What would you do with $500?

If you could get $500 to improve something in your town’s environment, what would you spend it on? That’s the question Carl Briedenbach was answering in an assignment for his 9^th grade English class in Boise, Idaho. Imagine his surprise when the city of Boise awarded him $500 toward a set of steps he proposed to build in order to help kayakers access the Boise River without eroding the riverbank!

The funds came from the city’s Youth Enviroguard mini-grant program, designed to get youth invested in their community. Over the years, youth who have received the grants have used the funds to leverage additional donations in order to build native gardens at their schools, a rain garden at the VA hospital, and a horticultural therapy space at Allumbaugh House, a shelter for people who are having problems with mental illness or drugs.

Carl was a cross-country runner, and when he ran on the riverside trail, he noticed erosion in areas where boaters would scramble down the bank to get into the water. Grant in hand, Carl figured he would complete the steps over the summer — but it ended up taking three years! When he began the process of getting permission to do the work, he found that Trout Unlimited, an organization that preserves rivers, already had projects going on along the river. Carl had to negotiate with Trout Unlimited, the Ada County government, and even the US Army Corps of Engineers in order to get the steps build. In addition, because heavy machinery ended up being needed, he got Rock Placing Company to actually install the steps!

Jasper having discovered the steps that Carl built on the Boise River.

“It took so much more work than I expected, and sometimes I spent more time on this project than I did on my classes,” said Carl, who is now studying civil engineering, environmental studies and GIS at Boise State. “It showed me how much school is different from what the real work is like, when you are dealing with actual projects, and what it’s like communicating with all kinds of people.”

While working on the project occasionally caused Carl’s high school grades to dip, the contacts he made have helped him get good jobs. This summer he interns with the Ada County Highway District, monitoring pollutant loads and analyzing their effect on the Boise River’s water quality. He continues to maintain the steps, and is pleased to have designed a project that serves people who use the river in a number of ways as well as the fish that live in it.

My friends call me “Lumberjack”

When we got out of the car in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we had to move s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y. No, we weren’t being held up by a bank robber. We were trying to avoid bothering a swarm of BEES! We were joining about 15 high school members of the Milwaukee Conservation Leadership Corps (MCLC) who were learning about the importance of bees to the environment.  Staff from Beepods assured us that if we move slowly and gently, the bees wouldn’t bother us, and as a reward, we all got to taste some fresh honey right off the hive, which was sweet and warm!

Turns out the beekeeper suits weren’t really necessary!

The teens in MCLC spend six weeks helping improve Milwaukee’s environment by participating in projects like trail maintenance, watershed restoration and litter cleanup, and developing job skills like delivering presentations. They watch movies like “The Story of Stuff” and “Forks Over Knives” to learn about how personal behavior impacts the environment, and take field trips to places like Beepods.

Aaliyah, a high school senior, said that when she learned how little fresh water there is to go around, it really hit her how important environmental conservation is. Milwaukee borders Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes, the world’s largest source of freshwater. Aaliyah feels it’s important to focus on saving water resources. “It takes 600 gallons of water just to make one pair of jeans. This program has opened our eyes. It’s not just the money we earn. If they stopped the paycheck I’d still be here. ” MCLC has also helped her change her attitude about bugs. “I used to want to get rid of all the bugs in the world. Now I see that bees are in a network — we need them for things like milk and nuts. If we lose one resource, we actually lose a lot.”

Beepods demonstrates how to get honey off the hive.

Quintien, a high school junior who wants to study evolutionary biology, or perhaps entymology, concurred. “The talk today about propolis inspired me. Nature helps people in many ways. I want more people to be open to learning about their impact on the environment.”

Students Aliana, Fie and Derrick said the program also helped them organize their time in the summer and avoid wasting it by sleeping in and playing video games all day. These students have returned for their second summer, and they found that having participated last summer helped them in their science classes and in speaking up in general. “I used to be shy,” Aliana said. “But they told me that if I don’t speak up, I won’t get what I want.”

Everyone wants a taste of the honey!

Harvian, also back for his second summer, has enjoyed getting out of his comfort zone, learning that “cheap doesn’t always mean good”, and getting away from television. “My friends call me a lumberjack,” he said. “But I’m proud to be helping out the environment.

 

 

There’s a brick in my toilet!

When Asia Dorsey was in middle school, she spent a lot of time talking about bathrooms.  Asia was participating in Denver’s Earth Force program. Earth Force helps young people learn how they can improve the environment in their community.  Most of the water that we use in our households goes down the bathroom drains. Asia decided to help people use less water in their toilets. She obtained donations of bricks, put them in Ziplock bags along with instructions on how to place them in the toilet tanks, and distributed them to the public.

Now, Asia is back in Denver, leading a new generation of teens through the Earth Force process. Denver has a new initiative to get kids to be more active and eat more healthily. But, what if you don’t have a good place to play or work out, or to get healthy food? Some of the youth Asia has worked with have pointed out that the basketball court outside the Swansea Recreation Center doesn’t have lights, so no-one can play after dark. The youth are in the process of requesting that the city install lights for the court.

teens sad that they can’t play basketball at night.

The youth also participate at the GrowHaus, where they learn about nutrition, farming, and composting, and help local residents create vegetable gardens in their backyards.

Jasper and Asia going into thr GrowHaus

 

breaking news! Lake level rising!!

So its raining. Mom and I are sitting in the car, at 2 in the morning with our sleeping bags and pillows soaking wet stuffed in the backseat. The forecast for tonight was slight chance of thunderstorm. Not the tent flooding and thunderless lighting like nobody’s business. I would say its heat lightning, but its only 70 degrees out. Its really eerie looking, every half second you can see everything. When I first stepped out of the tent, it was so bright, I thought the full moon was out, but no.

Mom standing in ankle deep water

brilliant sunset on the lake

Mom says

“At about 1:30am, thunder crashing so loudly and rain was pelting the tent. I looked at you sleeping so soundly and I didn’t want you to miss anything so I shook you awake and I shouted: ‘how can you sleep though this?” and you lifted you head, and looked at me with groggy eyes and fell right back to sleep. I pulled the sleeping bag over me to protect me from the increasing large drops of water. And finally when the rain stopped, I stepped outside ankle deep water, that’s when I knew, we had to get out of there.”

The rain will supposedly rap up by the morning, continuing into a nice sunny day in the mid 80s. We are not camping tonight!

 

~~~~~~~~Jasper

The Teton Science School

How would you like to spend three weeks of your summer vacation without WiFi, cell phones, or television? And on top of that, you have to work and learn things and live in the wilderness with NO TOILETS and lots of bugs and bears? Well, believe it or not, every summer, a group of inner-city teens from places like New York and San Francisco spend three weeks doing just that at the Teton Science School, which is located in the Teton National Park in Wyoming.

The teens are part of a national program called Summer Search, which helps disadvantaged but perspicacious high school students to get to college.  Summer Search sends the teens on wilderness trips during two summers of their high school career. One summer trip can take place at the Teton Science School (TSS), where the teens learn about sustainability, visit local farms and farmers markets, and learn how to make affordable and healthy food choices. On top of that, they test themselves during overnight wilderness trips (which is the only time they really have no toilets), develop leadership and followership skills, work together to clean their living spaces, and develop an action plan to get their local community involved in a sustainability activity when they return home.

When we visited TSS, the staff were getting ready for the 2014 Summer Search cohort. Mandy, a graduate student in Environmental Studies, and Dani, a graduate student in Environmental Education, have spent the academic year at TSS learning how to connect people with the environment through education, scientific investigation, and stewardship.  As part of their graduate work,  they developed lesson and activity plans for the Summer Search students.

Greg Peck, a faculty member of the TSS graduate program, has witnessed many groups of students go through the process of being weaned from their devices. He assured us that it’s not easy, but eventually they adjust.

TSS has a fascinating history and a wide variety of programs, including accredited schools for pre-K through high school, wildlife expeditions through Yellowstone and Teton National Parks, and an ecosystem research institute. It’s worth a trip on its own!

stuffed rodent, part of the TSS collection of the Yellowstone ecosystem

wool bear  being created by the TSS artist in residence

Jasper, Mandy and Dani pointing at a stuffed bird, part of the ecological artifacts collection at TSS

Slow Travel in the American West

One of the nice things about slow travel is the opportunity it affords to meeting people. Our good luck started when we were lost in Golden Gate Park.

In the Japanese tea graden

Our hero, Chelsea Roberts (who happens to manage San Francisco’s Electric Tour Company) swung round with her VW convertible, and delivered us to the appropriate bus stop.

Friendly folks in san Francisco

Later, in Bend, Oregon, we shared a campsite with Bruce Hendricks, who directs outdoor education for the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir school in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. He and his wife inspired us with their plans for a mountain biking vacation. We also were impressed with Tumelo State Park’s solar powered hot showers!!!  We had ended up in Bend because the ranger at California’s Lava Beds National Monument insisted we had to see Crater Lake.  He was right.  And Crater Lake was amazing!

Panorama of Crater lake

Sunset over Mount Shasta.

Sunset in Lava beds

Me (Jasper) in a cave, while mom failed at taking a photo.

We want to take this moment to give a shout out to Milo Cress, who will be coming to Bend later this summer. In 2011, when he was 9 years old, Milo started the Be Straw Free campaign to reduce the use of plastic straws—in the US, 500 million disposable straws are used each day. The Governor of Colorado has declared July 11 to be Straw Free Day!
We are grateful to Deb and Jeff Forbes, members of couchsurfing.com, who opened their beautiful Idaho Falls home, kitchen, laundry and pets to us.

one of amazing details in Deb and Jeff’s house.

In Rawlins, Wyoming, we discovered Davis and Mavrick, who were performing at the all-school reunion – a big party the town was throwing for all the high school’s alumns, to celebrate the demolition of the old building and the construction of a new one.
And at the super-friendly and comfy Bivouac Hostel in the high-altitude town of Breckenridge, we bunked with Haden and Mason, doing their own cross-country trip before starting college at the University of North Texas, and blogging about it at http://un-chaperoned.blogspot.com/

Trashy Divas in Truckee, California

We met some famous people in Truckee, California. When little kids happen to see Katrin, Robyn and Becca on the street or the grocery store, they will point them out to their parents as the “trash ladies”.

These trashy divas are part of a group of high school students who strut across the auditorium stages of about 20 elementary and middle schools in the Tahoe Truckee school district each year, wearing outfits that they have created out of trash and recycled materials. Missy Mohler, the executive director of SWEP (Sierra Watershed Education Project), leads the Envirolution high school club that produces the Trashion Show to educate the community about how the way we live impacts the environment.

Robyn, who just graduated from the University of Vermont and is going into eco-tourism and international development, got involved with Envirolution after she returned to Truckee from a year of study abroad in France. The first thing she saw when she arrived at the airport in California was a Hummer, and that made her realize how much more environmentally-minded people in Europe were. Her friends told her about Envirolution and she joined right away.

Katrin, currently a nursing student at the University of New Hampshire, came from an environmentally-minded family, so the club was a natural fit for her. Becca, who just graduated from high school, is planning to go into media studies at UC Berkley. She was attracted to Envirolution because of the public speaking opportunities.

The teens make up songs and commentary with environmental messages that are broadcast during the Trashion Show. The local public utilities fund the program and provide give-aways like reusable bags, low-flow showerheads and shower timers, LED night lights and pipe insulators, for the kids in the audience to take home.

Missy knows the program has had a impact on at least one family because a child’s father called to report that he had spent the weekend insulating the pipes under the house at the insistence of one of his children who had seen a Trashion show at school and came home demanding that the family become more energy efficient!

Envirolution and SWEP do a lot of other cool activities so be sure to check out their Website!!!