Play...

Oftentimes, I have a difficult time relaxing. Thinking it will make me feel like I'm being productive, I cram too much on my calendar and don't take breaks. As it turns out, when I'm running around like a chicken with his head cut off, I never work at 100% efficiency. Nor is it much fun. So, I took a few minutes to re- read parts of Dr. Stuart Brown's Play to be reminded purposeless fun can be good for me (in addition to kids). I won't pretend to know how brains function, but love this line:

“Play lies at the core of creativity and innovation.”-Dr. Stuart Brown, Play

We're all born creative. Unfortunately, there's a notion that as we grow up (or grow older, like in the 3rd grade) there's no time for dreaming, tinkering and playing. We need creativity more now than ever...So, make way for play today!

EDUCATION AS IF NATURE AND THE FUTURE MATTER...

Mention the topic education at a cocktail party, the water cooler or your child’s basketball game, and you’re likely to receive an earful. Everyone has an opinion, and while the US is divided on much, most agree we can, and need to, do better with children’s education. Perhaps divided on whether education is too expensive, too cumbersome or wholly ineffective, most are united in believing the purpose of education is to develop a world-class labor force and to act as a means of upward mobility. And for our children, we want to give them the best opportunity to succeed.

Let’s take a step back and consider how we got here and the consequences of our industrial revolution-aged education:

Not long ago (say, two hundred years), we humans numbered fewer than one billion. We were tied to the land and the seasons and, materially, we were poor. Short labor, we used imagination, creativity and natural resources created over millions of years to boost productivity.

Productive we’ve been, developing a “take-make-waste” economy for the benefit of humans, i.e. extract natural resources, produce "goods" and then throw them "away." Most of the nearly seven billion of us now live longer, more comfortable lives than could have been conceived of two centuries ago.

At the same time, every living system is in decline and more than 1B people are in search of work (and half the human population lives on less than $2 dollars per day). In the US, roughly 15% live in poverty. Our definition of progress has been more, faster, cheaper. For most of the past two hundred years, more, faster, cheaper meant an increase in our standard of living. But “more” no longer necessarily means “better.” The increase in the US GDP since 1970 is staggering, yet at about that year the quality of our lives and our “happiness” hit a plateau.

Most junior high students, given the opportunity, could tell you linear thinking on a finite planet is destined to fail. If the human species use resources faster than the replenishment rate, than we’re bound to run into limits. There are only so many trees to cut and burn, only so much soil to deplete. Only a limited amount of clean, fresh water and biological diversity, built up over millions of years, remain. And the vast majority of scientists agree, the once-in-a-billion-years fire sale on coal, oil and gas is altering the atmosphere, not to mention at the root cause of resource wars.

In the name of progress, we’ve ignored the laws of ecology and the laws of thermodynamics. In effect, we’re robbing Peter (natural capital) to pay Paul (humans). The air, water and soil end up as repositories for the worthless waste our system creates. The system works for a while, but if we need Peter to provide us services to live, soon Paul suffers along with Paul.

So, when it comes to education, the intentions of the large majority are good. Who doesn’t want the best for their children or the children they teach in the classroom? Yet, the current educational system largely ignores reality and the need for real curriculum reform. 1950’s style education doesn’t develop leaders of the 21st century. A new recycling program in the cafeteria and an Earth Day celebration once a year doesn’t cut it.

It begins with children learning where they live and how the world around them works, e.g. Where does drinking water come from? Our food? Energy? (Not the tap and not the grocery store.) At the same time, it’s foolish to think all of a sudden children don’t need to focus on reading, writing and arithmetic. But with a short school day and short school year, who has time to cover both the learning standards mandated by the states and teach environmental education?

How about using the environment as a teaching tool across the spectrum, i.e. studying nature through reading, writing, social studies, math, science and art. A growing number of educators understand children’s brains aren’t wired to sit in desks and memorize abstract information. Additionally, much of that information has little relevance to their real world and future success in it. Rather than separate subjects into silos, why not projects that 1.) cover multiple subjects at once, and 2.) study the “stuff” nearby. Why spend a year teaching the Jamestown settlement, multiplication, the water cycle, writing narratives, reading biographies and try to squeeze in a unit on the Amazon Rainforest when all the same subjects may be covered studying a few different aspects of the school community where the students live? Hands-on, place-based education leads to children who can think AND who perform well on tests.

Give students something to do, not learn; and when the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking, learning naturally results.” —John Dewey

“Using outdoor learning leads to increases in test scores.”
– Research Article: Closing the Achievement Gap: Using the Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning. www.Seer.org

“Using the environment as an integrating context (EIC) in school curricula results in wide-ranging, positive effects on student learning.” – Lieberman and Hoody


I often joke when asked why I decided to write books for kids, “I want to make sure kids grow up smarter than us.” By that I mean, understanding how nature works. To start, children need to spend time in it so they can comprehend first-hand what John Muir meant when he wrote: “Tug on anything at all and you’ll find it connected to everything else in the universe.”

Things in the 21st century are changing fast, faster than ever before, but the status quo is still powerful, e.g. Ironically, Texas curriculum standards determine text book content nationwide. Yet, California, for all it’s sins, is in the midst of offering a comprehensive set of lessons: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/Education/EEI/Curriculum/Default.htm

The Stone Age didn’t end b/c we ran out of stones and fossil fuel age won’t end because we run out of ancient sun energy. There are better ways and nature show us the way. The opportunity of the 21st century will be transitioning to an economy that works. An economy modeled on the success of nature, namely:

• recycling all it’s nutrients
• running on current solar energy
• thriving on diversity
• demanding local expertise
• rewarding cooperation over competition

It’s time to focus on more than just test scores. Developing creative thinkers connected to the world around them, understanding that the 21st century is the greatest time in the history of mankind to be alive.

See you outside,
Tim
http://www.greensugarpress.com


P.S. If you’d like something for late elementary aged children, check out the Teacher’s Guide for An Environmental Guide from A to Z on our website.


P.P.S. Focused on children and nature, David Sobel is a leader in place-based education. At the high school and university level, check out David Orr of Oberlin College. Paul Hawken’s University of Portland’s commencement speech of 2009 is a must-read: www.paulhawken.com

Outdoor Fun During Winter....

THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY POSTED AT "A Fresh Squeeze" (with pictures)
Click on the link: http://tinyurl.com/ygh4g3k

Winter Weather Got You Down?
Embrace the cold, grab the kids and get outside!
23 Jan 2010 by Tim Magner

While the thermometer reads freezing and we can only dream of a prolonged spring thaw, don’t resign to spend the winter cooped up and stuck inside- especially when it comes to the kids.

Playing outside, no matter the weather, is a critical part of healthy childhood development. Watching children react to snow is enough to remind us spending time outdoors is in our genes and part of who we are.

A wide range of research shows time in nature outdoors during formative years leads to gains in cognitive development, self-discipline, creative expression, motor and language skills and social interactions. Children who regularly play in nature generally demonstrate greater self-esteem, are better able to handle stress and are often healthier (re: sick less often). Many believe that outdoor experiences are critical to the development of a sense of wonder that is an important motivator for life-long learning.

That’s all good, but what do you do when we live in the Midwest and we shiver just looking at the icicles outside our window? Resist the urge to pull up the blanket and read on:

Preparation:
There’s no such thing as bad weather, only poorly prepared participants. The surest way to make an outdoor activity with children (or anyone) successful: dress appropriately.

For bundling up during winter, take notes from wildlife—think ducks, beavers and seals. It’s an analogy that children can understand when getting dressed. The outer layer is waterproof to keep them dry and the under layer keeps them warm. Once covere d from head to toe with boots, hats and mittens, children can engage their instincts to slide like a seal and waddle like a duck.

A couple notes: cotton absorbs sweat, so consider underwear material that wicks sweat away from the body. For ample circulation, sometimes less is more. Make sure boots aren’t too snug. For socks, wool is best. Scarves and hoods are good, but pay attention that visibility isn’t impaired.

Remember two advantages we have over wild animals: 1.) Layers can be shed if we get warm, and 2.) If we get too cold, there’s always soup and hot chocolate inside.

Top 10 Ideas for Outdoor Fun.
Hint: If it’s cold, choose activities that keep kids moving. The more active we are, the more our bodies warm as we burn energy.

1. Go on a Hunt—a Winter Scavenger Hunt: Create a list and then head outdoors to search for different parts of wildlife, e.g. a seed, pinecone, feather, an animal nest, something round, a decaying or chewed leaf, something that feels bumpy/smooth.

2. Become a Tracker: Find as many tracks in the snow (non-human & human) as possible. Identify and see where they lead. Can you find tunnels, empty bird nests or drays (squirrel homes)?

3. Fire the Imagination: Play pretend as animals on a journey through the wild in the winter. Midwest animal examples include: squirrel, robin, raccoon, coyote, bear, dog, mouse, hawk.

4. Unleash the Artist: Paint the snow using brushes and liquid tempera paint, or with colored water in squirt bottles. Alternatively, as a post-outside activity, draw or paint a snow scene. Using white chalk on colored paper, sketch a nearby winter scene. For snow, put down watered-down white glue and sprinkle powdered laundry soap.

5. Become Builders: Start with an ice structure and find containers to fill with colored water and freeze. Once frozen, remove and use to build ice structures. Any props are good that encourage play.

Graduate and build an igloo (or a fort or snow tunnels). Using a straight edge of a metal shovel, create an igloo house by cutting blocks of snow and creating “bricks” to build walls. A tarp may be necessary to cover the roof. Alternatively, cave-like openings in a pile of snow will work. Be careful of collapsing snow!

6. Become a Weather Reporter and make a snow gauge: Use any container, preferably something clear, i.e. ½ cut off plastic soda bottle. Mark the snow gauge in inches and centimeters and hold steady by placing rocks against it on the outside. Track and graph results during winter months. A yardstick may also be used for a snow gauge, but is less accurate due to variables like wind drift.

Additional weather reporting: measure snow bank temperature. Many animals, including mice, understand snow insulates. Place a thermometer at the base of the snow bank (place on the ground, in the bottom, and give it a little room so it’s not “packed” in). Check back several times and compare the reading to outside air temperature. Discuss the role of temperature on the properties of water as a solid, liquid and gas.

7. Create Scientific Experiments: As long as we’re talking temperatures, take the time to freeze water. Fill different sized containers and make predictions. Try with similar containers, using cold water in one and warm in the other.

8. Do Detective Work: Observe the effects of winter on your house, your yard and the neighborhood. How are the trees and plants different? Why is the air dryer? What does frost look like on windows? How and why do icicles form? Take a magnifying glass/hands lens and observe.

9. Be a friend to animals that remain during the winter: Create a birdfeeder, garland or food-rich snowman. Hang it from a tree or build it in a place that’s observable from a window inside. The birdfeeder may be as simple as pinecones covered in peanut butter with seeds. Create a garland with cranberries and popcorn. For a snowman that attracts animals, cover the body parts with food, e.g. carrot, cranberries and raisins, although I still like sticks/branches for arms.

10. If you get cold, start moving: Nothing keeps us warm like burning energy. Conduct running races, sprint up hills, sled or roll down them. Create an obstacle course. Play follow the leader.

Pre- and Post-Outdoor activities/questions/discussions/writing prompts:
Discuss with your kids what you might and, might not, find outside. Why? Why not?

How do animals in Illinois stay warm in the winter? What about the animals in the Arctic? Which ones make changes to help them survive? e.g. extra fur, camouflage, slow heart rate (or migrate!)

How do we stay warm in the winter? Inside? Outside?

How do we make ‘clouds’ when it is cold outside?


If you’re ambitious enough to venture further than your yard:
The Chicago area is full of semi-wild areas that can feel a million miles away. Check out the websites for The Chicago Park District and Forest Preserve of Cook County.

If you don’t experience the itch to get outdoors, it won’t take much coaxing once the electronic games are unplugged. So, leave the hibernating to the polar bears and commit to engage the senses outdoors year-round.

See you outside,
Tim “Green Sugar” Magner

P.S. Bonus Activities:
1.) Arctic Dog Sled Team in Chicago and more… See a real arctic dog sled team, watch as amazing ice sculptures are created, listen to winter tales told by storytellers, sip hot cocoa and snowshoe at the 5th annual Polar Adventure Days at Northerly Island. This free event takes place on February 20 from noon to 4 p.m.

2.) Winter camping is also available at Illinois State Parks through the winter months. Enjoy cross-country skiing and camping at Illinois Beach State Park, Chain o' Lakes State Park, Johnson-Sauk Trail State Park, Kankakee River State Park.

Time to Take Play Seriously: A Little Perspective

I note the calendar (it says 'September') and watch the sun set (earlier each day), yet I refuse to acknowledge what we know to be true: summer's end is fast approaching. For me, summer represents the best of childhood: long days without schedules, mostly playing outside. So, while school may be back in session, let's hope administrators understand what we know: outdoor play time is critical for healthy childhood development.

Why? For the vast majority of our history, formal education didn't exist. We were hunters and gatherers and childhood was about acquiring the skills and instincts we'd need to be successful adults. Fail in our development tasks and we'd be incapable of feeding ourselves and extending our lineage.

So, here we are 10,000 years into our time as farmers and 200 years as industrialists. Our ability to track game and identify foodstuffs, roots and fungi have all but vanished. Times have changed, as have the instincts needed to survive, but the best way for children to learn remains the same: play.

Children are wired to acquire new skills and knowledge and they do it best without fear and consequence. Said another way, play for it's own sake, self-chosen and self-directed, comes with the benefit of learning as a by-product.

Consider learning a foreign language, how to dance or even how to hit a ball. Without concerns about achievement our minds and bodies instinctively pick up the basics. With repetition, our skills improve. As adults, with structure and pressure, our bodies and minds freeze up. We're inhibited. Adults are able to deal with stress better than children, but children are wired to learn. Compare the way a child picks up new technology versus an adult. Too often, as adults, in our desire to raise Einsteins, we make children act like adults and hamper their development. Remember, Einstein never used flash cards.

So, how do we allow kids enough time to be kids if they're sitting in a classroom most of the day? Be cognizant of their needs and, no matter how they spend their time at school, there are still enough waking hours for playtime. For more, head to the http://www.childrenandnature.org website.


See you outside,
Tim.

Cap-and-Trade. For Adults Only!

Cap-and-Trade Bill: Perspective and Opinion
On June 26th, the US House of Representatives narrowly passed The Waxman-Markey Energy Bill. The Bill now moves to the Senate where it’s future is far from decided.

What is Cap-and-Trade?
Under the Bill’s cap-and-trade system, the government starts with a total amount of carbon dioxide, “the cap”, businesses can emit. Initially, companies buy pollution credits at auction from the government.

If a company reduces their emissions faster than required, they sell or “trade” their excess emission credits to a company unable to meet the requirements. Over forty years, the cap is cranked down to reduce total carbon emissions by up to 80%.

Ideally, by creating a market for carbon dioxide, a gas released by fossil fuel consumption, we’ll reduce the amount of heat trapping gas we emit. If we make the polluter pay for their waste, the logic goes, we’ll pollute less or figure ways to obtain power from cleaner sources.

Big Deal?
Since most of us rely on carbon from fossil fuels for everything from turning on the faucet (electricity to pump water) to eating a meal (growing, harvesting, transporting, preparing) to typing on this computer, this impacts us all.

Proponents claim a future of green jobs, e.g. developing new technologies, insulating buildings and installing solar panels, while critics argue a fossil fuel energy tax will drive us deeper into recession as business passes on their costs to consumers.

Has anything like this been done before?
There are plenty of precedents for cap-and-trade, including in the US.
During the 1980’s, sulfur dioxide from coal-fired power plants created acid rain and ravaged forests, lake and streams of the Northeast. Despite millions of dollars by the coal lobby, The Clean Air Amendment of 1990 included a cap-and-trade provision to reduce coal plant's sulfur dioxide emissions. (it did nothing to limit other emissions, like toxic pollutants).

Nearly twenty years later, even it’s most ardent critics agree it has been an unqualified success. Emissions were reduced at a fraction of the cost the skeptics had argued it would cost. Additionally, the investment meant billions in health cost savings and increases in crop revenue.

For the first time, coal operators and plant managers had an incentive to reduce waste and pollution. Coal plant technology has changed little since the 19th century. In fact, the pet food industry spends more on R&D than does the entire utility industry.

Unfortunately, a comprehensive carbon cap-and-trade is a great deal more complicated than installing scrubbers on smoke stacks and finding cleaner burning coal for about two hundred coal plants.

European Carbon Cap-and-Trade:
Europe instituted a carbon cap-and-trade a few years ago and the results have been less than encouraging. Their biggest mistake, allocating (for free) more pollution credits than was necessary, caused the price of pollution credits to plummet. At the same time, utilities pocketed windfall profits at the expense of consumers.

Supporters of The Waxman-Markey Bill counter they’ve learned their lessons from Europe’s flaws. Yet, in order to win support from manufacturing, coal and industrial agriculture states, they watered down the bill on every front and agreed to give away, rather than auction, the vast majority (75%+ of the initial credits. There goes most of the revenue!) It also provides wiggle room and exceptions for polluters with clout (read: loopholes and subsides). Note: the bill grew from a two-page outline a few months ago to more than 1,000 pages.

Additionally, while the link between sulfur dioxide’s acid rain killing forests is readily comprehendible, most layman don’t make the connection between our fossil fuel waste and resulting costs, e.g. military expenditures, soil erosion, soaring healthcare costs, etc.

Negatives:
• Vast regulatory machine to set-up and administer
• The majority of credits are given away upfront
• Too little too soon: virtually nothing ‘til 2012, and little ‘til 2016


Positives:
• Revenue collected aimed at provisions to beef up energy efficiency (to save money) and to require large utilities to obtain electricity from renewable sources.
• Regulations in place to beef up the bill and reduce carbon emissions over time.


Carbon Tax: a better option?
Advocates for a simpler plan, with fewer regulatory costs, propose a straight pollution tax, i.e. a carbon tax. Upon closer inspection, it’s not as easy as proponents argue.

Yes, Waxman-Markey chose the cap-and-trade because polluters find it more palatable, but also because the goal is to reduce emissions a specific amount annually and, for this, the cap-and-trade is a better instrument.


Why do we need to reduce carbon dioxide, again?
I’ll agree with the vast majority of climate scientists: our emissions of carbon into the atmosphere cause climate change. I’ll also argue it’s OK to support a tax on carbon even if you don’t agree.

Two hundred years ago, there were fewer than one billion people roaming the land (mostly poor farmers). Today, we’re at seven billion (on our way to nine billion-plus) and more than one billion can’t find work. What changed: the use of fossil fuels.

In the 19th century, when we were short labor and long natural resources it made sense to subsidize the use of natural resources because it contributed to a rise in the standard of living. Times have changed, yet those companies that pollute and externalize their costs, wield more power than ever.

We’ll benefit from eliminating the billions of annual direct subsidies to coal, oil, gas, industrial agriculture and mining industries. Make the oil companies pay the US Naval costs for patrolling Middle East waters. Force coal to pay the clean-up costs of mountaintop removal mining. Demand logging companies pay to cut timber on government owned lands (and pay for the roads to get there). Stop the madness of giving billions to agricultural giants who grow corn with fossil fuel inputs to fatten cattle and fatten kids, read: high-fructose corn syrup.

So what do we do?
Our goal ought to be to increase quality of life, not increase GDP for the sake of increasing GDP. Economic growth, defined by GDP, in the US no longer equates to an increase in the standard of living. Our “happiness” index in the US peaked more than 30 years ago.

What to do about it: Shift subsidies and taxes to fuel a new revolution.

Altering taxes and subsides will affect change. People act on information the market gives them. If we want companies to use less of something, e.g. fossil fuels, eliminate subsidies and begin to tax. If we want to stimulate consumption, e.g. companies hiring workers, remove the taxes.

Reducing waste is good business- just ask some of the companies who aren’t waiting for public policy to change and reaping huge financial benefits from improving design, companies like Interface Global, Dow and Patagonia. Global consultant McKinsey and Company has published extensive reports highlighting the impressive ROIs to be had just by investing in efficiency.

As the Senate debates the cap-and-trade bill, we ought to
1. Work to remove subsidies given to the coal, oil, gas and natural resources industries
2. To encourage creativity and innovation, and reduce our addiction to limited resources, institute a cap-and-trade with teeth.
3. To encourage employment, lower taxes on labor.

Take the time to call your US Senators (and House Rep) and demand they work for you and our futures. www.congress.org

This is a historic time. We have a huge opportunity to move past the 19th century’s Industrial Revolution to smarter ways of producing energy. Now, more than ever, it’s vital our elected officials are working for us and our children, not corporations.

Better Education

Last week I mentioned one of my heros, David Orr. He runs the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College in Ohio and is responsible for the creation of their high performance building, The AJ Lewis Center.

What makes the building different?
It derived it's materials locally, cycles it's nutrients and runs on current solar power—producing more energy than it consumes. Yes, the upfront costs were greater and it took time to plan, but consider the total costs (annual operating costs, externalized costs, i.e. pollution, and hidden subsidies not used) and the building is a fraction the cost of a typical building.

More importantly, the building is more comfortable to be in, e.g. toxin-free. Most importantly, Oberlin uses the building as a teaching tool for it's students, from science to math, to history and economics.

What does it have to do with nature? It's modeled on how nature works.

The only thing crazy about the story is ten years after the building has been completed, there are not more buildings like this.



More on Orr:
David Orr argues for radical reform to our education. While nothing radical with that, Orr doesn't argue for change to better prepare a labor force for the global economy or to promote maximum upward mobility. Rather, Orr argues we've got to move past the Industrial Revolution and prepare students to create an economy that works on a planet with finite resources. In his words:

"The generation now being educated will have to do what we, the present generation, have been unable or unwilling to do: stabilize a world population which is growing at the rate of a quarter of a million each day; stabilize and then reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, which threaten to change the climate; protect biological diversity, now declining at an estimated rate of one hundred to two hundred species per day; reverse the destruction of rain forests, now being lost at the rate of one hundred and sixteen square miles or more each day; and conserve soils, now being eroded at the rate of sixty-five million tons per day. Those who follow us must learn how to use energy and materials with great efficiency. They must learn how to utilize solar energy in all its forms. They must rebuild the economy in order to eliminate waste and pollution. They must learn how to manage renewable resources for the long term. They must begin the great work of repairing, as much as possible, the damage done to the earth in the past two hundred years of industrialization. And they must do all of this while addressing worsening social and racial inequities. No generation has ever faced a more daunting agenda."*


*from "Environmental Literacy: Education as if the Earth Mattered."

Last week I headed east for a wedding in Long Island. Needing an excuse to spend more time in NY, I scheduled a few school visits. While the schools were neat and the wedding a fantastic party, the highlight may have been a stop en route- Oberlin College in Ohio.

Not only did I get to see one of my heros, educator David Orr, and tour one of the highest performing buildings ever built, I was treated to the best damn asparagus of my life.

Just off Oberlin College's campus lies a 175-acre former commodity crop farm recently given new life. A few years ago, when housing developers nearly turned the depleted farmland into a cookie-cutter subdivision, Oberlin College stepped in and saved the day. The result: The New Agrarian Center at The George Jones Memorial Farm, a restored prairie and wetland with a small farm that grows real food.



The land had been a soybean and corn farm reliant on large doses of fossil fuels to make it go- from the production to the manufacturing to the distribution of processed foods. In the process, wildlife and jobs were eliminated, soil eroded and the air and water polluted.

Today, the land provides animal habitat, cleans local water, sequesters carbon and, in only a couple of acres, grows $60,000 worth of vegetables a year (by comparison, the same amount of land will yield less than $1,500 worth of corn). Just as importantly, it's a teaching tool. College kids intern on the farm and Cleveland elementary kids arrive by the busload to get their hands dirty. They learn about farming and ecology hands-on and are treated to some things kids don't get much of these days—real, local food, and knowledge of where it comes from.

I learned most of this from Director Brad (who pointed out the blue herons) and Educational Programmer Evelyn (who didn't mind me eating two asparagus for every one I picked)....Thank you!




P.S. I'll be back with the high-tech building......it's closer to a living tree than it is to a traditional building.