Greetings!
This month we are going to concentrate on water in preparation for World Water Monitoring Day which officially starts on March 22nd. It is truly appropriate to have WATER as our topic especially "in light" of Earth Hour 2010. Our upcoming February & March teacher workshops will help you with resources, students activities, field trip ideas and supplies. According to Power Score Card, our nation uses more than 200 BILLION gallons of water per day in electricity production. By saving electricity, we are saving coal or uranium, and even more importantly, WATER!
Read on for more interesting things!
Environmentally yours,
The SCARCE Team
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Energy Bike Workshop
Wednesday, February 10
4:30 p.m -6:30 p.m.
2.0 CPDUs
Suitable for all 4-12 grade educators.
Discover the "Enlightened" way to use the Energy Bike, a powerful hand-on (& FEET-ON) learning tool- Bring Energy conservation to life for your students.
Help students of all ages more from the abstract to a concrete understanding of energy use as they "feel" how much energy it takes to light incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.
Borrow the bike to use in your classroom once you have been trained.
Make 'n Take Natural Resource Globe
Wednesday, February 17
4:30 p.m. -6:30 p.m.
2.0 CPDUs
ALL ES/MS teachers (1st-6th grade)-Great for ECO-Club sponsors, ESL, Alternative & Sp Ed teachers
Make "Natural Resources Globe," an interactive teaching tool that's filled with hands-on examples that allow students to SEE & FEEL our natural resources.
The globe helps students learn about ISLS natural resources: how they are used, where they come from, difference between annually renewable, rapidly renewable & non-renewable.
Groundwater Flow Model Workshop
Saturday, February 20
8:30 a.m.- Noon
3.5 CPDUs
For Middle & High School science/environmental teachers.
Construct YOUR OWN Groundwater Flow model to take back to your school.
Actually see how groundwater moves & how water is affected by that movement.
Use this model to also teach about stormwater management.
Institute Day- February 26, 2010
Water Conservation: Water Quantity & Quality Issues
8:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.
5 CPDUs
Water, water everywhere, but... What do you actually know about our water? How does it get here from Lake Michigan? How do we clean it? Are we really cleaning it? Why is stormwater management in the news? It's truly eye-opening!
Get on the bus with us & go to the DuPage Water Commission and Woodride Green Valley Wastewater Treatment Facility. Learn to use our watershed and groundwater flow models.
Our workshops are jam-packed, fast-paced and filled with the resources, activities and ideas you need to make this come alive for your students while staying aligned with the Illinois State Learning Standards.
Enviroscape Watershed Model Workshop
Thursday, March 11
6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
2.0 CPDUs
For All Educators 3rd Grade & up.
Discover how to use an interactive, bird's eye view of a watershed.
Take the complexity out of understanding serious environmental issues. Teachers will learn to demonstrate "Point" and "Non-Point" sources of pollution.
Borrow the model for use in your classroom after taking this class.
Summer Grad Credit Teacher Workshops
Shed Those Watershed Blues- June 17 & 18
Where is Away?- June 21-25, plus half day July 1st
To register for a teacher workshop click here
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Sustainable Design Challenge
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Sustainable Design Challenge, April 13!
Attention high school teachers! The Sustainable Design Challenge will be held on Tuesday, April 13 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
DuPage County high schools will show their "green" or "sustainable" building design projects to the public at the 4th Annual Sustainable Design Challenge for high school students. There will be amazing models of their designs along with posters explaining their research and the design elements that make their building "green." The students have been guided by their teachers to incorporate design strategies from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program to both reduce environmental impact and provide occupants with a healthy, productive space.
The Sustainable Design Challenge will be held at the DuPage County Administration Building Auditorium (421 N County Farm Rd, Wheaton.) Public viewing of entries will be from 9- 11:30 a.m.
There will be a meeting for interested teachers Wednesday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m. at SCARCE.
RVSP by email ecoed@sbcgloabal.net or call 630.545.9710
There will be food!
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Earth Hour 2010
The Countdown is ON!!!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
8:30 p.m. Local Time
At its inception just 3 years ago in 2007, Sydney, Australia partnered with the World Wildlife Federation to try to catch the world's attention. The project was to turn off the lights in the city for one hour to show the rest of the world that it isn't just organizations and government policies that have a voice, but everyday people want one, too.
That one gesture had an effect. Last year in 2009, hundreds of millions of people around the world in 4,000 cities and (officially) 88 countries, participated in Earth Hour. It was an act of solidarity that showed that people from all over the world in all walks of life care and want to make a difference not just in saving and hour's worth of energy, but in becoming a part of the solution to sustain the earth and its resources.
The city of Singapore had The Nielsen Company and EMA (Energy Market Authority) confirm that 40% of their population turned off their lights during Earth Hour 2009. Just one hour of darkness saved 42 MW of electricity. That is as much energy in about 100 lightning bolts.
Click on the link to the website, Earth Hour.
Sign up to be a part of an activity or, even better, organize one of your own! The site has loads of information and really fun pictures before and "lights out" during Earth Hour 2009.
Earth Hour School Activities Link
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Preserve Every Drop!
We Can All Do Our Part
World Water Monitoring Day officially begins March 22, 2010. Your class can choose a watery place to monitor and report the results any time through December 31, 2010. (The official celebration day is September 18th.) To order water monitoring kits (available March 1st) or for more information, just click the link, World Water Monitoring Day
The idea is to get people thinking about all of the different places that they can find water and to monitor the quality of that water. In the Midwest, we have an abundance of water compared to the rest of the world where fresh water has become scarce. It is important for everyone to understand this and to know that every drop is precious and worth preserving.
The DuPage County Water Commission is trying to increase public awareness through the "Preserving Every Drop" Campaign. The link below will provide you with their Water Conservation Pledge as well as educational resources to use with students and adults.
"Preserving Every Drop" link.
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Environmental Kids Club
by the US EPA
If you are looking for more facts, activities and fun ideas to get your students motivated about the environment, take a look at this site. You can keep with the "WATER" theme by clicking on that link or any other that might apply to your curriculum. Don't let the picture fool you, there are links for all age levels K-12.
Link: Environmental Kids Club
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The Lorax Project - Student Earth Day
April 22
Dr. Seuss Enterprises has been sponsoring this site and event for a while. It is based off of the Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax. If you have never read the book, now is the time to do so. It is a book for all ages because the message is timeless, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
Click on the link,The Lorax Project, for lots of ideas, discussion points, and activities specifically geared toward your classrooms.
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USGBC Green Home
Barretts Home Theater
Naperville
Saturday, February 20
10:00 a.m. to Noon
Having a green home is more than a little VOC-free paint and CFLs. "A green home incorporates smart design, technology, construction & maintenance elements that significantly lessen the negative impact of the home on the environment and the health of the people who live inside it. This event will help you understand why moving beyond bamboo floors and compact fluorescent lighting can help reduce helath risks and increase market differentiation."
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Mark Your Calendars -
Upcoming Environmental Events
- April 10 - Hinsdale/Clarendon Hills "Believe in Green" Event
- April 17 - Glendale Heights 5K Run/Walk & Earth Day Celebration
- April 17 - Wheaton Recycling Extravaganza
- April 18 - Fullersburg Woods Earth Day Event, Oak Brook
- April 22 - 40th Anniversary of Earth Day
- April 24 - SIMS Free Electronics Recycling
- April 24 - Prairie Path Clean-up
- April 24 - Glen Ellyn Recycling Extravaganza
- April 30 - 138th Anniversary of Arbor Day
- May 1 - Lisle Recycling Extravaganza
- May 2 - Naperville Green Earth Institute
- May 8 - DuPage County Rain Barrel & Native Plant Sale & Document Shredding Event
- May 15 - Addison Recycling Extravaganza
- May 15 - West Chicago, Bloomingfest
Check out our website for more information on these upcoming events.
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Grants & Other Opportunities
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Poster, Poetry and Prose Contest
sponsored by Illinois EPA
Grades 5 & 6
Deadline: February 8, 2010
Students are invited to participate in the annual Environmental Pathways statewide poster and poetry/prose exhibit. The theme of the 2010 event will be "Conserving and Protecting the Land of Lincoln!" focusing on the importance of conserving and protecting our land resources.
The IEPA has made available an educational packet, "Environmental Pathways - Youth Investigating Pollution Issues in Illinois," that they would like you to use in your classroom during the month of January. The packet follows this year's theme - emphasis is placed on land pollution issues and conservation.
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EcoStar Grants - Environmental Stewardship Grant
Deadline: March 16, 2010
"Environmental stewardship is one of Constellation Energy's core foundational values. Because of our commitment to use natural resources responsibly, prevent pollution, improve energy efficiency and enhance our stewardship efforts, EcoStar Grants are now being offered to local communities where Constellation Energy does business. These grants compliment our overall environmental giving strategy and represent another step that we are taking to link our employees with the communities we live in and serve."
Click here for the EcoStar Grant on-line application.
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Project Learning Tree Grant Program
"PLT's GreenSchools! program provides a blueprint for educators, students, environmental and health advocates, school board members, parents and interested community members to teach, learn, and engage together in creating a more green and healthy learning environment at their school. It combines environmental education, service learning, and leadership opportunities for students to help turn their school into a model GreenSchool...Be part of the national movement to reduce the ecological footprint of our nation's schools."
Click here for theProject Learning Tree details.
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America the Beautiful Fund
Operation Green Plant
The America the Beautiful Fund offers grants for free seeds to groups striving to beautify our world through gardening. Use seeds for a school garden, restoration project or schoolyard habitat. Grants of 100 to 1,000 seed packets are offered on a basis of availability and need.
To request a grant of vegetable seeds, flower seeds and/or herb seeds:
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Write a short letter describing your project
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Fill out the application which can be downloaded here
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Enclose a check for shipping and handling
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Mail your letter, application and check to the address above
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Classroom Earth
a National Environmental Education Program
The Classroom Earth website site is a valuable site for any school. It is a goldmine of facts and grant-finding information.
To see all that this wonderful site offers, just click the link, Classroom Earth. Use the tab for Grants at the top of the page to find opportunities for your school.
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3Rs - Ripples Recommended Reading
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Listen to the Wind
Author: Greg Mortenson & Susan L. Roth
Ages: 4-8 years old
This book is the children's version of Greg Mortenson who happened upon a village in Pakistan and went back to build a school. He is a living example of the "Ripple Effect" (the reason for the title of our newsletter) - how one person who takes a stand and cares can make a difference that affects many people in a positive way.
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The Butterfly's Treasure
Author: Schim Schimmel
Ages: Preschool & Up
Just like Schim Schimmel's other books, The Butterfly's Treasure is really a book for all ages with wonderful illustrations and an alluring story.
"In a milkweed patch before summer's end, an old, wise butterfly passes along the wisdom he has learned to a young caterpillar -- his discovery of a "treasure beyond belief." Old Monarch recounts his wondrous year-long journey of discovery around the globe and his encounters with some of the most amazing animals of our planet. As he travels past brown bears, seals and polar bears of the Northern forests and Arctic, then passes the majestic great cats, elephants and gorillas of Africa and the rare snow leopards of the Himalayas, and encounters the penguins of the Antarctic and the dolphins of the Pacific, the secret of this priceless treasure breathtakingly unfolds revealing its fascinating gems. The engaging story and Schimmel's stunning, beautiful artwork instill a sense of wonder and respect for the intimate connection of all living beings and the unique treasure in this universe -- our magnificent planet." www.childsake.com
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State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures
Authored by: The World Watch Institute
Ages: HS & Up
"Like a tsunami, consumerism has engulfed human cultures and Earth's ecosystems. Left unaddressed, we risk global disaster. But if we channel this wave, intentionally transforming our cultures to center on sustainability, we will not only prevent catastrophe, but may usher in an era of sustainability-one that allows all people to thrive while protecting, even restoring, Earth.
In State of the World 2010, sixty renowned researchers and practitioners describe how we can harness the world's leading institutions-education, the media, business, governments, traditions, and social movements-to reorient cultures toward sustainability." World Watch Institute
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When the Rivers Run Dry: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century
Author: Fred Pearce
Ages: Mature Middle School & Up
This book takes a hard look at the state of water around the world. It is both eye-opening and sobering to see what the world is doing to the water that is available to use.
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Let us know about all of the great things that your schools are doing. We would love to see pictures!
The SCARCE TeamScarce Environmental Education 
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DuPage County |
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