During the week, Tim Staines helps his clients improve their websites for better positioning in search engines. But last weekend, Tim left the World Wide Web at home to venture into a much different world--the remote islands around the Chesapeake Bay's Tangier Island and home to CBF's Port Isobel and Fox Island education centers. Find out more about his trip to this "magical place" at Tim Staines' Weblog.
Back in March, Travis Deale, a student at Christopher Newport University, shared his experience working with CBF during spring break. I just found out that students from the University of Maryland who participated created a video of their experiences, which placed second in a U of MD video contest. Great job guys! Check out the video here.
Riverkeepers, watershed associations, and other groups that track water quality should be interested in IMRivers. This interactive mapping tool is very impressive! Unfortunately, there's no information on their website about costs, so I'm waiting to hear back from Dr. Wansoo Im, the tool's creator.
One of the latest groups to start using the tool is the San Diego River Park Foundation.
Some other organizations have started using IMRivers for other purposes: the Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership's map lets you view images along the river's shoreline; the Delaware & Raritan Canal Community created their own interactive photo album, and Chatham High School is using it to map its student-led water quality testing project.
Congratulations Brian Gray! Brian was one of 12 students who participated in CBF's Expedition Susquehanna two years ago. Pennsylvania's Snyder County Conservation District just awarded him its Conservation Wildlife Award and was recently named the 2008 Pennsylvania FFA Star in Agri-Science. Way to go, Brian!
The Starbucks Foundation, whose mission is "to create opportunities for youth to learn, serve & grow their natural potential to reinvent the world," has made a generous $50,000 grant to support CBF's Student Leadership efforts, providing a huge funding boost for the program.
In addition, from now through June 3rd, bring your own travel mug when you buy a drink at Starbucks and they'll donate 10-cents to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Teen Alex Elliott of NizamFilms sent us this video. Music video and educational video rolled into one. I wonder if teachers could use it in the classroom?
Over spring break a handful of students from Christopher Newport University and Virginia Wesleyan College decided to forgo Daytona Beach and spend their vacations helping CBF restore Virginia's oyster population. The Virginian-Pilot has a great story about the endeavor. One student, Travis Deale, also sent us this personal journal entry.
"Taking the time to volunteer for CBF during my spring break was very rewarding. It gave me some hands-on experience in field biology and also was a very good time. As a biology student who one day wants to work in field research, this was something that I really looked forward to and enjoyed. It was nice to do something productive over break. I fully support what the CBF is doing in trying to save the bay and I am glad i could help. The experience itself was fun, so it didn't seem too much like work to me because I was having fun and wanted to do it. I hope to work with the CBF again soon."
Travis Deale
CNU '09
Travis, we hope to work with you again soon, too!
In December, CBF lost a friend, trustee, and one-of-a-kind donor. In 1988, G.R. “Randy” Klinefelter made an unusual gift to CBF: a 250-acre island. In doing so, he and his family established CBF’s largest residential education center, Port Isobel, and opened up a treasured and historic piece of the Chesapeake to thousands of students, teachers, and citizens.
Named after his wife, Isobel, the former family getaway is a stone’s throw away from its sister island Tangier, home to one of the Chesapeake’s last remaining watermen’s communities. Over the past 20 years, students, teachers, and decision makers have traveled by boat to Port Isobel to explore the island’s marshes, beach, and woodlands. Often, visiting Tangier to learn about the nearly lost way of life is part of the trip.
The Klinefelter family owned the property for 30 years before donating it to CBF, and during that time instituted soil conservation measures and other environmental improvements. Residents of Ephrata, PA, the Klinefelters recognized the connection between their home state in the northern watershed and the downstream Chesapeake Bay.
Mr. Klinefelter served on the CBF Board of Trustees from 1988 to 1999.
Memorial gifts in his honor will be accepted at:
Randy Klinefelter Memorials
CBF
6 Herndon Ave.
Annapolis, MD 21403
I visited Port Isobel for the first time last fall. It's a beautiful place and a wonderful place to learn about our Bay. To see photos, visit our Flickr page. To share your own Flickr photos, tag them "CBF Port Isobel."
We'd love to hear your stories about Randy Klinefelter and your experiences at Port Isobel. Feel free to post your own comments below.
Smart Growth America has two new resources available for the regular citizen who cares about the direction his or her community or region is taking in regard to growth. The "Choosing Our Community's Future" guidebook, available for $10, teaches how to make compelling arguments against poorly conceived plans and how to paint your vision for others. Smart Growth Shareware will be added to your purchase at no additional charge. This great resource includes publications, presentations, websites, and more information about topics including public health, children and schools, land conservation, water, transportation and more.
Schools who have 25% or more students on the "Free and Reduced Meal program", can now send students on one-day CBF field experiences tuition-free.
Contact EducationCoordinator@cbf.org to learn more.
(from Providence Business News)
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who introduced the No Child Left Inside bill earlier this month, has stepped up to bat again for environmental education, this time for his local constituents. Reed has announced a $291,000 federal grant to fund Save the Bay education programs for Narragansett Bay.
Let's see more legislators take up the fight for funding for these important programs.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) last night introduced the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007. The Senate bill (S.1981) is very close to the House bill (H.B.3036) introduced by Maryland Congressman John Sarbanes last month.
Principals who participate in CBF's education trips to Smith Island gain an appreciation for more than the Bay. Read this story in The Free Lance-Star.
by Kim Ethridge
My daughter and I recently drove out to my son's Boy Scout camp in Dublin, MD. Once off I-95, the drive becomes quite relaxing and scenic. After passing several wide open fields, my daughter said, "I like it out here. There's lots of room to run around." Then she continued, "Mom, I'm really an outdoors type. I'd rather spend my time outside than inside...except when there's a computer or game console around."
We hear the statistics a lot. The most recent one I heard was that most kids spend an average of six hours in front of a screen of some kind and four minutes outside. They call it "environmental deficit disorder." I've read articles by the dozens over the past few months about the importance of getting our children outside.
But there's more to it than just getting kids to play in the park or the backyard. Major environmental challenges confront our nation and the world, and our children's generation will—must—play a major role in finding solutions. To do that, and do it effectively, they will need to be environmentally literate. The Environmental Literacy Council defines this as having "a fundamental understanding of the systems of the world, both living and non-living, along with the analytical skills needed to weigh scientific evidence and policy choices." Our children aren't going to breathe that knowledge in as they run through the local park. They need to be taught.
On Monday, Rep. John Sarbanes (MD-3) joined the No Child Left Inside Coalition on the beach at CBF's Merrill Center to announce H.R. 3036, the No Child Left Inside Act, which would give environmental education its fair share of attention in the nation's schools and would require states to develop goals for "environmental literacy" of graduates, and, yes, provide grant money for education and teacher training.
I know the impacts the current "No Child Left Behind" act has had on our teachers—not all of them good. I have seen many of my own children's teachers frustrated with "teaching to the tests." The neat thing about environmental literacy is that it can be incorporated into the math and reading curriculums. Many examples already exist, like the Chesapeake Bay Program's "Bay B C's: A multidisciplinary approach to teaching about the Chesapeake Bay." (download the PDF)
What do you think?
One of CBF's goals is to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to take action in their own communities. In his article, When College Ends, So Does Activism, Adam Donster looks at how politically active college students (most today with hefty student loan payments looming) are virtually forced to abandon their activist efforts after college because the available jobs pay so poorly. Nonprofit Online News captures the conundrum for nonprofits, saying "we are pouring people's passion down the drain."
Do environmentally active students face the same dilemma? What do you think?
What do the arts and culture have to do with environmental education?
The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) believes there is a significant connection between the two. Now, their "Our World" photography contest is seeking amateur and professional photos that "will inspire people to achieve environmental excellence." Entries may reflect anything that connects to the environment. The winning photos will show how the visual arts can create a kinesthetic and emotional connection to the Earth. The photography contest is one element of a larger effort by NAAEE to re-invigorate the use of arts and culture in the EE field. More information about prizes, rules, and entry forms can be found on the NAAEE Web site at www.naaee.org.
Share your entries with us, too! Post your photos to Webshots, Picasa, or other online photo-sharing site and submit a comment with your link.
A recent article in the Bay Journal reveals the struggle that environmental education is facing in our public schools.
Today, more teachers are eagerly taking advantage of programs like NOAA's Bay Watershed Education and Training Program and CBF's field trips and Chesapeake Classrooms program to provide students with compelling environmental education opportunities. Unfortunately, their ability to pursue these lessons in the classroom continues to shrink.
“If it’s not tested, it’s often not being taught,” says CBF Vice President of Education Don Baugh. “We see everything from teachers who have almost abandoned the environmental science program they’ve been teaching for 30 years to new teachers who just aren’t able to get support.”
Why?
Because environmental education faces stiff competition from subjects related directly to standardized tests – namely math and reading. Many school systems spend a minimum amount of elementary school class time on science in order to expand their emphasis on these two areas. And even though the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act will require testing in science at the elementary and high school levels by the end of the 2007-2008 school year, environmental science remains all but ignored.
What kind of science will students be required to learn for these tests? Most elementary schools focus on biology and earth/space systems science. Most high school science programs also emphasize these two curricula, along with physics or chemistry; biology most often being required for graduation. Environmental science might be offered as an elective.
Of these four subject areas, which is most likely to have a long-term impact for virtually every student as he or she becomes a responsible, contributing member of society? Our children face a future where resource management and environmental sustainability may be inextricably linked to global economics. Yet, our current educational system is not providing the foundation they will need to deal with the crucial environmental challenges facing them.
Should environmental science play a larger role in our children's education? Let us know what you think.
A documentary about last summer's Expedition Susquehanna was filmed in High-Definition by the PBS Scranton/Wilkes-Bar re region affiliate, WVIA.
“Expedition Susquehanna” will premiere on WVIA during PBS’s “Chesapeake Bay Week,” beginning April 19th. As part of the premiere, the eleven students, Don Baugh, CBF Vice President of Education, Harry Campbell, CBF’s Pennsylvania Staff Scientist, and Cindy Dunn, Director of the Bureau of Recreation and Conservation of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), will all participate in a one-hour live call-in program called “State of Pennsylvania.”
“State of Pennsylvania” will air at 7:00 p.m., with the full-length premier of “Expedition Susquehanna” at 8:00 p.m. “Expedition Susquehanna” will also air during Maryland Public Television’s Chesapeake Bay Week programming on Sunday, April 22nd at 5:00 p.m. Additional stations and air times are contingent on local PBS schedules.
3/15 -- Energy Film Festival and Lecture Series, Films: Nobelity, Sundance Summit, Salisbury, MD
3/16 -- Think Globally, Design Locally: Green Buildings in the Chesapeak, Architect Janet Harrison (Harrison was the Green Consultant for CBF's Philip Merrill Environmental Center, the first building to earn the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Platinum award), Howard Community College, Columbia, MD
3/17 -- VoiCes Adult Bay Education Program all-day field trip, Cambridge, MD
3/17 -- VoiCeS Adult Education Program, all-day field trip, Frederick, MD
3/17 -- Monocacy Farm Stewardship Project, Stream Buffer Restoration, Mt. Airy, MD
Other things we've heard about:
Sip a Green Drink at this happy hour with others who share your passion for the environment.
If you have any relevant events in your neck of the woods that you'd like to share with your Chesapeake Bay neighbors, let us know.
The driving force behind CBF's Education program is the belief that you can't care about what you don't know, and you can't know the Bay until you experience it.
Thanks to Chine bLog I just found out about another program that encourages kids to get outdoors and get their hands dirty. The National Wildlife Federation has launched a program called Green Hour. It is dedicated to the premise that
As a society, we are raising the first generation of Americans to grow up disconnected from nature....by giving our children a "Green Hour" a day -- a bit of time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world -- we can set them on the path toward physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Check out their website, www.greenhour.org, for ideas about getting your kids (and yourself) back outside.
For ideas about getting out on the Bay, check out CBF's field education and Discovery Trip programs.
introducedI just ran across a post by Tim at Chine bLog about Richard Louv's book, "The Last Child in the Woods." The premise is that kids are disconnected from nature.
The bay has been getting a lot of support from local lawmakers so far this year, but federal support has gone south. Today's Annapolis Capital reports that President Bush's proposed budget includes more than $75 million in cuts to Chesapeake Bay programs.
"If the president's budget were enacted, it would be devastating for the bay," said Senator Ben Cardin.
The proposed cuts reduce funding for sewage plant upgrades, education, oyster restoration, land preservation, as well as cutting $1.6 million from the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office in Eastport.
If you're looking for a good article about the importance of wetlands and the challenges they are facing in the Chesapeake Bay watershed this article from The Daily Times is a must-read.
The Baltimore Sun Business section today features Zoe Johnson, a coastal planner with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Johnson studies shoreline erosion and other effects of rising sea levels and climate change. Thirteen Chesapeake Bay islands have disappeared over the years, and the water level in the bay is rising at a rate of about a foot per century, twice the national average.
For more information on Maryland shoreline changes, including an interactive map, visit Maryland ShorelinesOnline.
Bob Doyle, columnist with the Cumberland Times-News looks at how the bay formed 35 million years ago.
Join CBF and regional scientists to learn what's known about major fish health issues in the watershed. A workshop on Fish Health in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed will be held Tuesday, January 23, in Shepherdstown, WV.
