this all, and make something yummy later. You would be amazed at how many kids don't know that our food comes from plants that live in the ground!) a first grader might be able to grasp this concept...maybe.

Hey Facebook Fans!

Green Fork is now on Facebook! As you might have seen in the past couple of days, we now have a gadget on the side of Green Fork where you can click to join our blog network. Blog Networks is an application on Facebook where you can either add your own blog or join blogs that you like. You can see the blog's post feed, see other fans of the blog (and see what kinds of blogs they are fans of), or get connected to other blogs addressing similar topics. To join our blog network, find the blue "Blog Network" logo (pictured below, however this is not the link) which is located on the sidebar below our staff pictures. Click on "Join My Network" and start enjoying the benefits today!

The Utah Society for Environmental Education has a page on Facebook, too. If you would like to receive updates, help get the word out about environmental education, see pictures, movies, and other cool stuff that we post, or just want to stay in touch with what's going on, become a fan of our page. We also have some other links to other Utah non-profit organizations involved in environmental education that are also on Facebook located on this page and we recently just added more pictures from our Annual Conference.

So for all of you Facebook fans out there, check us out!

Happy first day of Autumn!

Today is the first day of Autumn!
Do you know why?
What is the Autumn Equinox?

In the United States and the rest of the northern hemisphere, the first day of the autumn season is the day of the year when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving southward (on September 22^nd or 23^rd). This day is known as the Autumnal Equinox.


As the Earth travels around the Sun in its orbit, the north-south position of the Sun changes over the course of the year because of the changing orientation of the Earth's tilted rotation axes. The dates of maximum tilt of the Earth's equator correspond to the Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice, and the dates of zero tilt to the Vernal Equinox and Autumnal Equinox. (taken from http://www.calendar-updates.com/info/holidays/us/autumn.aspx).

So, as we are officially done with summer, and heading through autumn toward winter, here are some fun things to do (with your students or children) to celebrate!

• Use collected leaves to make prints by putting them under a piece of paper and rubbing over them with the side of a crayon or pencil.
  
• Paint faces on leaves! Use paint and leaves to make leaf prints.
  
• Make a leaf collage by cutting out leaf shapes from red, orange, yellow, and brown paper.
  
• Find out more about how the first day of Fall is when night and day are of equal length.
• Take a walk or drive and look at the changing leaves.
• Take a walk and collect fallen leaves.
• Use collected leaves and sort by color, size, shape, etc.
• Talk about the different seasons.
• Go on a hay ride.
• Make Home-Made Applesauce. (from http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/autumncrafts/l/blsept23rd.htm)

What are some other ways you celebrate Autumn?

No Child Left Inside Act passes US House of Representatives

Dear supporters of Environmental Education in Utah,

I am happy to report that the US house of representatives passed the No Child Left Inside act with bipartisan support (see below report from the No Child Left Inside Coalition).

Please take a moment to write your Representatives about your support for Environmental Education. You can thank Jim Matheson (voted for the bill) and notify Chris Cannon (voted against) and Rob Bishop (did not vote) about your support for EE. You can find their contact information at www.congress.org.

Also, take a moment and give yourself a big pat on the back! This is a wonderful acknowledgment of the importance of Environmental Education and the work that you do.

Best Wishes,

Jason Taylor
Executive Director
Utah Society for Environmental Education

House of Representatives

Approves NCLI ACT

A Grassroots Victory in Washington for Environmental Education

We are pleased to report that environmental education won a major boost today when the U.S. House of Representatives approved the No Child Left Inside Act of 2008.

The bill received bipartisan support and was approved by a vote of 293 to 109.

This is only one step in the process, but it is a major one and gives us enormous momentum to keep working to pass the bill in the months ahead. And the vote represents a victory for all of us who care about environmental education.

We know from our work on Capitol Hill that we passed this bill because of the grassroots interest and energy of our members across the country. Those calls, visits, emails and letters made an enormous difference.

So thank you for everything you and your organizations have done in support of No Child Left Inside! You have turned this Coalition into a powerhouse.

Please take a minute to send an email to thank those members in the House who supported the NCLI Act.

Our Coalition, formed only a year and a half ago, is growing every day. Today we have more than 745 member organizations, with more than one in every state in the country, representing well over 40 million people who understand the value of environmental education.

We’ll be in touch soon with information about next steps. For now, enjoy a victory that will one day pay great dividends for our kids and our environment. And continue to spread the word about No Child Left Inside.

Please forward this email to your memberships so they can share in the chorus of thank you.

For more information about the NCLI Act and our Coalition, visit www.NCLICoalition.org.

Abby Ybarra, Grassroots Coordinator

No Child Left Inside Coalition

One Bag of Trash

As you learned below, we wrapped up our Annual USEE Conference in Brigham City last week. It was a great event with many, many wonderful presenters, attendees and accomplishments.

I would like to highlight one amazing feat...

We had about 90 people at the conference over two days, feeding them breakfast and lunch both days. The spread of food was beautiful (see a picture of Nancy's amazing feast below), and no one complained of being hungry. Now, if you've planned or managed events before, you might think, wow, feeding that many people would generate a lot of garbage. You could probably estimate the amount of trash this would produce. 5 bags? 10 bags? 4 bags if you include a recycling bin?

I'm proud to say that the USEE Conference attendees only generated one bag of trash. ONE! We purchased reusable plates, cups, and silverware from the thrift store, recycled the limited beverage bottles available, requested that attendees bring their own coffee mugs and water bottles, and filled a 5 gallon bucket with green compost (for my garden and the worms)!

Just think about how easy this would be to do at your events at home, your place of worship, work, etc. Do you have any other ideas on how to produce less waste?

USEE's 19th Annual Conference

The 19th Annual Utah Environmental Education Conference was a great success! Thanks to all of the people who spoke, presented, volunteered, participated, helped set up, won awards, sponsored, donated to, enjoyed, and all of the USEE staff for giving such a great show. A special thanks also goes out to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge for hosting such a wonderful event!

Jack Greene leading the Wetlands for Life! field trip with the
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Visitor's Center in the distance.

Wetlands for Life! field trip participants learning
about native and invasive plant species.

Kerry Case, with Andrea and Mike Heidinger,
making rope out of plant fibers.

Keynote Speaker Steven Trimble talking about his book,
Bargaining for Eden: The Fight for the Last Open Spaces in America

Nancy Caruthers' fabulous spread of delicious local foods.

Early-morning bird watchers in the fuzzy distance of the refuge.

Attentive conference attendees discussing the future of
Environmental Education in Utah.

More details of the conference happenings will be coming shortly. For now, the USEE staff is going to enjoy the rest of today off as reward for working hard at the conference. See you all tomorrow!

Random Science Knowledge to WOW Your Friends

I teach a lot of Environmental Education workshops for teachers and college students studying to become teachers. Quite often during those workshops we come up with many silly questions (or are their no silly questions?) that we feel like we should really know the answers to, but don't. I'm the type of person who doesn't have to be RIGHT, but feels a need to know the RIGHT ANSWER. So, I usually end up going back to the office and looking up the answer to those "silly questions". I am going to share that knowledge with you in these "Random Science Knowledge to WOW Your Friends" posts.

The first question is this....
Where do snails go in the winter?
Now, we all know there isn't a mass southern migration of snails during the winter, but the where do they go and what do they do? This question came up at a winter workshop at Westminster college during an activity where the students were supposed to look for signs of animals. Someone listed that they found a dead snail or a snail shell that was full of dirt. That prompted the question and further discussion of snails. None of us knew the answer.

Personally, I know my yard is full of snails in the spring. Where were they until then? Didn't they freeze over the winter? I went home and did a bit of research. The answer is this.....

SNAILS HIBERNATE!

An excerpt from TIME magazine article describes -
Snails may live five years, but they reach maturity in a year. When autumn comes, it brings the crisis of their lives: they must prepare for the winter by burying themselves in the soil and secreting a door of lime to cover the opening of their shell. Only strong and healthy snails completely accomplish this process. Those that omit any detail die during the winter.

Interesting huh? If you want to learn more about snails in the winter, check out these other links.

www.geocities.com/sseagraves/snailfacts.htm
www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/snails.htm
www.prvazadruga.com/e_puz.htm
www.kiddyhouse.com/Snails/

Healthy Eating

One thing that I have consistently noticed, and been intrigued by, is the way that environmental education ties in with so many other basic and important things that we need to be paying attention to in our lives. One major topic that falls under this integrating of topics is healthy eating and nutrition. Eating fresh fruits and veggies is not only better for our health and nutrition, but can also be healthy for the environment, too.

As processed foods seem to be enveloped in more and more plastic wrappings, more and more of those wrappings are ending up in landfills. And as food distributors keep finding ways to process and package the same old food in new and exciting ways, our health could be suffering. The less fruits and vegetables are cooked, packaged, processed, and preserved, the more vitamins and nutrients are available for our bodies to absorb when we eat these things. That makes sense. Eating a tomato right off the vine (or after you wash it, of course) has many more vitamins and minerals than the tomato sauce that has been reheated in your frozen TV dinner. But processed foods sure do seem to be a lot less expensive than their fresher alternatives.

As gas prices increased to record levels over the summer, and here in Salt Lake they still remain high compared to the national average, the prices of food increased as well. But for all of us searching for the fresh and healthy foods while still remaining on budget, there are some interesting insights I found in an article I found entitled The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1. I learned some important information from this article ranging from things I knew about, like oatmeal and potatoes, to things I'd never thought of, like pumpkin seeds. I think I might have to bypass the suggestion about the sardines...we'll see. What are some of the ways that you combat healthy eating with rising food costs?

Get em outside--online addition

Even online organization groups are trying to get people to log-off and get outside. Meetup.com has just released unplugyourfriends.org to battle screen addiction! They even have a cute claymation video.

USEE Action Alert: Ask Your Representative to Support EE today!

The No Child Left Inside Act of 2008 is expected to be voted on NEXT WEEK by the full House of Representatives.

The No Child Left Inside Act of 2008 amends the National Environmental Education Act and achieves several of the Coalition’s key goals – authorizing funding for teacher training, expanding environmental education programs, and setting up a grant program to encourage states to create environmental literacy plans.

As we prepare for a House vote, now is the time for YOU to contact your representative.

Please take a few minutes and contact your representative to urge them to vote for the legislation on the floor.

Find Your Representative

Representative Rob Bishop (1st)
Phone: 202-225-0453 Fax: 202-225-5857
Representative Jim Matheson (2nd)
Phone: (202) 225-3011 Fax: (202) 225-5638
Representative Chris Cannon (3rd)
Phone: (202) 225-7751 Fax: (202) 225-5629


You can also directly email your representative through the NCLI Coalition website, www.NCLICoalition.org, by clicking on “Contact Your Congressperson” and filling out the short form.

Below, we have included a Sample Letter to help you craft your letters and emails to Congress. Customize your letter by including information about your interest in environmental education.

The No Child Left Inside Coalition is growing every day and now has more than 690 member organizations, representing more than 40 million people who understand the value of environmental education. Now is the time for their voices to be heard in Washington.

For more information about the NCLI Act, visit www.NCLICoalition.org. And thanks for your support!

Sample Letter to Urge Support

Targets: All House Members who will vote on the NCLI Act.

E-mail Subject Line: Support the No Child Left Inside Act (HR 3036)

Dear Representative xx:

I am writing to urge you to support the No Child Left Inside Act of 2008 (H.R. 3036) when it comes before the House of Representatives next week. This legislation addresses critical environmental challenges by strengthening and expanding environmental education in America's classrooms.

Environmental education is critical now because of the complex environmental challenges confronting the nation and world, which require an informed citizenry and engaged, knowledgeable individuals.

Environmental education also provides strong benefits in the classroom. It has been shown to excite students by engaging them in their world and getting them outside to learn and explore. Environmental education also promotes higher-order thinking skills and is correlated with higher test scores in math and reading.

Today, environmental education is hampered by a lack of adequate funding, both at the state and federal levels. The No Child Left Inside Act will create vital new funding to train teachers, expand programs, and help states create environmental literacy plans to ensure that students are environmentally literate. It is strongly backed by the No Child Left Inside Coalition, which has more than 500 member organizations from across the country, all of whom believe it is critical to improve environmental education.

Please support environmental education for all students by voting for H.R. 3036, the No Child Left Inside Act.

Signed,

s.

Everyone Loves the Worms!

I've gotten quite a few emails asking additional questions about worms! By all means, please don't think I'm a worm-ologist. I just dabble in worm raising and am learning as I go. Here are a couple questions I've been asked, and the responses. I've also included some good links to websites with vermicompost information.

Question 1: What can I put in the bin?

As far as what goes in the bin, I stick to fruits, veggies, coffee grounds, egg shells, bread, etc. They advise against putting meat, oily or fatty stuff in it. Partly for the worms, so you don't attract bugs, and partly because of the smell, I think.

Question 2: If I have an outdoor compost pile, do I need a worm bin?

This is the first time in a while that I've had a healthy outdoor compost bin. I've been using it all summer, and just keeping the worm bin at work. However, here in Utah, the cold winters make outdoor composting difficult. I plan to either bring my scraps to work, or start a worm bin at home. So, you can have one, or both, your choice!

Question 3: How much food can the worms handle?

For this latest bin, I received my worms from a friend, so I'm really not sure how many I have. I've been paying close attention to how much food I give them, and storing the rest in a bucket in the fridge. Give your worms just enough so that you don't have a bad smell of rotting food. You'll soon get a handle on how much they can take. And, as they multiply, you can add more and more scraps.

Here are some additional links. Happy worming!
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/index.html
cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_h/h-164.pdf
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms/neighborhood/index.html
http://www.cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html

Project SESAME Update

Photo courtesy of www.cvcoffee.com

For those of you following Project SESAME (Save the Earth SAve MonEy), my little cousins have come up with yet another brilliant idea. Bringing plastic utensils along to work with your lunch, or even keeping a box of them in your office, is easy and convenient enough. Some of us, realizing the implications of bringing these forks, knives, and spoons, have even opted for grabbing our own metal (and reuseble!) silverware along with our lunches. We are lucky here at USEE, as our office comes equipped with a small kitchen where we have a stash of silverware to use, wash, and use again.

Disposable plastic utensils leave a long trail of environmental impacts starting from the production of the plastic and continuing on through to the end-all resting place of the landfill. Those of us who aren't lucky enough to have silverware available at the office and just can't seem to remember to bring our silverware to and from work with us everyday, other options abound. But what about kids? Many kids bring their lunches to school nearly everyday, but are often forgetful about bringing things home, especially small items like silverware. (Think of all those times in elementary and middle school you or someone you knew had to dig through the garbage cans after lunch looking for the retainer that was accidentally thrown away in a folded-up napkin...)

The newest way to SESAME that my cousin, Olivia, came up with this week is to "bring home and reuse your plastic spoon." My aunt wasn't willing, understandably, to risk losing all of her fine cutlery to the dumpsters, so they bought one box of plastic spoons. The goal is for their family to "bring home and reuse your plastic spoon" to make that one box last all year long. What a great way to SESAME!

Desert Wars: Water and the West

On Thursday September 11, as part of the upcoming USEE conference at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, we will be holding a special screening of Desert Wars: Water and the West.

It’s a story as old as the West itself; a story of water and power. Who has it and who wants it. Competing interests debate how growth, development, preservation, and conservation are at stake in the future of the West.

Desert Wars: Water and the West, a one-hour KUED documentary film by John Howe, explores these pressing issues by looking at the conflicts surrounding the future of the Snake Valley groundwater aquifer in Utah’s west desert and efforts to tap it for Las Vegas, Nevada.

After the screening, Cecil and Annette Garland, who are extensively interviewed in the film, will be on hand to share their experiences and answer questions. This even is free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!