If you're a little tired of overhyped TV game and talent shows, here's a contest with some real green behind it.  A pair of Hanover middle school students has made it to the finals of a national contest aimed at encouraging American youth to make environmental change in their communities.

Luke and Jack Andraka, students at Chesapeake Science Point public charter school in Anne Arundel County, are representing Maryland in the "Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge."  Team AMD, as they are known, are vying with 21 other states' teams for either the grand prize or one of two national prizes.   Besides bragging rights, they stand to win an appearance on the "Planet Green" TV network or even an "adventure trip."

The Andraka team is trying to develop a grassroots campaign to clean up the acid mine drainage that plagues many streams and rivers in the coalfields of western Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  The boys' dad and team mentor, Steven Andraka, explained that his family spends its summers and many weekends at a place near Morgantown, W.Va. and they noticed that the local stream there, a tributary of the Cheat River, was impaired by acidic seepage from mining activity.

Various state and federal government agencies are working to curtail acid mine drainage, which can impair and even kill off fish and other aquatic life in streams contaminated with metals and acid from old coal mines.  But with the encouragement and guidance of their dad, the boys - Luke, 14, and Jack, 12 - set out to devise a way for school or community groups to do something about the problem on their own.

Continue reading "A contest to cheer: Local students team up to save streams" »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:23 AM in Environmental education | Permalink
                       

Happy Earth Day!  On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans thronged the streets and public places across the country to demonstrate their concern about the degradation of the environment around them.  Their protest was fueled by widespread publicity about the Cuyahoga River in Ohio catching fire and by a massive oil spill off the California coast.  In Baltimore, as pictured above, Patterson High School students picketed garbage dumps on Kane Street and North Point Boulevard.

The state of the environment has changed since then - much of the more visible pollution has been cleaned up.  Concerns have shifted now to less obvious and more difficult issues like climate change, declining diversity of plants and animals and our exposure to the residues of thousands of chemicals used in making our food and consumer products.

Earth Day has shifted, too.  For many marketing folks, this is a perfect opportunity to try to sell green, greenish or green-looking products.  My inbox has been peppered in the past few weeks with pitches for various types of water bottles, clothing, motor vehicles and green travel, if there is such a thing.

But others are marking the day in a spirit more akin to the original Earth Day.  The city is putting recycling bins in the Inner Harbor for tourists to use, and kicking off the production of energy from methane generated by all the refuse disposed of in the city's landfill.   In schools, students are studying environmental issues or planting trees. 

And some activists are demonstrating their concern in an old-fashioned way, vowing to eat no solid food until Congress acts on legislation to reduce the nation's output of climate-warming greenhouse gases.  Hearings started on the topic this week, and House leaders have pledged to send a bill to the floor by Memorial Day.  That could be a long fast.

How are you marking Earth Day?  I'm speaking at an environmental symposium shortly at St. Paul's School for Girls in Brooklandville.  Then it's back to the business of covering the bay and environment.

(Photo by William H. Mortimer of The Baltimore Sun).

UPDATE:  I spoke to group of students at St. Paul's School for Girls as part of the school's inaugural Earth Day symposium - quite an undertaking.  Besides the 462 students in grades 5 through 12 at the school, there were about 181 students and faculty from about 10 other private schools in the area.  They heard from 40 speakers and had more than 70 hands-on presentations, including recyclable art and "mad science."

"Our goal is to get students excited about the environment and conserving resources," said Janet Wolfe, academic dean for the school.  Students were asked to sign Earth Day pledges listing three things they personally would work on in the coming year.  The school hopes to produce a YouTube video of the symposium highlights, but until then you can see the program here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                       

The Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound provide scenic and thematic bookends for a troubling examination of what ails our nation's waterways in "Poisoned Waters," a two-hour documentary airing Tuesday night on PBS' "Frontline."  Pardon the plug, but it really is TV worth watching.

Veteran journalist Hedrick Smith takes viewers along as he explores the threats to those two iconic water bodies and how their problems are shared across the country.  He interviews watermen who lament the loss of the bay's seafood abundance and tracks the Chesapeake's "dead zone" back to its biggest source - the proliferation of chicken houses (and manure) across the Delmarva Peninsula.  He also examines the perils to the Chesapeake and to Puget Sound from growth and development, as well as from the multiplicity of untested and potentially harmful chemicals that wind up in our waters.

It's a complicated picture, and one that requires explanation.  The documentary starts out a bit slowly, with a series of talking-head inteviews.  Normally, TV's impact comes from showing, rather than telling. But the comments are clear and compelling, as is Smith's narration, and they build  momentum as the story unfolds showing how the Chesapeake and Puget are "indicators" of a larger national problem.

Continue reading ""Frontline" investigates troubled state of Chesapeake, US waters" »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:45 AM in Environmental education | Permalink | Comments (5)
                       

Getting tired of looking at those four walls? Then get out of the house and get to Irvine Nature Center to learn how to "green" your home.  Not paint it, literally, but make it more eco-friendly and sustainable.

The Owings Mills-based nature center is launching a speakers' series called "Greening Your Home."  Every month through May, there'll be a presentation on topics like green remodeling, improving indoor air quality and steps people can take to reduce their carbon footprints (feetprints?) around the house.

The first session at 7 p.m. Thursday will feature Polly Bart, president of Greenbuilders Inc., speaking about remodeling to make your home greener, improving water and energy efficiency with such things as green roofs and straw-bale walls.

Cost per session is $6 for members and $10 for non-members.  Discounts apply for members who sign up for all four sessions.  To register or get directions, go here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:58 AM in Environmental education | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

The House has blessed a bill sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat, that would funnel more federal funds into getting kids outdoors and learning about the environment. 

The "No Child Left Inside Act," which passed 293-109, was heavily lobbied by environmental groups, including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.  CBF takes more than 40,000 students and teachers on state-subsidized field trips a year now, ranging from one-day boat trips to weeklong retreats at its education centers around the bay.

Advocates say federal spending on outdoor environmental education needs to be boosted because kids spend half as much time outside today as did children a generation ago, and are increasingly disconnected from nature.  Surveys have found that many youngsters put more than 40 hours a week into playing video games, watching TV or browsing the Web.   Research suggests that kids who spend significant time outdoors before they turn 11 are more likely to develop a life-long conservation ethic, they say.

The bill would create new federal grants to states to provide more "hands-on" environmental education, among other things.  Even though the measure sailed through the House, supporters are going to have to start all over again next year, because the Senate is not expected to take the bill up. 

Meanwhile, for those parents who don't want to wait, the National Wildlife Federation has some suggestions here for a "Green Hour," getting children to spend an hour outside a day.  So does the bay foundation here.   

Sept. 24-30, by the way, is national "Take A Child Outside Week," designed to get parents, grandparents and caregivers to pledge to do just that, with organized outings and activities. Check the above link for tips and events planned near you.

(Chesapeake Bay Foundation photo) 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:34 PM in Environmental education | Permalink | Comments (2)