Across America…(and back.)

(Oh blog, why have I been neglecting you?! My desire to write and share is so strong, and yet I sit down to the computer to…scan Yahoo news. yikes.)You and I will become better aquatinted, cause I have some stories to tell and some observations to share. 

There are two reasons for my absence from the blog lately. My last post in February occurred while employed at an Outdoor Science School in Southern California. I somehow found myself too distracted with getting to know people, yahoo news, working, and making the most of the warming months in Southern Cali to post frequently. 

I left Cali in May for a week long trip through Arizona to New Mexico where I have spent my summer as Resident Naturalist. I think I have really found my niche in the world, and I hope to continue pursuing naturalist positions. 

In the month between jobs, Amil and I are traveling from New Mexico, to Colorado via car, to Chicago via train, and then to NYC via train, to stay with friends and family via more cars and trains and then take a train back to Colorado to drive to California. 

As if that weren’t complicated enough, I got an offer to work at a week long summer camp opportunity for KIPP students in Marble Falls, Texas, that allowed me to fly home and see my family in the Austin area before flying to Chicago to meet up with Amil and jump on a train to NYC. 

The mental focus and emotions that have occurred from these transitions, as well as my observations of each new place, is what I hope to highlight in these next few blogs. Stay tuned :)

Yellow #5

1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Every food should look the same so come on and dye
every piece of food the same color
Mac and Cheese looks so great but I really don’t want a
headache like I had last week
memory loss, stupidity and fatigue
it’s in M&M’s, mustard, Mountain Dew, Velveta
It may change the color but it doesn’t make it sweeta

So what can I do, I really beg you FDA
let food be it’s own color, it is nature’s way
In ‘08 the EU began to publicly damn it
now it’s time for you to Ban it!

A little in the marmalade in my life
a little in the popcorn by my side
a little in the cheese is all I need
a little in the freeze pops is what I see
a little in the corn chips in the sun
a little in the pasta all night long
a little bit of chewing gum and I’m set
a little of your dye makes me upset!

Yellow #5!

What’s wrong with brown, and greyish colored foods
If it’s not appealing as it is
then maybe it shouldn’t be sold to you
we don’t need foods to sparkle and shine
before dyed foods we got by just fine
and as if that wasn’t good enough for you
you put it in my soap, make-up and fake tattoos

A little bit of allergies in my life
a little ingestion in my side
a little bit of wheezing’s all I get
a little bit of migraine’s you can bet
A little of depression is no fun
a little insomnia all night long
a little bit of hives all over my skin
This yellow #5 is quite a sin

I’ll do, all I can
to keep #5 out of the plan
you can run and you can hide
but do away with Yellow #5!

Tradeoffs

As published on Dirtyclassroom.com/blog

When I was 18 I sat in a mandatory economics class and listened to my sweet elderly teacher say that “when making a decision, you must consider two things—‘how much does it cost’, and ‘what’s in it for me?’” It was at this moment, essentially, that I decided to become an environmental educator. I was appalled that people were being taught not to think of the ramifications for their decisions, and I have spent the 6 years since then working to teach our future generations that there are consequences for every action you take.

During  staff training at High Trails, I was faced with some decisions about my class materials that drove me to ponder the most sustainable route. Although I have a strong environmental bias, I understand the importance of taking all realities into consideration when making a decision. How much something costs; how morally sound it is; how it affects other people, animals, and the atmosphere; where it comes from; who benefits from my choosing to use it, etc.

As I considered what materials to use for my classes, all of these thoughts buzzed through my head. As outdoor educators, our primary prop is the nature around us, but to really engage children through experiential learning, which is what urges them to drive all the way up the mountain in the first place, is to find a balance between something bright, flashy, appealing to multiple senses and effective at communicating a message,and something free, using minimal resources, in line with the message we teach.

A lot of instructors use dry erase boards and dry erase markers. While this has the benefit of being easily erasable and potentially colorful, one instructor confessed the irony of having to throw away a dead marker in the middle of our Environmental Awareness class. Because of this, I decided to try out chalk.

The obvious drawbacks of chalk are that it’s not weather proof (and as winter rounds the corner, I’m reminded of how much weather we receive) and using it requires a courage against chalky hands and clothes. Is it more important for students to get a good, colorful visual that they can remember when they’re back at school, or does a mere black and white image do the trick? Is it helpful for students to see us modeling more sustainable behavior, like using chalk—a non-renewable resource extracted from deep mines but is non-toxic and produces zero waste— over dry erase markers housed in a plastic case that comes from petroleum? And in that case, which one is truly more sustainable?

I faced the same questions regarding other props we use. Using small sticks, cut or carved at different lengths instead of poker chips, which are easy to identify on the forest floor, may seem more sustainable, but when those poker chips are obtained from a thrift store, are you saving a resource, or causing someone at the thrift store after you to buy new poker chips because there aren’t any? Is there a measurable difference for the students? Is it helpful to have large colorful object like a poker chips over smaller chips?

I use colored glass marbles that have been handed down from previous instructors, thereby avoiding petroleum-based plastics. Rather than buy new colored craft sticks, I found some bamboo shish kabob sticks destined for the landfill that I cut into different sizes. Visual learners still get a visual aide, albeit not a bright one, and I get to uphold my preaching of the value of reduce and reuse.

One thing I’m sure about is that we create a lot of trash. Although we recycle just about anything we can, I find myself with a lot of plastic bottle caps, straws and miscellaneous packaging wrappers that I don’t want to throw them away. Often I put them in my bag of props for our trash activity or the bird beak relay. These props then double as a visual when I’m talking about the 4 or 5 R’s.

It is difficult to be thrifty and resourceful without coming off as cheap, but I feel that as long as you put thought into your materials and keep them in line with the message of High Trails, they become just as effective, if not more so, than something you could pick up at a store. And you save some green.

Two types of Change

According to the Keep America Beautiful website, Americans generate 251.3 million tons of garbage per year. Where does all of this trash end up? Fifty-five percent gets buried in landfills, 33% gets recycled, and 12.5% goes to incinerators (1). 

It’s easy to see a fact like this and think, ‘that’s staggering…we should do something about it.’ But the real question is what, and how? And will you stay commited to that change in an hour or a week when that staggering fact fades away? Most of my decisions in the last 10 years to be more environmentally friendly, have been gradual habits that form overtime through strong meditation and staying inspired by the emotions that initiated the will to change. Yesterday, however, while talking to Amil about the sustainability of the food we were eating, I realized that there are several types of Change.

My method is very passive, and reactive. I think, we waste so much water, I’m going to react by putting a bucket in the shower to collect the cold water while it warms up for my shower. Or, Oh no, they gave me a napkin…I should use this napkin to the fullest extent possible to make it worthwhile for killing a tree.

In the last week or so, Amil has challenged this way of reacting. Instead of thinking, “man, I’m really enjoying this warm shower…I’m going to take the energy from this warm shower to do some good,” as I had been doing, he uses the water straight out of the shower in a very efficient way. He has cut out the use of paper products, giving back napkins and straws. He is making change through proactive decisions. I guess there was a time that I did that, but admittedly, I have been unconsciously sucked into the pleasures of convenience.

With my new intentions for change, and my current travels, I have developed some doctrines for consuming less while traveling.

How to consume less while traveling. 
Bring your own mug, silverware, Tupperware. It might seems like a lot to pack in a bag and carry around, but then you have a bag to put all the books you find, or the fun stuff you gather from free boxes…and, replacing paper coffee cup with a reusable coffee mug each day would save you 23 pounds of waste a year (2).

It’s lovely to support local economies, but do so sustainably… Watch for a while before you order food or goodies. In addition to choosing the most sustainable meatless local option, ask to dine in, without any doilies or garnishes such as paper plate liners. If you’re at a real trendy place, they might be able to serve you on your own plate. Wouldn’t it be great if the whole world were like camping—bring your own, eat all you’ve got, carry out your own trash…?

Of course…the most sustainable option is not to travel, to live under a rock and eat the bugs that crawl under there, etc…but then we’re not sharing, growing, and being stewards of the earth.

1-      Trash Facts, the Artula Institute, http://www.thelivingcoast.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/TrashFacts.pdf

2 - http://sustainableswag.blogspot.com/2009/02/problem-with-disposable-coffee-cups.html