May 7-13 Drinking Water Week
Water is Life! All the water we have is all the water we will ever have on this planet. We must protect and conserve this vital resource. Learn more about our local water systems with the following links.
SPLASH! Eugene's Water Systems
And, for more on
Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Week
May 7-13 ICAW! International Compost Awareness Week
For Healthier Soil, Healthier Food...compost!
One of the initiatives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), is Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. As part of the ICAW committee’s global discussion with our international partners around the world, we spoke the same language, and all wanted to promote a unified theme - aligning a topic important to each country while emphasizing our work with compost.
Here are some key facts regarding organics recycling and compost use highlighting why ICAW is such an important awareness-building program:
- The use of landfill space and incineration can be reduced by at least one-third when organics are recycled. Focused attention on recycling organic residuals is key to achieving high-waste diversion rates.
- Methane, a greenhouse twenty-five times as powerful as carbon dioxide, can be significantly reduced through the recycling of organics instead of their being landfilled.
- Soil health and productivity is dependent on organic matter – the essence of compost -- to provide the sustenance for the biological diversity in the soil. Plants depend on this to convert materials into plant-available nutrients and to keep the soil well-aerated. Additional benefits include the reduced need for pesticide usage to ward off soil-borne and other plant diseases.
- Compost offers a significant answer to climate change mitigation. Compost’s return to the soil serves as a “carbon bank,” helping to store carbon thereby removing it from the atmosphere.
- Compost is a huge benefit for both water conservation and quality. When used in water quality projects, compost bind pollutants to the organics material and prevents them from entering our lakes, wetlands, streams and rivers. Soil erosion is mitigated, and water-holding capacity improved through compost’s enhancement of soil structure, binding soil particles together.
Safe Routes to Schools Walk + Roll May Challenge
You are encouraged to promote and participate in this year's Walk + Roll to school day, May 3rd. For more info about this year's challenge, check out Oregon Safe Routes to Schools site:
And...it's National Bike Month
National Ride A Bike Day: May 7, 2023
National Bike & Roll to School Day: May 3, 2022
Bike to Work Week 2023: May 15-21, 2022
Bike to Work Day: May 19, 2022
For more info: National Census
Mow Free May
No Mow May...Don't mind us, we're helping the bees.
That's right, you lawn lovers, No Mow May is a thing. Remember the saying April showers bring May flowers? May is the most active pollinator months of the year, so let it grow...let it grow...The goal of No Mow May is to allow grass to grow unmown for the month of May, creating habitat and forage for early season pollinators. This is particularly important in urban areas where floral resources are often limited.
Introducing, Bee City USA -City of Eugene Chapter-check out this site for some local ways to get involved and help bees right here in our community. There are a host of activities and resources.
Bee City USA began in Asheville, NC, which kicked off the program in June 2013 with their eponymous declaration. Bee City “encourages city leaders to celebrate and raise awareness of the contribution bees and other pollinators make to our world.”
On July 23, 2018, Eugene City Council unanimously passed Resolution #5240 to become a Bee City USA, joining more than a hundred other cities and campuses across the country united in improving their landscapes for pollinators. The Council’s action is the culmination of months of effort by the Eugene Pollinator Protection Committee to accomplish this certification.
4J/EWEB Education Partnership and You!
Here are a few activities I can bring to you and your students:
K-5 Give Me an A...STEAM!
The Give Me an A...STEAM! project is designed to bring an art element to your classroom learning. 4J/EEP's Eco Chick will provide a Water is Life mural painting experience for your students. Perfect for teachers that participated in the Salmon project or are teaching water related lessons, such as FOSS Water and Climate. Let's connect and discuss how to get your students creating. This works best with a 45-60 minute session and a second 30 minute follow-up to add fun details.
K-8 Eugene's Three Water Systems Gallery Walk
Eugene's Three Water Systems involves a small group gallery walk with various learning materials to engage with. It is designed to help students gain an understanding of our local water systems and why water conservation and protection is vital to life on the planet. This activity includes a Blue River watershed model demonstration. (45-60 minutes)
K-8 Wonder Wander
Wonder Wanders are designed for K-4 students and their teachers to GET OUTSIDE to notice and wonder in their school yard surroundings. This 45-60 minute experience includes an introduction and optional read aloud story, an outdoor Wonder Wander guided by 4J/EEP's Eco Chick, time for students to take advantage of the teachable moments being outdoors in a non-recess moment provides, time to share with partners and the whole group, and an optional follow-up SeeSaw lesson. And, they are FUN! Rain ponchos, fingerless gloves, and hand lenses are provided to get a macro and micro view rain or shine.
K-12 Food Waste Education
A classroom visit with Eco Chick to learn more about food, waste and why it matters.
Eco Chick Visit Form to schedule any of these experiences for your class today!
May 13 Migratory Bird Day
Migratory Bird Day takes place on the second Saturday in May each year.
The 2023 World Migratory Bird Day campaign will focus on the topic of water and its importance for migratory birds.
Water is fundamental to life on our planet. The vast majority of migratory birds rely on aquatic ecosystems during their life cycles. Inland and coastal wetlands, rivers, lakes, streams, marshes, and ponds are all vital for feeding, drinking, or nesting, and also as places to rest and refuel during their long journeys.
Unfortunately, aquatic ecosystems are becoming increasingly threatened around the world and so are the migratory birds that depend on them. The increasing human demand for water, as well as pollution and climate change, are having a direct impact on the availability of clean water and the conservation status of many migratory birds.
Audubon Bird Migration Explorer
The Environment for the Americas has many free resources available.
Read about Audubon's Lights Out Program. While we don't officially have a program in Eugene (Bend does)...you could engage your neighbors to participate...
More info in this NPR article:
North American birds are in decline. Here are 8 simple ways you can help
May 19 Endangered Species Day
Along with the 18th annual Endangered Species Day, 2023 also marks the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a landmark piece of legislation that institutionalized our national commitment to the conservation of fish, plants and wildlife and the places they call home.
Check out the Endangered Species Coalition site.
50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.
And, Kids Discover has a nice resource here. Sign up for the free membership and there are many other great resources, as well.
May 22 World Biodiversity Day
From Agreement to Action-Build Back Biodiversity
22 May, The International Day for Biological Diversity has gained global prominence through the efforts of the United Nations, governments, indigenous peoples and local communities, non-governmental organizations and concerned individuals. Each has highlighted their innovative solutions to the biodiversity crisis to the forefront of global conversations on sustainable development.
Although every Biodiversity Day carries its own special significance, this year’s global celebrations bring with it a renewed sense of hope with the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP 15.
Biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable development challenges. From nature-based solutions to climate, health issues, food and water security, and sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity is the foundation upon which we can build back better.
Visit this site for more information.
Article: COP ends with landmark biodiversity agreement
American Museum of Natural History ology- What is biodiverstiy?
STEM Teaching Tools
Global climate change is rapidly impacting all life on earth. But impacts of climate change are complex, uneven, and worsening, with people from poverty-impacted and BIPOC communities often experiencing impacts most sharply. We must be prepared to understand and respond to climate science. Education is a vital context for building capacity for just, community-driven adaptation and resilience efforts as well as for promoting the enactment of equitable mitigation efforts around the world.
Justice-centered climate change learning is complex, but urgent. To support educators to build capacity for this work, we are creating a suite of resources focused on different aspects of this work. Climate science learning has to happen across PK-12 classroom, in informal education and outdoor contexts, and in community-based learning settings.
To that end, we have created the following kinds of resources on this page:
- STEM Teaching Tools on Climate (professional learning resources)
- 3D Assessment Examples for Climate Science Learning (from the ClimeTime project)
- The Climate Teacher Education Collaborative
- Climate & Environmental Justice in Education Graduate-Level Course
- Climate and Environmental Education Articles for Educators
4J/EWEB Education Partnership
TOSA-Climate, Energy, Conservation
Grant Coordinator-EWEB, SPLASH!, Love Food Not Waste
Email: shepard_t@4j.lane.edu
Website: https://bit.ly/4J-eep
Phone: 541.790.5533