Greenversations

About the author: Kelly Leovic manages EPA’s Environmental and Community Outreach Program in Research Triangle Park. Kelly has worked at EPA for 21 years and has three children, one of whom needs regular reminders to “turn the lights off when you leave the room.”

“Raise your hand if you recycle,” I said to 15 students at Lowes Grove Middle School in Durham, NC. It was my first apprenticeship class at Citizen Schools, a national program that partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for low-income children.

The goal of my 10-week Environmental Awareness Apprenticeship was to guide the students in developing an environmental project. No hands were raised in response to my recycling question, so I launched into my “Trash Talk” lesson which, in addition to REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, includes a trash sort activity. The students sorted through bags of “trash” to discover what could be reused, composted, or recycled. They quickly applied their new knowledge of the three R’s and were on their way to environmental awareness.

As the apprenticeship progressed, we learned about water pollution, conservation, and energy. (A few students even admitted taking over 1 hour showers, so we had a little talk about that one!) One day we used Watts meters to measure and compare the energy use of regular light bulbs and compact fluorescents. Equating energy use to money piqued their interest, and the students decided to do their project on measuring the energy use of various school equipment.

My “apprentices” used a Watts meter to measure computers, printers, microwaves, pencil sharpeners, and projectors during use and when they were turned off but plugged in. Next, the students calculated the estimated annual cost of using the equipment based on 9.86 cents per Kilowatt/hour and multiplied this by the number of each and estimated time used.
 
What suprised us the most was that, based on estimated usage time, the 37 printers at the school actually use more energy when they are plugged in but turned off ($117 annually) than when they are in use ($75 annually). This is because some appliances, e.g., think of a microwave clock, still consume energy just by being plugged in.

I truly enjoyed teaching these kids because they didn’t begin with much environmental knowledge, so I felt I could make a difference in their behaviors and choices. Being a Citizen Teacher also gave me the opportunity to work with the same group of students throughout the semester and to get to know them individually. One of the highlights for the students was their field trip to our EPA Building where they could see EPA’s energy conservation efforts in practice.

In addition to learning about ways to conserve energy at school, the students had an opportunity to “teach” their Principal about what they learned, presenting their results and recommendations for school energy savings at a staff meeting. This is one visit to the Principal’s office that I can feel good about!

Epilogue: On December 9, the students presented their recommendations to over 200 attendees at the Citizen Schools final program. The Principal, the Superintendent of Schools, and a State Senator were there and are excited about implementing the energy saving tips from our middle school citizens.

About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and chairs EPA’s Multilingual Communications Task Force. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.

On a brisk fall morning, I attended an event at my youngest daughter’s Montessori school. The Harvest Parade is a yearly event in which all the children at the school participate in a ceremony dressed in costumes representing countries or historic figures. The parade serves as an opportunity not only to teach the children about different cultures and individuals who have contributed to mankind, but to hone their skills in research and public speaking.

It was heartwarming to see these children walk to the stage and talk about presidents, kings, queens, scientists, artists, and athletes. The older children had to deliver 3- 5-minute long speeches about these historic figures and explain why they found them inspirational. What struck me this year was that fact that several children had selected famous environmentalists as the historical figures they wanted to portray: the founder of the modern environmentalist movement Rachel Carlson, the founder of The Wilderness Society Aldo Leopold, the leader of the soil conservation movement Hugh Hammond Bennett, and even President Theodore Roosevelt for his conservation efforts, to name a few.  I was proud to see these children identify these environmentalists as their role models.

There are many unsung heroes here at EPA and in our communities who make environmental protection part of their daily lives. They are role models for us all. We should encourage our children at home and in the community to conserve water, recycle, and protect our environment.

I think that’s one of the things that attracted me to Montessori education. The philosophy of Maria Montessori gives free rein to the child’s innate imagination. It also instills in students at an early age underlying values such as respect for oneself, all humanity, and the environment. I think the world would be a better place if we shared those views.

Sobre la autor: Lina M. F. Younes ha trabajado en la EPA desde el 2002 y está a cargo del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Comunicaciones Multilingües. Como periodista, dirigió la oficina en Washington de dos periódicos puertorriqueños y ha laborado en varias agencias gubernamentales.

En una fresca mañana otoñal, asistí a una actividad de mi hija menor en su escuela Montessori. El Desfile de la Cosecha es un evento anual en el cual participan todos los estudiantes representando diversos países o figuras históricas. Este desfile brinda una oportunidad para enseñar no tan sólo a los niños acerca de diferentes culturas e individuos que han contribuido a la humanidad sino también para que mejoren sus destrezas en realizar investigaciones y hablar ante el público.

Era enternecedor ver a estos niños subir a la tribuna y personificando a presidentes, reyes, reinas, científicos, artistas y atletas. Los niños mayores tenían que pronunciar discursos de tres a cinco minutos sobre personajes históricos y explicar el por qué estas personas les inspiraban. Lo que me sorprendió fue el hecho de que varios niños habían seleccionado a famosos ambientalistas como las figuras históricas que ellos querían proyectar: la fundadora del movimiento ambientalista moderno Rachel Carlson, el fundador de la Sociedad de la Vida Silvestre Aldo Leopold, el líder del movimiento de la conservación de los terrenos Hugh Hammond Bennett, y hasta el presidente Teodoro Roosevelt por sus esfuerzos de conservación. Realmente me enorgulleció el hecho de que ellos identificaran a estos conocidos ambientalistas como personas ejemplares a las que había que emular.

Hay muchos héroes desconocidos aquí en la EPA y en nuestras comunidades que se dedican diariamente a la protección ambiental en su vida cotidiana. Ellos son modelos ejemplares para todos nosotros. Debemos alentar a nuestros hijos en la casa y en la comunidad a conservar agua, a reciclar y a proteger nuestro medio ambiente.

Creo que esa fue una de los factores que más me atrajo de la enseñanza Montessori. La filosofía de María Montessori brinda rienda suelta a la imaginación innata del niño. También inculca en los estudiantes a temprana edad los valores de respeto a sí mismo, a la humanidad y al medio ambiente.  Creo que el mundo sería un lugar mejor si todos compartiéramos esa visión.

Cómo educar a los niños sobre el reciclaje

Acerca del autor: Vicky Salazar comenzó a trabajar en EPA en 1995. Labora en nuestra oficina en Seattle en asuntos relacionados con la reducción de desechos, conservación de recursos y civismo ambiental.

El reciclaje es difícil. Yo misma me pregunto a veces qué debo reciclar. Por lo tanto cuando hablo con los niños acerca del reciclaje, ¿a dónde debo comenzar? Bueno, tuve que enseñar a unos niños de edad pre-escolar acerca del Día del Reciclaje en Estados Unidos y esto fue lo que aprendí.

He aquí unas reglas sencillas:

• Latas, papel, cajas, potes y botellas van en el recipiente de reciclaje.
• Si está sucio, lávelo y descártelo.
• No recicle las tapas de los potes y envases, esas van en la basura.
• No eche alimentos en el recipiente de reciclaje—aún si están unidos a otra cosa.
• Si está roto, échelo a la basura.
• Si puede volverse a utilizar, úselo nuevamente o dónelo a alguien que lo pueda utilizar.

Póngalo en práctica – Hay que practicar realmente. No fue hasta que los niños lo hicieron varias veces que pudieron recordar qué había que poner en cada lugar.

Habrán errores—Aprovéchelos como una oportunidad para enseñar.

Relacione el reciclaje con la importancia de proteger la Tierra y los animales. Los niños verdaderamente quieren ayudar.

Póngalo a prueba con sus hijos. Es divertido, informativo, y me recordó cómo reciclar. ¿Cómo funcionó para usted?

About the author: Ashley Sims, a senior at Indiana University, is a fall intern with EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environmental Education through the Washington Leadership Program.

My weekly blog is part of EPA’s campaign to engage middle and high school students in a discussion on global climate change and its effects on children’s health. As mentioned before, it’s my privilege to give students the opportunity to express their own thoughts on this issue. I look forward to hearing your comments. Now let’s get started on this week’s topic - energy efficiency.

Some of you may have heard of the ENERGY STAR label - you can find it on qualified light bulbs, cordless phones, and other electronics. If I may say so myself, ENERGY STAR qualified products are great to have because they use less energy, save money, and help protect the environment and health. The ENERGY STAR label means a product has met the energy-efficient standards set by EPA and the Department of Energy.

We use electricity for lighting, operating appliances, and producing hot and cold water. When coal and other fossil fuels are burned to create electricity, greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. In fact, according to the greenhouse gas calculator on the EPA website, the average household of two produces about 16,290 pounds a year of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Did you know that different power plants use different types of fuel, and a power plant that runs on coal gives off more greenhouse gases per unit of electricity than a power plant that uses natural gas? The build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is causing the climate to change.

It’s really important for us to be energy conscious and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Here’s what you can do –

• Get involved today and encourage your parents to replace their light bulbs with ones that have the ENERGY STAR label. According to the ENERGY STAR website, if every American home replaced one light with an ENERGY STAR qualified light bulb, the reduction in greenhouse gases would be the same as taking 800,000 cars off the road.
• Get your parents to take the ENERGY STAR pledge.
• Check out how you can save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emission in your own room.
• Join the campaign to create a new climate for action.

And make sure to let me know what you’re doing to save energy.

About the author: Brenda Reyes Tomassini joined EPA in 2002. She is a public affairs specialist in the San Juan, Puerto Rico office and also handles community relations for the Caribbean Environmental Protection Division.

“You don’t care about what you don’t know.” That phrase stuck with me long after watching the wonderful video, Wetlands & Wonder: Reconnecting Children with Nearby Nature. I was fortunate enough, as well as most of my co-workers, to grow up surrounded by beautiful open spaces. There was no satellite TV, no Ipod, no PlayStation nor the Web. If I wanted to play, I had to go outside to our backyard or go bike riding with my brother or cousins around the neighborhood. Every time we left the house. a whole new world of exploration and curiosity unraveled before our eyes. Many of the activities we did as young children were nature oriented. Our maternal grandparents had a farm and from our paternal grandmother’s backyard the nearby El Yunque rainforest was on full display. We got our feet wet in the Río Blanco River and plenty of times came home carrying treasures from the beach. Nowadays, I work as public affairs specialist at EPA in San Juan and my brother works as a marine scientist at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, Washington.

As a modern day parent, getting my kids out into nature can be a challenge. Even though I take them frequently to the country or on the occasional road trip, finding time to experience nature every day is very hard. Four children, a busy schedule, and living in the suburbs are not the right mix to provide for nature oriented experiences. Still,I carve out the occasional moment to give my kids outdoor experiences, like when I tend to my garden or let them play when I air-dry our clothes, Recently, I accidentally ran a cart over a small snake. Upon finding it, I took my three year-old son to the backyard to show him the dead snake. I ran my fingers over its slimy body and my son felt instant curiosity to know how it felt, and did the same. I told him about what snakes eat and how they hide in the base of the ginger and heliconia plants.

Kids don’t have to travel far or visit a museum to learn about nature; the easiest access is often found in our own backyards, in our parks, in the empty lot nearby our houses. If they get to know and experience, nature they will become adults concerned with safeguarding their surroundings and, thus, the environment.

Sobre la autor: Brenda Reyes Tomassini se unió a la EPA en el 2002. Labora como especialista de relaciones públicas en la oficina de EPA en San Juan, Puerto Rico donde también maneja asuntos comunitarios para la División de Protección Ambiental del Caribe.

“No se le da importancia a lo que no se conoce” La frase se me quedó grabada luego de ver la maravillosa película Wetlands & Wonder: Reconnecting Children with Nearby Nature. Me considero afortunada de haber podido crecer, al igual que muchos de mis compañeros de trabajo, rodeada de espacios verdes. No tenía televisión satélite , I-pod, ni un PlayStation. Si quería jugar, tenía que ir al patio o a correr bicicleta por el vecindario con mi hermano y mis primas. Cada vez que salíamos de la casa a recorrer nuestros alrededores, un nuevo mundo de exploración se revelaba ante nuestros ojos. Muchas de las actividades que realizábamos mi hermano y yo eran relacionadas a la naturaleza. Además de las visitas mensuales, pasábamos las vacaciones en la finca de nuestros abuelos maternos o en casa de nuestra abuela paterna desde cuyo patio se podía apreciar el Bosque El Yunque. Fueron muchas las veces que mojamos nuestros pies en el agua del Río Blanco y otro tanto que llegamos cargando “tesoros” de la playa. El resultado es que ambos tenemos una carrera relacionada al medioambiente, yo trabajo en la EPA en San Juan como oficial de asuntos públicos y mi hermano es doctor en ciencias marinas para NOAA en Seattle, Washington.

Hoy día como madre exponer a mis hijos a este tipo de actividad, que para mi era tan común, es un gran reto. Aunque suelo llevarlos al campo y a la playa ocasionalmente, hacer tiempo en nuestra rutina diaria para convivir con la naturaleza es difícil. Mi agitado estilo de vida, vivir en los suburbios unido a la crianza de 4 niños no son una receta fácil para obtener experiencias relacionadas a la naturaleza diariamente. Sin embargo trato de buscar esos momentos como cuando vamos a sembrar plantas en el jardín o secamos la ropa al aire libre, ocasión en que los niños exploran abiertamente sus alrededores o como cuando recientemente aplasté una pequeña culebra en nuestro patio. Cuando la encontré llevé a mi hijo de 3 años al patio para que pudiera verla. Al deslizar mis dedos sobre el cuerpo de esta, mi hijo sintió la curiosidad innata de hacer exactamente lo mismo. Aproveché el momento y le hablé sobre ellas y cuanto les encanta esconderse en la base de los jengibres y heliconias del patio.

Estoy convencida que los niños no necesitan viajar lejos o visitar un museo para aprender sobre la naturaleza. El acceso más fácil está en nuestro patio, en los parques de nuestra comunidad o en el terreno vacío a lado de la casa. Si conocen y experimentan la naturaleza crecerán convertidos en adultos conscientes de ella y por ende protectores del medioambiente que les rodea.

Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Previous Science Wednesdays.

About the author: Michael Firestone, Ph.D., is a biochemist who is the Science Director in EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environmental Education.

Simply put, EPA is interested in children because they are not little adults. Their bodies are developing; they eat more, drink more, and breathe more in proportion to their body size than adults; and their unique behaviors such as crawling and putting their hands and objects in their mouths can expose them more to chemicals and organisms. These differences may increase the susceptibility of children to environmental contaminants such as mercury and lead and certain pesticides.

In 1987, I was fortunate for two reasons – I received a promotion to manage a group of scientists who evaluated occupational and residential exposure to pesticides, and I became a father for the first time. Watching my young daughter crawl around on the grass and picking up a small pebble to explore with her mouth made me wonder about possible exposure of young children to pesticides used on lawns – at the same time, I realized that our group of scientists had very little data to answer the question. Thus, I began on a 20-year journey to promote research related to better understanding children’s environmental exposure.

Along the way, even the President became concerned by issuing Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks.

Take some time and watch a toddler very carefully and you will begin to understand just how unique children’s behaviors can be compared to adults – here is a great example:

We’ve made great progress toward improving our knowledge about children’s exposures including the development of guidance to standardize childhood age groups and a brand new database of children’s exposure factors information.

And the federal government is starting an exciting new study called the National Children’s Study whose goal is examine the effects of environmental influences on the health and development of 100,000 children across the United States.

It has been said that our children are our future – so let’s make sure we develop the tools and data which will help us protect both!

About the Author: As the news director for EPA’s Office of Research and Development, Melissa-Anley Mills is always on the hunt for good science stories. She joined the Agency in 1998 as a National Urban Fellow.

Oh boy, it’s Sunday night, and I can’t wait to get to work tomorrow and tell my co-workers that this weekend I met The Raging Blue Robots, Saturnalia, Nuts for Squirrels and the Taco Buddahs. Now these aren’t the names of the latest bands to hit the DC music scene who hope to win legions of adoring fans, these are folks with an entirely different focus: winning the Marian Koshland Science Museum’s first annual eco-scavenger hunt called “The Green Hunt.”

You see, on Saturday, I helped staff The Green Hunt for the U.S. EPA. Free to the public, the event honored Earth Science Week 2008 and was designed to inform people about climate and earth science, and show that urban environments provide great learning opportunities for outdoor science activities.

As we neared the start time, we were anxious to see who’d burst through the Koshland doors proclaiming “We’re here for the Hunt!” From 11 until about 4:30 a diverse set of teams arrived, all ready to run around the neighborhood, looking for science clues: Teams of friends, teams of big sister/mentors, teams of college students on a homework mission, mom-headed teams, dad-headed teams, mom-and-dad-headed teams, abuela y padres headed teams.

Once their time cards were stamped, they were off! Dashing about DC’s Penn Quarter trying to complete the clues and challenges as fast as possible. There were challenges for the observant, brain teasers, some math, and things that you had to track down and take photos of or doodle. Once the teams checked back in and had their return time recorded they headed to the registration desk to have their answers checked.

Here are links to the map and clue sheet from the hunt you can use to set up a similar science event in your own town, city, or school. So, what did folks think? The general consensus was: FUN – for both the teams and for me! Not bad for my Saturday at “work!”

My name is Ashley, and this semester I have the privilege to work at the EPA Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environmental Education. I am so excited to spend the next couple of months writing blog entries in order to give middle and high school students a voice to express their own thoughts and feelings on issues like global climate change. Let me start off by mentioning a few things about myself.

What brought me to Washington D.C…

Originally I am from Bolingbrook, Illinois which is about 30 minutes away from Chicago. I am finishing up my last year at Indiana University with a degree in Public Finance. During my junior year in college, I heard about this exciting program called WLP, the Washington Leadership Program. The second I heard about WLP, it instantly caught my attention. WLP offers students the opportunity to spend a semester in Washington DC, in my case, during an exciting time of the year; the presidential election. Students get the chance to experience DC during a fun time in their life, gain practical experience in an area of interest, meet influential people, and take classes up on the Hill. How amazing is that? Not bad for a student.

I wanted to work at OCHPEE after learning the office focuses on environmental health threats and contributes in so many ways to helping parents as well as middle and high school students become environmentally conscious. During my time here at OCHPEE, I want to hear your story including your activities to address global climate change. Your activities can inspire others.

Let’s get started on this week’s topic.

Today many kids are driven to school by their parents rather than taking the bus, walking, or riding a bike. This increases traffic and energy use. Choosing to walk, ride a bicycle or school bus, or even take public transportation, reduces air pollution. Air pollutants can harm kids and cause respiratory problems. Children have respiratory systems that are not fully developed and they are often involved in activities where they breathe deeply and take in toxic air pollutants. Because October 8th is International Walk to School Day we want to hear what you are doing to reduce energy use getting to and from school and other activities. Have you talked to your friends and classmates? What has your school done? Your activities can inspire others so tell us what you’re doing. Send us pictures.