NASA Image from March 2010

NASA Image from August 2009

From the NASA Earth Observatory Natural Hazards Feed:

“The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured these images of the Twin Cities region on March 17, 2010 (top), and August 5, 2009 (bottom). Both use a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land. Vegetation appears bright green. Clouds appear sky blue. Water varies in color from electric blue to navy. Bare ground ranges in color from dark brown to tan.

Taken in different seasons—late winter and mid-summer—these images not only show different water levels in the Mississippi and other rivers, but also dramatically different amounts of vegetation. While much of the region is heavily vegetated in August 2009, river levels are low enough to make the water bodies nearly invisible. (Tree cover along the riverbanks may partly obscure the rivers.) In contrast, the image from March 2010 shows vegetation just beginning to emerge from winter’s chill. Differences in vegetation between August and March are especially visible in the west, in what appears to be a large patchwork of agricultural lands. Compared to the previous summer, the Mississippi and other rivers in the region appear swollen. Some of the electric-blue hues in water bodies away from the rivers might result from lingering ice. Springtime rains and snowmelt often conspire to raise water levels.”

Jellyfish and plastic pieces from the Pacific Ocean.

Crabs, Algae, and Flying Fish Eggs on Ocean Plastic.

Barnacles living on plastic bottles in ocean.

A research ship recently docked back home after weeks out at sea studying plastic in the ocean. You can read about the fascinating trip and see amazing photos on their blog. Or check out the official website.

Their destination was a location in the Pacific Ocean, far off the coast of California, where sea currents converge and cause a mass gathering of plastic. The plastic gathering isn’t a floating raft; but small pieces suspended at varying depths.

These plastic pieces probably leech chemicals into the water but they also act like magnets attracting hydrophobic industrial and agricultural chemicals – which are suspected to be consumed by small fish and work up the food chain to top-level-consumers like us.

Interestingly, larger pieces of ocean plastics become homes to pelagic creatures like crabs, algae, flying fish eggs. They anticipate needing six months (or more) to analyze all the data – should be some interesting results!

Its really interesting to hear so many of the students say they would like to have people with science careers come into the classroom and talk to them about it. It seems like a no-brainer, but we are not doing it enough.

Miss Baker is a biology teacher who’s class has a blog, and who has her own blog about using blogs for science education. Very exciting and inspiring – she is meeting the students where they are and it is obviously engaging them.

I wonder if local nature centers could engage with schools by using blogs/facebook/twitter etc. Maybe they could even partners with a local biology class to set it up and run the blog for a school year, or get a summer intern. If any organizations are interested in this idea and would like some help setting it up, please contact me.

Project BudBurst

Springtime always peaks my interest in phenology. Recently, I went to a local book seller and inquired if they sold phenology journals, the women at the book store asked if I had looked in the New Age section. Right away I knew her mistake, “Not Phrenology,” I said, “Phenology.”

Here is a list of phenology resources from people and organizations who definitely wouldn’t make the same mistake.

The Minnesota Conservation Volunteer has a great young naturalists article on Phenology, including a teachers guide.

Project BudBurst is “is a national field campaign for citizen scientists designed to engage the public in the collection of important climate change data based on the timing of leafing and flowering of trees and flowers. ”

The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service’s extensive phenology page.

John Latimer, of Grand Rapids, hosts an interesting phenology radio series with the MP3s available on his website.

Red Wing Nature Notes is group blog which holds true to its name.

And the Star Tribune reports that this week the first barge plowed upstream through the ice at Lake Pepin.

International Children's Digital Library

The International Children’s Digital Library is wonderful website full of great resources for educators, parents, and anyone who loves children’s literature and illustration. 

There are many science and nature themed books with high-res scanned images of all of the pages, including the illustrations. And many of the book’s copyrights have expired so you can used the illustrations for programs. The organization has even developed a Teacher Training Manual. 

“the mission of the International Children’s Digital Library Foundation is to prepare children for life in an ethnically and culturally diverse world by building the world’s largest online multicultural repository of children’s literature.”

Image form the International Children's Digital Library

Sierra Bravo Web Challenge

Web development company Sierra Bravo is again hosting theOvernight Website Challenge. Twelve lucky non-profits were selected to receive a new website created in just 24 hours by over 100 web geek volunteers.

Two non-profits connected to the environmental community were selected: Friends of Fort Snelling and Yea Corps.

The web development lock-in occurs next Saturday, Feb. 28 – so make a note to check out their fancy-shmancy new sites next week!

The deadline for non-profit applications was in early January, so if you know of a non-profit in “www.” need give them a heads-up and perhaps they can apply for next years Website Challenge.

 From the first post:

Welcome to Field Notes, the blog of the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. As the Field Representative for the Alliance, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, I will be using this space to report on my travels and activities throughout the state. I hope to cover local issues, initiatives, opportunities, and ideas that will help and inspire you to work towards preserving the historic places in your community. From time to time I may ask you for your feedback, but you’re always welcome to comment on the blog, emerging issues, or other preservation concerns at PAMfieldnotes@gmail.com Happy reading!

Also, Preservation Alliance of Minnesota is on Facebook, if you are too, become a fan!

Public domain image from grandmasgraphics.com

I think I may have found a great potential resource for environmental educators on BoingBoing today: A website called Grandma’s Graphics is full of free public domain images which I think are pulled from old children’s books. 

BUT there have been so many people visiting, and trying to visit, Grandma’s Graphics who saw it on BoingBoing that it broke the website. I’m sure it will be fixed shortly, and then we can see if this a treasure cove of images or a dud.

Digital Youth Research

I’ve recently come across some great research and information about the way teenagers use the internet and social networking. I just started reading it all, but I think this research can provide insight about how to achieve our organizations’ missions by better utilizing new media and social networking. While the studies focus on teenagers, people of all ages – especially young adults – are plugged-in.

The Digital Youth Project: (here is a nice overview via boingboing)

“Kids’ Informal Learning with Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures” is a three-year collaborative project funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Carried out by researchers at the University of Southern California and University of California, Berkeley, the digital youth project explores how kids use digital media in their everyday lives.

Taken Out of Context
American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics 
(doctorial dissertation by Dr. danah michele boyd)

From the Introduction:
“While teenagers primarily leverage social network sites to engage in common practices, the properties of these sites configured their practices and teens were forced to contend with the resultant dynamics. Often, in doing so, they reworked the technology for their purposes. As teenagers learned to navigate social network sites, they developed potent strategies for managing the complexities of and social awkwardness incurred by these sites. Their strategies reveal how new forms of social media are incorporated into everyday life, complicating some practices and reinforcing others. New technologies reshape public life, but teens’ engagement also reconfigures the technology itself. “ 

The Wild Woods Guide

This website, created by John P. Loegering (a Wildlife Ecologist at the U of M),  is a handy compilation of websites for gardeners and naturalists seeking info about land and wildlife management. 

The book The Wild Woods Guide is an indispensable book full of interesting and little-known facts about north woods animals, plants, weather, and more. Written by journalists, this books gives a different perspective on what people find intriguing about the north woods. Lots of little facts, like name origins and connections to historic lore, that will make you seem like a super -genius if you spit them out during a program. Also, the couple-page-long chapters make for perfect bus reading and easy referencing. 

ScienceBlogs – Environment Channel is a compilation of blogs written by professional earth scientists. Its the best resources for discovering the new research, trends, and for getting sound scientific responses to current issues. These blogs are all personal soap-boxes for the authors, so you get a non-censored perspective which can be refreshing. These blogs are also great inspiration if you are trying to create a press release which connects to current issues. 

Website to watch: Telling River Stories is the brain-child of Patrick Nunnally of the River Life Program hosted by the Institute on the Environment at the U. The website is a connection to river stories accessed through a geographic interface. Its similar to the Friends of the Mississippi River‘s Field Guide, but for the entire Mississippi River. 

Free images from the Fish and Wildlife Service! As an environmental educator I was always looking for high-res copyright free images of animals, plants, and landscapes to use for programs. This FWS website a great resource! 

Those are just a few resource which I hope are new and helpful for you! There are of course lots more (link to a compilation created by the Sharing Environmental Education Knowledge website).  If you have additional good resources to share, send ‘em my way!