The World Is Your Oyster: Marylanders Grow Oysters Program

There's a saying that goes like this: "The world is your oyster." 

It means you can go anywhere and do anything, you've got opportunity galore ahead.

It's interesting, because oysters do just that for the Chesapeake Bay. They are pretty remarkable and powerhouses on their own accord. This infographic gives a quick visual overview:

About a week and a half ago, I got to be a part of some oyster opportunity in the making. As one of the Board of Directors of Maryland Yacht Club Maritime Foundation (MYCMF), I got to see some environmental stewardship in action. The vision of MYCMF is to "inspire and motivate communities to connect with waterways through interactive life experiences." Our mission:

"The Maryland Yacht Club Maritime Foundation Inc. DBA as MYC Maritime Foundation dedicates itself to advancing education, preservation, restoration and investigation efforts through collaborative maritime programs and projects. These efforts benefit a wide and diverse range of individuals, community members and groups. The groups we serve include schools, environmental organizations, at risk youth and engaged curious individuals. The various facets of STEAM, ( Science, Technology, Education, Arts and Mathematics) are incorporated to provide the greatest benefit and impact to all involved parties."

Taking part in the Marylanders Grow Oysters Program, Maryland Yacht Club was the staging center on Thursday, September 17th for a giant drop off of nearly 100 bags of oysters, with MYCMF members keeping it running like a well-oiled ship. With the help of a local school and their battalion of 5th graders, these bags of oysters were deposited into the waters of Rock Creek off the Patapsco River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay. I was not there that day, but it stirred up memories as a delightful throwback to my days at Eagle Cove School when we got to see the kid-side of our oyster crew, with them in action.

Two days later on Saturday, the oysters were again "on the move" on a sunny, windy, feeling-like-fall kind of day. These baby oysters were destined to exchange their 2-day home in the creek at Maryland Yacht Club for their home for the year ahead. Marylanders who wish to donate their time, effort, and their docks sign up to be part of the Marylanders Grow Oysters Program. Currently, over 1,500 volunteers who own water-front property hang oyster cages from their docks to help grow these baby oysters. This protected aquatic environment is vital for their first year of life. In June, these oysters will be relocated to oyster sanctuaries.

We were the oyster pick-up point for folks who live on Stoney Creek, Nabbs Creek, and Rock Creek who signed up to harvest the baby oysters. Really, a small cog in the wheel of the whole program for the entire state of Maryland. For about an hour and a half during the 4 hour Saturday pick-up block, I was there to lend a helping hand if needed. However, I must say, it was a pretty smooth process, already underway! 

Fun Facts from the day:

• Baby oysters are called spat once the oyster larvae has attached to empty, cleaned reclaimed oyster shells. Several oyster spat can attach to the same shell.

• One bag of oysters is the equivalent of 3 oyster cages.

• One cage holds approximately 150 oyster spat.

• Once they have been harvested for the year, the spat will be approximately 1 inch in diameter. They will be planted in local oyster sanctuaries (often called oyster beds or reefs) where they will go to work filtering the tributaries and becoming home to many marine species. 

• Oysters can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day.

• Numbers from the day:
• Stoney & Nabbs Creek had 26 oyster growers with 82 cages hanging from their piers.
• Rock Creek had 71 oyster growers with 197 pier-hanging cages.
• Come June, that means we will plant approximately 42,000 oysters on the Ft. Carroll reef (the "forever home" of these li'l guys.)

• Speaking of guys, oysters begin as males, but can change their gender as needed over their lifetime.

• The Marylanders Grow Oysters Program is a part of the Oyster Recovery Partnership. Check out their website to learn more.

   

May the world be your oyster... and thanks to the 97 area folks who are helping to grow oysters locally, taking that opportunity to be part of something bigger than themselves. Such gratitude for these environmental stewards who are raising oysters which will filter the bay. By volunteering like this to do something bigger than themselves, they have made it possible for all of us to go forward and enjoy the beauty and benefits of the Chesapeake Bay.

The world is our oyster, indeed!

Oyster infographic from https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/infographic/infographic-value-chesapeake-bay-oyster-habitat, photos from my camera.

Our Oyster Graduates

A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook recently. It is a video montage of an early fall day ten years ago at one of my favorite places: my former school where I was the 3rd grade teacher. I've often said it was perhaps the greenest school in America!

Oyster Day became an annual tradition at Eagle Cove School. Typically our eldest, the 5th graders, won the right and privilege to put on the hip-waders and be the ones to get in the water to put the oyster spat cages and bags in the water. In this video of a decade ago, though, the 4th & 5th graders were both on their annual team building outdoor trip, based on the way the calendar dates fell. So this special year, our 3rd graders, as the oldest on campus that day, earned this surprising privilege. As their 3rd grade teacher, I can guarantee, I had a lot of ecstatic kids in my class that day who got to do the really cool, big kid, important stuff.

I think it's fitting this year (AND at this time of the year) because my 2010 third graders are heading to college this fall. They are the ones that experienced their senior year spring in the middle of a pandemic and remote learning. They are the ones who had a topsy turvy, unique, & unexpected graduation. Our seniors at my current school had a socially-distanced graduation on the school campus lawn, with paper-faced faculty posters stuck to chairs so the students could have an audience there supporting them. Our seniors received their diplomas in a special, almost militarily-scheduled, individualized Diploma Ceremony, crossing the stage... all the while being video-taped, and this footage was sewn together to create a Zoom-style graduation that no one ever expected. The school did it right, and the faculty, staff, and parents were proud. As I watched our 2020 graduation (where many of my former 3rd graders were graduating), I was touched, and often thought of those environmentally-active third graders of a decade ago.

Now, as we have hit this point at the end of summer, these once-third graders are heading to college. Some heading to campus while others are readying for a semester online at their own homes. For that reason, this video seemed more than just memories to me, but a tribute to all of those former students of mine as they head off into their next adventure. Masks in hand, ready to put on when they get to campus... maybe getting a Covid test along with all their text books... and ready to dive into this next chapter. May we wish them well as they pack the car, deck out their dorms, and find new passions and pals. They will rock it! Of this I know!

Video created by Carl Treff, from https://youtu.be/XQtRmi3VjME, Image from https://theamericanonews.com/2020/03/24/college-bound-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-heres-what-class-2020-can-do-to-succeed/ and https://www.okaloosaschools.com/programs/hs/college-bound

The Rising Water

I've been thinking a lot about climate change lately. It started recently when I ran across the Grist article by Miyo McGinn "When Teaching Kids About Climate Change, Don’t be a Downer." I've seen that in my own home through the years as my kids have lived with their eco-loving mama. My son has asked pretty hard questions that are fraught with concern. I watch what I say because doom & gloom gets you nowhere.

But concern heightened awareness does set in at times. The weekend of October 11-14th my husband and I were in Oxford, Md celebrating our anniversary at the very quaint, historic water-side inn (the Robert Morris Inn) for our anniversary this wkend. It was wonderful with it's small-town charm, and we loved being there and bopping over to St. Michaels by way of the oldest ferry, which was just a walk from the inn. I'd highly recommend it to anyone!

 But, between the waterside placard (see below) for an art installation just across from our inn... and the water flooding the streets (due in part, we’ve been told, to the trifecta of a full moon, high tide, waters rising from Tropical Storm Melissa on its way), my mind has been heavily pondering the rising water. I had walked the ferry dock the night before, and the next day they were submerged by 4-5 inches as in the picture below. (Granted, even the night before, the water was perilously close to coming up between the boards by only an inches or so.) Parking lots were pools, and some streets were completely undrivable.

Facebook revealed that Annapolis too was mired in flooding streets--which used to be seen as a "100 year event" that has been happening every year or so. Ironic that the streets were flooding in Annapolis during a boat show weekend.

Sunday was way better than this
Saturday picture!

The next day, the flood waters in Oxford were down--and even more so the day after. We biked around and saw we were able to travel streets we couldn't the day before, but a restaurant we were planning to visit was still closed due to water in the kitchen. I was somewhat comforted when a shop owner said that this is not a typical high tide experience, but they did have a previous problem in September during the last big storm event. Luckily, the flood waters hadn't been this high since Hurricane Isabel in September of 2003, with a close second with Hurricane Sandy in October of 2012.

The news of Oxford's flooding events being storm-related helped comfort me. But it led to a lot of contemplation about how the rising water of climate change is going to affect a lot of people worldwide--both local to my coastal Maryland and on a bigger global scale.  It didn't help that an article in the Baltimore Sun that same weekend referencing the rising sea levels could force the Naval Academy to relocate. It took me back to Jeff Goodell's book "The Water Will Come." It felt like the foreshadowing of things to come--like the trailer to a movie I don't want to see.

This is the point where I hope a lot of our leaders get their head out of the sand--especially when the sand is getting buried!

Pictures from my camera or screenshot from Google Maps. Collage created using Pic Edu.

Spending the Day Outdoors at the 'Annapolis Rising' Benefit

This past Saturday, it was a great day to be outside & in Annapolis, Maryland.

"Annapolis Rising" was an all day benefit for the Capital Gazette victims and honoring the First Responders of the June 28th shooting, which hit the community hard. In between different bands, a multitude of people (most journalists) spoke on the 1st Amendment and the tragedy at the Capital Gazette.

The overriding theme du jour in everyone's was that journalists go into their careers to help inform citizens and maintain the transparency needed to maintain democracy. It's the 1st Amendment for an important reason... and sadly they are now on the front lines, often facing hurt and danger due to swirling hatred against the free press.

Impassioned speakers we saw and heard while we were there included Marty Baron (Washington Post Executive Editor), Elisabeth Bumiller (DC Bureau Chief of NY Times), Lucy Dalglish (Dean of the University of Maryland's Merrill School of Journalism), Tom LoBianco (Assoc Press, CNN), Carl Snowden (Annapolis Civil Rights activist & politician), and Annapolis' Mayor Gavin Buckley.

I was there with my two kids, who are now old enough to get the meaning of the speeches, but also young enough that hanging out listening to speeches isn't necessarily their thing. That's when we were given a gift that made the whole experience so much more palatable to my kids. Right near the playground were several checkerboard tables, which were perfectly placed to hear the bands and the speakers. The best table (aka, the one closest to the stage) was open, so we sat down. We were delighted to have the table, but one thing was missing==the checkers!

This, however, was a very easy problem to solve. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a teacher and pretty much live in teacher-mode... or maybe it's due to the fact that I'm re-reading Richard Louv's "Last Child In the Woods"... or maybe it just simply because I write an environmental education blog. Whatever the reason, nature and garden space surrounded us in this urban environment, so we just had to be a little creative. Mulch and dropped cherry-berries (I have no idea what kind they were, dropped from the trees) served as our checkers. A few passer-bys marveled at our innovation. We played multiple games against each other, landing ourselves in the perfect location to enjoy the day, the music, and the speeches. It was a great way to soak up our civics lessons.

(I think it also served as inspiration to others. When we finally decided to change up our vantage point and leave the table, we left the board set up, ready to play. Later we saw people following in our footsteps, playing their own game of Mulch & Cherry Checkers. Felt kind of good to be trendsetters!)

Our checker table also served as an excellent place to watch the making of a mural. The canvas: 3 adjoined sailboat sails--perfectly symbolic for Annapolis and its sailing culture. They were being spray painted with the skyline of Annapolis & the message "Press On," painted by two artists from atop a cherry picker machine lift. Fitting for the day indeed!

The freedom to be in at a public street benefit, to feel safe there, to enjoy the beautiful day, to listen to wise journalists concerned about their lost colleagues [taken violently at their place of work] during an era of the frequent anti-news rhetoric... it all really caused me to take pause. I'm grateful for our American freedoms. I was struck how easily we can take them and democracy as a whole for granted. I was thrilled to be able to pick up the paperwork with my daughter at the table set up to register voters. We will be filling that out this week and mailing it in. I don't want to delve down the deep and dangerous road of politics, so I will end with this:

"When the public's right to know is threatened, and when the rights of free speech and free press are at risk, all of the other liberties we hold dear are endangered." —Former US Senator, Christopher Dodd

Images of the day: from either my camera or my friend Heather's! Collage compiled in the Li-Pix Pro app.

Spending Another Morning With Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Before I start this post, I need to digress about the weather. Here in the greater DC-Baltimore area we've been inundated with a July blast of intense heat & humidity. Temperatures all week were mid-upper 90° with the heat index much higher. Steamy, sweaty, grimy & gross are the only words for it--especially for the 4th of July. All difficult for this teacher who has been trying to maximize her summer by getting outdoors as much as possible, especially when I write. Thank heavens for the back yard pool! Well, this morning, I walked outside to a delightful, lovely, low humidity, breezy, sunny, glorious day. Pure & utter bliss!!   (written 7/7/18)

OK.... Now that I've got that out of my system... back to your regularly scheduled post!

Any teacher knows that summers are made not only for restoration & relaxation, but also catching catch up or getting ahead of things the normal school year schedule doesn't always allow for. Reading a slew of books. Binge-watching shows. Attending doctor appointments. Planning the new curricular unit for fall.

In our house, it also includes getting a jump on the service hours necessary for the year ahead for my high schooler.

At the end of June, we got in a few of those hours, shaking shells with Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). Well we were back at it last Friday, this time in a seemingly unlikely CBF location, with no Bay in sight. We headed to Clagett Farm to get a few more hours under our belt, doing some more volunteering with CBF. This time, the kids took their cousin with them.

As the four of us traveled to various parts of the farm, we learned that the 285 acre farm was acquired by CBF in 1982. There, they raise organic crops sustainably, along with grass-fed cattle for both CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and the Capital Area Food Bank to help lower income families nutrient rich foods at a lower cost. Lots of program details are available on the Clagett Farm webpage.



Our tasks for the day: harvest cucumbers and squash as well as straw-mulch tomato plants.  We discovered early on, there were no Future Farmers of America in our group!

Additionally, we discovered...

• Muscles we didn't even know we had. Different ones, of course, than those that were achy last week. 

• 3 hours of farming leaves you pretty darn dirty, especially on a hot, sticky day.

• That water and hydration are a beautiful, wonderful thing!

• That cucumber plants (and the surrounding plants around them) could be a little prickly. Pants would have been a good idea for this kid, whose legs were a tad torn up and itchy all over the place. But they cleaned up well and serve as a good badge of doing something outside myself--and outdoors!

• That hay can also be a tad itchy, and you come home with it everywhere!

• That hard work and a bit of dirt and sweat can feel really productive. (Okay, that might have been more me than the kids, but I still stand by it.) The showers and the pool felt really good as a follow up.

• Perspective is a really good thing. These experiences both with shell shaking and being in the fields not only have given us a broader picture to what is around us, but it also what it feels like to literally walk in someone else's shoes. Not only might that make our own environment look a little bit more inviting, but it also opens our eyes to a rich diversity that surrounds us out in the world!

Thank you Carrie, CBF Vegetable Production Manager, for spending the morning with us showing us the ropes and enduring our city-slickerness! For locals, check out the CBF volunteering page if you are inspired to go out, get a little dirty, and do something for others! You can also check out Clagett Farm's blog for updates on their CSA and more.

All pictures from my camera from our day at Clagett Farm.

Oyster Shaking for the Bay

When you have a high schooler who needs service hours, you find yourself in search of new opportunities, often taking part, and often times doing so as a family.

Yesterday was one of those.

My kids and I headed down to Shady Side, Maryland to "do a little oyster shaking." Having never done that before, I wasn't quite sure what it all entailed. 

I had an bit of an idea what it was based on my days at Eagle Cove School. There, my 3rd graders raised oyster spat and had to weekly shake sediment off the oysters within the cage at the end of our school's dock. After a year of doing that every Friday in Science, we always had a spring field trip where Chesapeake Bay Foundation arrived by boat at our pier, clearly making it the best field trip ever! Once on board, we traveled along the Magothy River where the students measured salinity and turbidity before releasing the oysters into the Bay at a designated oyster sanctuary. 

Oyster shaking wasn't anything like that!

 Instead, it involved shoveling oyster shells that were essentially being recycled from restaurants. Lots of oyster shells! Individually, they barely weigh anything. En masse, they aren't exactly light! I'm feeling it in my back and arms today after 2 hours yesterday of shoveling the shells into a super-sized sifter, then shaking out all the dirt and sediment, then lifting the sifter to dump them into the cages. These cages will later be taken to giant vats to be further cleaned with water, then deposited on their oyster boat, and delivered to a variety of oyster sanctuaries in the Chesapeake Bay.  It was quite an operation!

We were 3 of the 15 or so volunteers that showed up at the Maryland Oyster Restoration Center for the 4-hour Friday volunteer window. It became pretty clear to myself and my two kids that we'd never make it all four hours in the 90° heat! We were proud of our two hours of "mission completion"--with loads of hydrating and some recovery time in the shade to get our 2nd, 3rd, or 4th wind. It was definitely physical work, and we went home quite sweaty and grimy by the end of our morning!

As with any degree of service activity, there's always that element of feeling good at being a part of something outside yourself. Shoveling gives you some reflection time.  I had a few other major take-aways from the experience as well:

• Sometimes physical work is exactly what you need. You get into a bit of a rhythm between the shoveling and then the shaking. Physical movement, and a little bit of sweat and muscle ache are good for the soul. I'm not sure my middle school son had that same take away, but it also builds perspective and gratitude. He was quite thankful he didn't have to do this job every day! 😉

• Each of these oyster shells, once part of someone's meal, are now going forward to help become the new home of future oysters, which will filter the water and help clean the Bay. That reward will come back around to all of us who enjoy fishing, canoeing, boating, swimming, playing in (and eating from) the Bay.

• It was good to be in control of something in this out of control world. (It also was a good way to get a little aggression out!) It's been a hard week for Annapolis--our virtual backyard--with the fatal events at the Capital Gazette on Thursday. It felt good to do a little something for our community and the Bay via Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

• It bears repeating again: it felt good to be part of something bigger than you. Those oyster mounds were pretty darn big, and it certainly didn't get tackled in our 2 hours, nor would it after the collection of volunteers left yesterday, even if we all did all 4 hours.  The fact that a community of volunteers come each week to do this for our Bay certainly shows the strength of environmental stewardship.

Speaking of which... there are still more oysters! If you are in Maryland and want to do something good for the Bay, clear a Friday morning or two this summer. Head to Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Shell Shaking page to learn more and register for one of the following dates:

July 6, 20, 27

August 10, 17, 24, 31

For other, less hefty volunteer opportunities through CBF, be sure to check out their website.

Special thanks to Anna Mudd, CBF's Maryland Outreach & Advocacy Manager for showing us the ropes, educating us along the way as to why shell shaking was such a vital part of Bay restoration,  encouraging us to take breaks, and giving us a tour of the facility. We learned a lot from you and it was a great way to spend the day!

Images from my camera at the Maryland Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side, Maryland.

Jeff Goodell's "The Water Will Come"

Back in January I mentioned that I got a trio of eco-reads for Christmas.

I saved Jeff Goodell's "The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World." I think I saved it for last because the title is a tad daunting, and too close to Christmas didn't quite feel right for what I knew would be a hard-hitting book.

I read the bulk of it over a three-day period. every chance I got.

On the cover, Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction and Pulitzer Prize winner, is quoted as saying "Deeply persuasive and deeply unsettling." Yes, both sentiments are true.

Goodell is an excellent documentarian, a riveting storyteller, and writer with a no-nonsense approach and the facts to back it. I wouldn't say it's a feel-good tale, but I would say it was an excellent read. A necessary read. A mandatory read for all. I know some climate deniers, and I still can't seem to wrap my head around that. He quoted one of my favorite Neil deGrasse Tyson quotes: "The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it."

It's coming folks.

I marked up many-a-passage while reading the book, and it does indeed haunt me. Especially in the wake of the current political climate and administration of the United States, the disappearance of climate science on the governmental websites, and the apparent allergy many politicians have with the words (and science of) "Climate Change."  Goodell addresses this, as the book is quite current--having been published in November 2017.


His topics are many: walled cities (by seawalls), raising cities, floating cities, canaled-cities like Venice, climate refugees, Arctic ice melting, Climate Apartheid (the separation between the wealthy and the poor), temperatures rising alongside with oceans, greater susceptibility to hurricanes and wildfires, leaving for higher and/or safer ground, pollution issues from rising water and sewage situations, the climate leading to security risks, Northern geoengineering, and more.

One of my biggest takeaways is that it's not a matter of "if" climate change is to happen (along with those rising seas)... but more a matter of when and how quickly.

My other big takeaway is that Miami, with it's proximity to the coast and reliance on pricy real estate, may very well be screwed in the next 50-100 years. And Miami is not alone in this.

There are a lot of parallels here with the details Goodell brings up with the ability of many to not access clean water (and some of the water issues I've written about recently). One of my former colleagues (from my teaching days at my uber-green environmental school) said that she thought Water was one of the two main issues we shall face as a global society over the next few decades. (She felt Artificial Intelligence would be the other.)

I will admit: I found myself writing "yikes!" in the margins more than a few times!!

Again, I say it again. Innovation is the answer to our environmental problems. We just might want to start getting a move on it to be able to manage this water crisis in a timely manner.

Add this to your "What to Read Next" list. We all need to be educated. This would be a good book for everyone--especially our public officials!

Book cover from https://www.amazon.com/Water-Will-Come-Remaking-Civilized/dp/031626024X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8, "Book Snap" photos of my notes in Goodell's book, pages 52 and 170.

Tackling Ocean Conservation, One Comic Strip at a Time

I was a product of the 80s, which means I was a child in the 70s. The shark soundtrack of “Jaws” still brings me back to that 1975 movie, raising the hairs on my skin to prickle level. It made for 7 years of adult living in Tampa and Clearwater (or trips to Ocean City, Maryland or any Caribbean vacation) ones where I was scanning the shoreline on beach days, looking for dorsal fins, and hearing that “Jaws” music in my mind.

I’ve never seen one. 

But the music continues in my mind in certain circumstances.

I had a degree of that music serenading me on my drive to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, MD. The reason for my Tuesday night trek… I was off to see Jim Toomey, cartoonist, conservationalist, and creator of Sherman the Shark (from his “Sherman’s Lagoon”) speak at SERC. This struck a particular thrill in me as I’ve written about Toomey before. 

During his humor-filled evening of frank conversation on cartooning and caring for our planet, he shared with us some of the regulars that are a part of “Sherman’s Lagoon,” the cartoon strip he’s been writing since 1997:

• Sherman, of course. A shark who is “not quite well-adapted to the real world…. The Lucy of “The Lucile Ball Show” or “Homer Simpson with fins.”)

• Sherman’s wife Megan. Again, a shark who is “very no-nonsense… the Desi of Desi and Lucy. The one who brings everyone back down to earth.”

• Hawthorne, the crab. “Always cranky and complaining… I think a lot of people can relate to someone like that.”

• Filmore, the sea turtle. “He’s the philosopher” and part of the comedic pairing as “the straight guy” to Sherman’s more dramatic side.

While “Sherman’s Lagoon” takes place in the ocean, Sherman does travel to other habits, and has been to the Chesapeake bay a few times. Here in the Chesapeake Bay area, the big issues tend to be “agricultural runoff, loss of coastal habitat, and invasive species.”

Some of the more global marine issues he mentioned he’s tackled in his 20-year stint of comic strip writing with a message include:

--More mindful choices when it comes to menu items (addressing demand and the ultimate oceanic cost);

--Shark-finning (one of his more heavy and difficult topics to cover);

--Ocean acidification of coral;

--Animal tagging;

--Climate change;

--Tracking a plastic bottle to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Toomey mentioned he felt we were in a “sweet spot in time.” With that comes optimism. He feels that there is a meeting of the technology, the data and the ability to go forward to teach and take action. Additionally, scientific facts stay measurable and hard to argue against. He sees us now as the first generation (especially with rate of technological change) who will be able to go forward now and into the next decade from now to be able to gather and make sense of all sorts of scientific data. With the media as it is—meaning we ARE the media during these social media days--we all are more able to talk to the power than in the past. That means we can share the message, and do something about it. This role of citizen scientists (and activists) aligns itself very closely to SERC’s main mission. 

He quoted Dana Meadows: 

“We have exactly enough time starting now.”

While he purposely mentioned he was not going to get political (because all roads these days do seem to end up there), he feels that we need to help people see that the vision of environmentalism is not just “old hippies.” We need to take note of our former environmental (and Republican) president Teddy Roosevelt is the one who began our National Park Service. It’s the poets and the painters out there who have always held an appreciation of nature. To really have your #eco message heard in this noisy world these days, you need to make it so that everyone has a stake. It shouldn’t be a “Left thing” or a “Right thing,” but something we all bring to the center, highlighting the importance to ourselves, our children, and our future. “Environentalism is really all about preserving things for future generations. It’s about sustainability, it’s about the precautionary principle, sustainable business—these are values I think both the left and the right can embrace.”

Getting everyone to the center can be a tricky thing to do, but that’s where Toomey is in the “sweet spot…” as humor has an amazing way of doing just that!

To see Jim Toomey in action…

 Watch his TED Talk.

Go to his website.

Find his comics in books & newspapers

  

Quoted remarks either mentioned directly by Jim Toomey or from the informational sheet written by Kristen Minogue, given out that night at SERC: Tuesday, October, 17, 2017. Cartoon from the same informational sheet.  Photographs from my night at SERC. Jaws Movie Poster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JAWS_Movie_poster.jpg.  "Sherman Lagoon" pic from http://www.sharkdefenders.com/2011/04/shark-cartoonist-jim-toomey-joins.html. Jim Toomey pic with cartoon characters from https://serc.si.edu/event/keynote-lecture-drawing-inspiration-sea

An Impromptu Day on the Bay: Fifth Grade Field Trip Style

The circles of life are so fascinating!

Wednesday I got to go last minute to Chesapeake Bay Foundation with son's 5th grade class on a field trip today, as they didn't have enough chaperones.

When your Head asks you to go, you go. And when you get there...you are so grateful that you did!!

It hit me when the bus pulled in and I saw Tiffany, our always "First Mate" of the boat--it hit me then that I almost missed this trip because I was über in back-to-school teacher mode here at the beginning of the year, and I nearly missed the bigger picture: my "mom" and "historic side."

I was not truly thinking that this was THAT trip.  The big ah-ha moment:  This was essentially my Eagle Cove 3rd grade oyster boat field trip, where the boat came right up to our pier. The one that was always was:

"Best.    Field Trip.    Ever."

As my son and I were talking to his buddies on this trip, we came to the conclusion that this was year 9 of the past 10 years I have gotten to go on this trip!!! Last year, in particular, I was teaching 5th grade at my current school when we made this trip.  Such good memories of the past, and so many smiles from this week.

When my old school, Eagle Cove, closed, my son was in 2nd grade. I was the 3rd grade teacher. The following year he was destined to be in my class, and take part of "all things 3rd grade." On that day that it was announced that our school was to close in June (and all the subsequent months to June), I mourned.  I mourned many things, but one element that was particularly heartbreaking was that I would never get to go on the CBF trip with my son. 

But this week, I did! I had always said it previously--9 times these last 10 years, but it was true:  
Best.  
Field Trip.  
Ever.

This Wednesday, I had a goofy grin on my face all day.

The kismit in the day was immense the more I thought of it--especially when I realized how easily I could have missed it. The boating. The "green" building. The canoeing. The shore-side picnic. The more I thought about it after the fact, the more it hit me that I was blessed, encountering a rare and magical moment that was meant to be.  Something I thought would never happen.  Something in my daze of "back to school" I almost missed.

There's nothing more rewarding than a day outdoors, a day chock-filled with memories, and a day with your kids.

Best.

Field Trip.

Ever.

A Tale of An Environmental Teacher

Once upon a time,....
there was a girl who taught at a very "green" school where they recycled, composted, built rain gardens, had green roofs, raised oysters, grew butterfly gardens, had an entire week dedicated to Earth Day, hosted Earth Hour events, and much much more.

She taught there for a very good long time. There, she was quite in her element, integrating curricular topics on the side of sustainability.  Her students were mesmerized by books like Operation Redwood. They graphed light usage and how long it took different items to biodegrade.  They did biographies on environmentalists such as Jacques Cousteau, Sylvia Earle, Jane Goodall, and John Muir. Her students weekly cleaned and counted Capri Suns to send back to Terracycle to reduce landfill waste. She was even rumored to have a majestic dress made entirely out of Capri Suns. Oh yes! They all ate and breathed the "green" scene.

Until one day....this wonderfully special school closed.

It was at this point the the friends/teachers/colleagues/families/students were quite saddened that they had to scatter like seeds in the wind.  Scatter they did.  They all landed well and started their next phase of happily ever after at brand new schools, public and independent, spread all over the community.

As would not be surprising, our one, same teacher gal also found a new school to call home. Here she got to embark on being the "iPad Lady," bringing new and innovative ideas to classroom teachers at her new school, helping her colleagues find ways to integrate technology and the curriculum.  And all was very good for her first new year at a new elementary school.  Not as "green" as where she'd been, but a good place to land all the same.

Then one summer day about 2 weeks before school started before her 2nd year there, our teacher was asked to do a favor. Would she kindly take on a homeroom classroom due to an unexpected leave of absence by a teacher on staff. This was quite a surprise, but of course she said yes. She embarked on both the hurry and scurry of setting up shop for the incoming students, as well as the "hurry and worry" on mentally getting her game on. She had to switch gears and go into classroom teaching mode versus just teaching tech with an office and classroom visits. It was supposed to be a short-term fill, but as often happens in this tale called "Life," more unexpected things happened, and she stayed in this spot for the whole school year.

There, with her students, she did what she knows how to do best.  She shared the importance of caring for our planet through student-driven tech investigations. She shared the concern of marine debris through mockumentaries and ocean cartoons. She read some of those same books as read-alouds that she had always read in the past. She embarked on a journey with a team of 3 other teachers to help the school become a Maryland "Green" School.  They triumphed and the designation was awarded!

Of course, as happens, the school year came to a close.  In addition to all of those eco-things, our girl helped her students prepare for the next step, write their end of the year speeches, and wrap up the year.  In return, her students surprised her with a very remarkable gift.  Based on her love on the environment, and their love for her, she was given a sizable donation in her name to a local environmental charity, promoted to conserving the Chesapeake Bay.  A gift was given that will keep on giving. The donations will continue forward to help further more environmental programs.

As her son once said in Kindergarten:  "Mom, it's all physics.  The world loves a circle."

A circle indeed. Those seeds that scattered to the wind with the closing of a school, had been sown. More environmental stewards had been grown. The circle of conservationism and environmental sustainability continued to grow outwards.

A circle indeed.  For the love shared and the love spread was more touching than I can describe.   I should know.  I know that girl, that teacher, very very well.

Thank You! Which, of course, is a most delightful way to "End."

GTG logo from http://www.greenteamgazette.com/; Capri Sun dress from http://www.greenteamgazette.com/2015/10/halloween-blasts-from-pasts.html; Michael Recycle costume image from http://www.greenteamgazette.com/2011/10/bein-green-this-halloween.html; CBF image attributes noted above & from https://www.cbf.org/join-us/tribute-gift-e-card?eCardViewKey=5a011206-1af7-4baf-afe6-f1174581b099