FW: Green Science Fair

Four Green Steps is holding its first online annual Green Science Fair; projects from across the globe will be documented by photograph and essay and submitted to the international fare. The winning project will receive a wind energy generator kit for their school and will have their project displayed over our international forum.

Based in Montreal, Canada, Four Green Steps is a comprehensive, multipurpose organization dedicated to bringing awareness and solutions to our shared environmental problems. Utilizing the power of the internet, we have created an interactive network comprised of four steps: school program, community, info zone, and marketplace. Through the school program, we hope to teach a generation of students who will not only have a keen understanding of environmental issues, but who will also have the capacity to address related changes.

To view our website visit: http://www.fourgreensteps.com/

Browse our school brochure by clicking here

Schools may register with the Four Green Steps School Program by clicking here

Things to note:

• Enrollment and participation in the program is FREE
• The program initiates global interaction amongst schools
• Competitions are a great way to get students excited about the environment while rewarding excellence

Thank you for your consideration.

Sustainably yours,

Nicole

 

Nicole Treitz
Green Liaison
225 Roy St. E #207B
Montreal, Canada
1-888-604-STEP (ext. 4)
(514)903-0700

 

Nicole Treitz [nicole_treitz@fourgreensteps.com]

Celebrate biodiversity by entering the 2010 Robert Bateman Get to Know Contest!

Launched on Earth Day, April 22, the contest is open to all young Canadians aged 19 or younger. Youth are invited to "get to know" local plants and animals and then submit works of art, writing, or photography to the contest for a chance to win wild prizes including a week-long stay at Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, hosted by Parks Canada. Other prizes include gifts from Scholastic, Panasonic, and Opus Framing and Art Supplies, cash prizes, and the opportunity to have your work published in the 2011 Get to Know Contest Calendar. The Contest closes May 28. Teachers may use the contest as a school project to help their students learn about biodiversity. Just be sure to fill out the “If you are submitting your entry as part of a class project” part of the entry form. For more information, visit .

We hope you will enter this year’s contest. Get outdoors, get to know, and get prizes!! http://www.gettoknow.ca/

Misc resources and opportunities

 Videos and Photo Gallery of Oil Spill in Gulf Will Surely Spur Discussion

The TPM (Talking Points Memo) Photo Gallery Fire In The Gulf: New Pictures Of The Deepwater Horizon shows a succession of images of the oil rig fire in the Gulf.

Rachel Maddow reports on the environmental impact on the Gulf Coast wetlands by the oil rig explosion in this MSNBC video blog
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TED.com features Tropical Ecologist, Jeremy Jackson, speaking about ocean health in this presentation: How We Wrecked The Ocean

Coastal Biology and Biological Safety ~ Russia

June 14-25, 2010
The Coastal Biology and Biological Safety course will take place at Nicolay Pertsov White Sea Biological Station in northern Russia, a very special place, which is sparsely populated and virtually unaffected by heavy industry. The course will be instructed in English and presented by Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Biology.
Modules:
· Biology and ecology of the regions of littoral zone
· Ecology of sea coast forests
· History and practices of traditional and contemporary local nature management by the Pomors and the Karelians
Contact: cebs@mail.bio.msu.ru

http://www.bio.msu.ru/cebs 

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PollinatorLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure

While pollinators may come in small sizes, they play a large and often undervalued role in the production of the food we eat, the health of flowering plants, and the future of wildlife. A decline in the numbers and health of pollinators over the last several years poses a significant threat to the integrity of biodiversity, to global food webs, and to human health. PollinatorLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure will provide a series of live interactive Web casts, Web seminars, and satellite field trips about pollinators, gardening, and conservation. All resources are free and geared toward grades 4–8.

http://pollinatorlive.pwnet.org

Environment Canada - Take Action for the Environment - The BioKits

Environment Canada - Take Action for the Environment - The BioKits The BioKits Exploring the great outdoors and beyond! To highlight the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010, the Biosphère is producing a series of BioKits aimed at inspiring families to get out and explore the urban spaces and natural areas in their own neighbourhoods and beyond. Through a series of interactive, outdoor activities offered in both the Urban BioKit and theNature BioKit, participants are initiated to biodiversity and are offered ways of taking action to preserve it.It’s four seasons of outdoor fun! Just let your senses be your guide! Click here to learn more about the Urban BioKit!Click here to learn more about the Nature BioKit! The BioKits also include some site-specific versions that allow visitors to explore biodiversity in a specific area such as a park or wildlife area. At each stop, a new activity and a new direction to choose: where will this adventure lead you next? Using a "build your own adventure" approach, participants can rent a GPS unit or follow a map to uncover specific points of interest. The activity takes about an hour and a half (good/ bad weather). Participants must bring their outdoor material. Two of these BioKits will be offered during the summer of 2010. The Biosphère will offer the Île Sainte-Hélène BioKit and the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area will be offering the Cap Tourmente BioKit. Stay tuned, there are more BioKits to come!

FW: RiverXchange

From: Amelia White [mailto:amelia87102@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 5:04 PM
 Subject: RiverXchange

Hello!

I'm writing to let you know about an exciting program starting this fall.  RiverXchange is a FREE year-long cultural exchange project using water as a theme to teach science, social studies, language arts and computer technology.

We are looking for motivated 4th or 5th grade teachers to become high tech pen pals with classes in New Mexico , USA .  Each class will follow the RiverXchange curriculum to learn about their local river. Students will share what they are learning via a private wiki website about twice per month throughout the school year. The RiverXchange curriculum covers three units:

• Understanding a Watershed
• Water in Our Society
• River Ecosystem

I am contacting you for two reasons:

1) to request your help getting the word out about this project to teachers who may be interested in participating.

2) to find out if your organization is interested in providing one or more classroom guest speakers (or a field trip) for local teachers who are accepted into this project.  Guest speakers in the classroom or on the field trip to the river provide a fresh perspective and help participants learn valuable technical information.

 

If you know any teachers who are interested in RiverXchange, please have them contact Amy White as soon as possible at 505-235-8342 or by email at amelia87102@yahoo.com. For more information about RiverXchange, visit www.waterfestnm.com/riverxchange/.  RiverXchange is open to any 4th or 5th grade class in the US or the world, but participation is limited.

 

Thanks,
Amy White

Here's what some of our participants had to say about the project:

"I have to tell you this has been the most innovative project I've ever been a part of.  Though my kids were very reluctant to blog, we read every entry and have learned so much.  I am currently working on my curriculum for the coming year and will incorporate RiverXchange into that curriculum.  It has enriched our Idaho history beyond belief.  Though I've taught Idaho History over many years, for the first time this year the students actually understood the importance of water to Lewis and Clark, the trappers and traders and the folks along the Oregon Trail .  As we mapped the trails they were right on top of locating how near they were to water." 

"RiverXchange enabled the students to be more involved in learning than other projects I have implemented and seen. Students had to digest what they learned and re-tell that learning to someone else. This forced them to take ownership of the information and experiences. Also, the variety of the activities appealed to different student learning styles. Students had to research, do hands-on activities and learn to communicate. There was some aspect that appealed to every student." 

"Students are much more aware of their impact on our limited water resources. They have given a lot more thought to how they use water and how they can conserve it. They are also more in tune with what they need to do to try to protect our watershed starting with their own backyard and the parks around our school."

 

FW: DFO Stream to Sea Education Update

Annual Global Stewardship Contest for Grades 11s and 12s
This year the Global Stewardship Program is partnering with Latitude Global Volunteering.
"It has been said that water is the new oil, and future wars will be fought over access to water, as we have fought wars for oil in the past. Explain why this is so, and how we might avoid wars over water in the future."
Enter to win a $500 prize for the best essay, powerpoint, podcast or video on the topic of water. For more details, check out www.capilanou.ca/globalstewardship <http://www.capilanou.ca/globalstewardship> or www.lattitudecanada.org <http://www.lattitudecanada.org/

digital storytelling workshop:
Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), in collaboration with Metro Vancouver, the Stewardship Centre of BC, BC Hydro and Green Streets (a national educational program funded by the McConnell Foundation) are sponsoring a digital storytelling production workshop in advance of the 2010 Canadian Environmental Education and Communication conference at Simon Fraser University May 20-22, 2010.

DFO is sponsoring (travel expenses) one team led by Bren McKenzie a youth who participated in SEP’s Community Involvement Program at the Kingfisher Interpretive Centre as a child and went on to become a professional river guide. His brothers, equally affected by SEP-Community Involvement Program, are working in the sports fishing industry on the coast and endeavour to incorporate catch and release as well as other conservation methods in their daily work practices.

The film produced by Pacific Cinematheque is meant to encourage youth (ages 15-29 approximately) to participate in salmon conservation. This age group is identified as a "gap" in the DFO Stream to Sea program. The five other participating teams from the other partners all have a stewardship ethic as their theme and will support each other through this intense volunteer commitment. The service provider, Pacific Cinematheque, is a national organization that has decades of experience in working with grassroots film production. The finished products could be linked to a Facebook page or put on YouTube to share. http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/

This exercise will also serve as an innovative means of capturing a case study, complementing the other survey work being done to support the SEP Performance Measurement Framework.